The US#10 Cedar Cliff Colts won the Race of Champions today at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina, knocking off US#6 Mountain View UT, which was 3rd. The Colts present the winning trophy (photo by Donna Dye). In the same race, Sam Luff of Emmaus took 5th in 15:39. In the girls ROC, St. Basil took 5th, while Cedar Cliff was 8th. Running as an individual. Unionville\'s Katie Thaeder was 27th. Cedar Cliff #1 Janelle Young took 21st, while Basil\'s Lynn Morelli was 24th. In the Seeded Invitational, West Chester Henderson\'s girls were 2nd, with Megan Durkee 8th overall. Tamaqua\'s Alexa Griffiths was 6th in the race. In the Seeded Boys, Henderson took 8th. And in the Small School races, LaSalle took first in a mini-PCL showdown against Archbishop Carroll, who was 2nd. LaSalle\'s Sean McGinley took 2nd overall in 16:05. In the Girls Small Schools race, Archbishop Carroll took 6th.
Coverage
Photos taken by Lee Dick from the 2004 Great American Cross Country Festival held at SAS Park in Cary, North Carolina on Saturday, October 2nd.
Three of the top ten teams in the Northeast will be putting everything on the course as they face each other in the Race of Champions at the Great American XC Festival 10/2, including US#20 Cedar Cliff. And NE#4 Gwynedd Mercy toes the line against NE#3 Hatboro-Horsham 9/18 at Briarwood, while Gwynedd faces unranked St. Basil, which upset Hatboroo 9/3 at the Wood Invite, on 10/2 in the Race of Champions at Great American.
Four-time defending CAA Champion William and Mary men
This is it. Cedar Cliff\'s boys are hoping for the hightest finish for a PA team in the history of the Great American XC Festival. To be precise, a win. They\'re the 2nd highest ranked team in the Race of Champions, #10 in the US and #2 in the Northeast. Nipping at their heels will be NE#4 Toms River North, who used to be NE#2, and a bunch of other teams. They\'ll be chasing US#6 Mountain View UT, #1SW.
The Great American Cross Country Festival starts today in Cary, NC. College races take place today and the meet concludes on Saturday with high school competitions.
Four-time reigning CAA Champion William and Mary men
If the J.R. Tucker boys and Oakton girls are not ranked high in next week\'s regional and national Nike Team Nationals rankings, there would be an outcry among many after their amazing team performances in the Race of Champions divisions at Great American. The J.R. Tucker boys finished second, while the Oakton girls finished fourth in one of the country\'s most competitive regular season national caliber meets.
There are a lot of strategies being employed by coaches this year as they look to get recognized, ranked, and remain ranked in the NTN/Harrier Rankings in their bids for a trip to Portland in December. Some are gradually heading for a late season peak where they hope to dominate their states and beat higher ranked squads. Others are putting a lot on the line early, like Pennsylvania's Cedar Cliff boys from South Central PA. "We want to win Great American" declared head coach Ken Roseberry last week.
Photos taken by Mr. Dick from the Great American Festival of various Virginians competing in the meet including the J.R. Tucker boys and Oakton girls in the Race of Champions.
Liberty freshman Josh McDougal won his fourth-consecutive race at the Great American Cross Country Festival held at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., Friday afternoon. McDougal bested the field of some of the top runners in the county by over 12 seconds over his nearest competitor as he won the 8k race with a time of 24:00.91, finishing just ahead of New Mexico
Shots of Andy Biladeau, Jenny Barringer, and Chris Mullaney at Great American. Photos by Mike Leary.
These Colts Are Driven. A story on Cedar Cliff\'s boys at Great American in the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
The Great American Festival in Cary, NC this past weekend gave several high school cross country athletes from South Carolina the chance to compete against some of the best cross country athletes in the nation.
Just how did Cedar Cliff capture one of just 20 spots in the first Nike Team Nationals? What was their summer training like? Did they have any doubts along the way? The Cedar Cliff boys varsity talks about their season, in their own words.