Allison Homer

Here are the girls all-time rankings for 5K according to our database.

Check out the all-time performances by VA girls at McAlpine right here.

Here are the top times from VA athlete ever run at Great American.

Who makes the cut for top 1000 all-time performers at McAlpine Park?

Here are the top 1,000 girls times from the Great Meadow non-state meet course.

For over 45 years the Volunteer Track Classic has been a fixture on the Southeastern high school track and field schedules. This year should be no different.  A National Scholastic Sports Foundation (www.nssf.org) Select meet, the 2009 Vol Classic will see the inclusion of collegiate competition as the UT Lady Vol  College sections bring in the 2009 NCAA Indoor Champion Lady Vols, Alabama, Ohio State and Carson Newman College.  On the high school side the action should be great on the track as well as the field as numerous nationally ranked teams and individuals start competition Friday at 5PM.

Congratulations to the following 2008 All-MileStat.com Cross Country Team award winners: Boys Team of the Year: Jamestown Girls Team of the Year: Blacksburg Boys Runner of the Year: Thomas Porter (Mountain View) Girls Runner of the Year: Megan Marsico (Glenvar) Boys Coach of the Year: Buz Male (Albemarle) Girls Coach of the Year: Daniel King (Hidden Valley) Boys Freshmen of the Year: Shaquon Wilkins (Riverbend) Girls Freshmen of the Year: Sarah Stites (Thomas Jefferson S&T) Boys Most Improved Runner of the Year: Jordan White (Great Bridge) Girls Most Improved Runner of the Year: Stephanie Cario (Lee-Davis) Boys Comeback Runner of the Year: Ben Veilleux (Clarke County) Girls Comeback Runner of the Year: Allison Homer (Blacksburg) Full write-up on each award winner to come soon!

Photo by Victor Arrieta Allison Homer of Blacksburg is the comeback story of the year in Virginia high school cross country. Homer's junior year was completely lost due to a hip injury, which doctors had told her that she would never run competitively again and recommended that she should try another sport. With the support of her teammates and faith of her coach, Homer went against the advice from the medical professionals, began training this summer to prepare for this cross country season, and surprised many by her return this fall to lead Blacksburg to another state title as the team's #1 runner throughout the season. The journey of a runner certainly can have its share of highs and lows. There were many lows for Homer last year between all the doctor visits to determine what exactly was wrong with her and being forced to stand on the sidelines and unable to run during the cross country and track seasons. She stuck it out though and was determined to not give up on the sport of running. As a result of persistence and refusal to quit, Homer now finds herself headed to Portland, Oregon this week to compete alongside some of the best high school runners in the country at the Nike Cross Nationals. The Blacksburg senior was the fourth individual finisher at the NXN Southeast Regional this past Saturday in Cary, North Carolina to earn an all expenses paid for trip by Nike to compete at the national cross country meet. There will not be a single runner in the field on Saturday who is more deserving of this trip and experience than the resilient Homer.

Photo by Tom Hoerner The Blacksburg girls have been the top program in Group AA over the past few years, but have always been stuck in the second spot when it came to looking state-wide in Virginia in comparison to the Midlothian program, which has won the last three Group AAA state cross country titles as well as qualified for Nike Team Nationals in 2006. The girls from Blacksburg may have just gotten over the hump this past weekend when they finished ahead of Midlothian in the invitational division at Maymont to become the first in-state team to defeat the Lady Trojans in quite sometime in cross country. However, Blacksburg coach James DeMarco and his team know full well that Midlothian will have better days ahead this fall after a subpar major invitational opener. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviews the Blacksburg coach after a great weekend for not only the Blacksburg girls, but the Blacksburg boys as their male counterparts appear to be a squad which can make it onto the podium at Great Meadow this November.

Updated individual rankings for Virginia high school cross country as of September 11th. Western Albemarle's Tyler Stutzman impressed enough in his 9:42 split at the Ragged Mountain Cup to usurp pre-season #1 Thomas Porter, despite Porter winning the Chancellor Invite quite easily to start his season. Group AA boys are also well represented in the Cream of the Crop rankings with five of the top seven rankings in Tyler Stutzman, Andrew Colley, Alex Ott, Kyle Satterwhite, and Josh Morris. Newcomers to the Cream of the Crop (top 15 best individual runners in VA) include James Robinson's Jared Berman, Blacksburg's Allison Homer, Mountain View's Kaitlyn Davis, Midlothian's Leia Lautzenheiser, and Millbrook's Sullivan Parkes. Note: Updated Group A and private school rankings to be added on Friday.

Well with his transfer to Jefferson Forest, Josh Morris (pictured right by Scott Rigler) has changed the complexion and pecking order in the private school and Region III rankings. Unaware of his move to becoming a Cavalier at Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia, Morris had been given the #1 pre-season ranking among private school individuals after a sensational track season which included personal best runs over the summer in the 2000 meter steeplechase, 1500 meter run, and 5000 meter run.   Morris ran for Jefferson Forest in a pre-season jamboree in Danville last month, but it could have been considered a typo and maybe he was still running for Liberty Christian Academy. However, his victory this weekend at the Blue Demon Invitational made it clear who he was running for now as he streaked across the finish line in first place with a time of 16:18 and 37 seconds ahead of second place in a Jefferson Forest uniform. Looking historically at the fastest times ever at the Blue Demon Invite, Morris is the second fastest performer all-time to only Griff Graves as his performance beats the times ran by the likes of some high school greats such as Fleet Hower, Justin Hatch, John Horst, and Tim Smith. Read More... Blue Demon Invitational Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Janis Lewis Blue Demon Invitational Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler

Photo by Tom Hoerner Outside of the three-time Group AAA state champions from Midlothian, the next two best teams in the state of Virginia could come from the same district in Group AA's River Ridge District in the Blacksburg and Hidden Valley girls' squads. Blacksburg has won two consecutive state titles in Group AA, while Hidden Valley became a quick upstart last fall with the addition of two star freshmen in Annie LeHardy and Haley Cutright. Both teams possess a great deal of depth and talent which will make them major players not only the state stage, but possibly nationally with Nike Cross Nationals aspirations. Blacksburg's sixth runner Trinity Foreman has ran sub 5:10 for 1600 meters, while Hidden Valley's fifth runner Mary Catherine Sowder runs a 11:44 for 3200 meters.  

Photo by Mark Howard The Draper Mile was held on Friday, August 1st in Blacksburg, VA with a decent turnout of area high school runners for the fast downhill mile race. The Blacksburg girls particulary had a very strong showing with their probable top five for this upcoming season clocking in at times of 5:02, 5:05, 5:11, 5:12, and 5:24. Draper Mile Results

 Podcast interview with Blacksburg coach James DeMarco. Coach DeMarco has a very special group for this fall with a Blacksburg girls' team contending for their second straight Group AA state title as well team national aspirations, while Peter Dorrell is gearing up for a run at qualifying for Footlocker Nationals.

MileStat.com's Brandon Miles takes a crack at the top 10 girls cross country teams in the state for this upcoming season. The top 5 of the 10 are revealed on Sunday with the remaining 5 to be posted on Monday. No surprise with Midlothian on top as the Lady Trojans will have one of the country's most fearsome top sevens in the nation. Midlothian pulled off the huge victory last year at Manhattan Invite and gained valuable experience with a top 10 finish at Nike Team Nationals to better prepare for a likely return trip this fall. The Lake Braddock girls, who had a group last year which would have been Virginia's best any other year if it was not for the Midlo girls, return another team with plenty of firepower with four sub 11:30 3200 meter gals including Christine Moore (pictured left by John Herzog). The defending AA state champions of Blacksburg look to firmly establish themselves as the next team after Midlothian. Maggie Walker looks to be one of the squads to move further up the totem pole than others with a very strong front two in Susannah Piersol and Clarissa Schick and possibly give the Central Region a second year in a row of two of the three podium teams in AAA. Brentsville has a solid core of five back from their tough second place finish to Blacksburg in the AA state race and will look to thrive in the new underdog role and take back their title.  Complete top 10 teams list posted Monday 7:50 PM.

This weekend\'s Asics Invitational will be hosted at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg and will be hosted over two days on Friday and Saturday. The meet will feature four individual state leaders including the likes of Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes and Harrisonburg\'s Tim Beierle as well as the state\'s fastest 4x400 meter relay in the Osbourn Park girls. Events will start at 4:30 PM on Friday and resume again on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

The All-MileStat.com Girls Cross Country Team has been selected for the 2006 season. Awards were given out to runner of the year, coach of the year, freshmen of the year, most improved runner of the year, and comeback story of the year. Also being named were first, second, and third teams consisting of seven members for each team. Performances throughout the season were looked at with championship and post-season races being given stronger, but not ultimate consideration. The very unpredictable and inconsistent nature of the sport on a week to week basis makes any selections tough to break down into a science, but our hope is the main goal of trying to give as much as recognition as possible to individuals in the sport is noted and appreciated. MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The Blacksburg boys and girls swept the team titles at the Metro Invitational on Thursday afternoon at Green Hill Park. The Blacksburg girls, ranked #3 in the state and #8 in the Nike Team Nationals Southeast region, were big winners with 42 points as they finished 53 points ahead of second-place Patrick Henry. Meanwhile, the Blacksburg boys (66 pts) won by a convincing margin of 36 points over Cave Spring (102 pts). Northside senor Catherine White made her first appearance since dropping out at Great American two weeks ago with a leg cramp with her third consecutive Metro Invite championship in 18:26.05 on the Green Hill Park 5K course. Cave Spring\'s Tim Smith (16:08.61) pulled off a fairly big upset over Blacksburg\'s top runner Peter Dorrell (16:20.71). to win the boys\' individual title.

Northside senior and defending AA state champion Catherine White opens her season tomorrow at the Knights Cross Invitational held at Green Hill Park in Salem. High expections are placed upon White this season as she was a three-time All-American last year in cross country and track including a national runner-up finish for two miles last indoor season at Nike Indoor Nationals. White has had some great performances at Green Hill in the past including a 17:57 5K at the Fab 5K last month. The meet will also feature one of the state\'s top girls teams in Blacksburg. A great individual battle should be waged between one of A\'s best in Nathan Brame of Radford and the #3 ranked individual in AA in Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg.

Predictability is a word that serves Group AA girls well this fall with the Brentsville girls returning a full squad from a team that simply dominated at the state meet last year and two-time individual state champion Catherine White looking fitter than ever heading into this season. Behind Brentsville and White, there are plenty of great teams and individuals filling out what should be a strong fall for Group AA.

At fast and downhill Draper Mile in Blacksburg on Saturday, Radford\'s Nathan Brame and Blacksburg\'s Ariel Burbey took advantage of the course to run fast times. Brame, the A state 1600 meter champion, ran 11 seconds faster than his 4:23 1600 meter track best to win in a time of 4:12 as he held off VMI head cross country coach Paul Spangler (4:13) for the win. Meanwhile, Spangler\'s wife and Rockbridge County coach, Cynthia Campbell-Spangler had the top female time just under five minutes at 4:59. Burbey finished second with a time of 5:03, which is three seconds better than the College of William & Mary bound Burbey\'s track best. Rising sophomore at Blacksburg, Allison Homer, ran seven seconds faster than she did in last year\'s Draper Mile to finish third in 5:11. Homer has a track best of 5:25 for 1600 meters.