ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611120035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-13 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: THE PLAINS
SOURCE: BILL RAY STAFF WRITER
After an evening of torrential downpours at the Great Meadow course, conditions were treacherous for the high school state cross country meet Saturday. Numerous runners took spills on the slick turf, allowing for some interesting results.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day came in the Group AA boys' meet, as a highly touted Blacksburg team finished fourth thanks to a fifth-place individual effort from Clay Schwabe.
"I had been shooting for a top-five finish," Schwabe said, "so I was happy with my performance. I was expecting a better team finish. We thought it was pretty much up for grabs."
But the Indians fell victim to the terrain when a slip took the team out of the top three.
In the Group AA girls' competition it was a different story according to Christiansburg's Laura Dangerfield.
"It was fun to run out there and get a little muddy," Dangerfield said after finishing fifth overall and leading the Demons to a third-place trophy.
Dangerfield, a junior in her first year running cross country, was quick to credit her teammates.
"During the season we did a good job a closing up and finishing in a pack to get good points," Dangerfield said. "That helped us a lot today."
Christiansburg also had a strong individual showing in the boys' meet, with junior Matt Nolan finishing as the state champion runner-up with a time of 16 minutes, 39.4 seconds.
"When he came around the second mile, he was in fourth or fifth place," Christiansburg coach Steve Shelton said. "At the top of the next hill, he was in first. That is the kind of runner he is."
As a team, the Blue Demons boys finished ninth after back-to-back state championships in 1994 and 1995.
In the Class A girls' event, Floyd County's Johanna Nuemann took third in the state with a time of 20:23.8, despite running without a team. The Floyd County boys team finished eighth, behind the 20th place individual run of Justin Lucas.
"I really put cross country on the back burner this year," Neumann said. "I wanted to concentrate on academics. But this was a nice way to end my career."
In the first event of the day, the Group AA girls' race, Western Albemarle took the state title, placing four runners in the top 15. This included state champion Carin Ward, who ran the course in a time of 19:23.4.
The girls' team from Blacksburg finished in 10th place with its top performance coming from freshman Lacey Brown in 21st place.
A team from the peninsula, York High School, took the Group AA boys' title, squeaking out a victory over Western Albermarle by a margin of 14 points. Robert Thiele from Charlottesville won his second consecutive individual state championship with a time of 16:27.6.
Lord Botetourt, along with Blacksburg and Christiansburg, represented Timesland in the Group AA boys' race, finishing eighth.
In the Group A girls' meet, Brentsville took the team title with four of the top six finishers. Devon Moore of Brentsville was first individually in 19:58.6. Glenvar took 11th with Angie Atkins' time of 22:57.2 leading the way.
Central Woodstock won the boys' Group A team title with Timesland teams Floyd and Glenvar taking eighth and ninth, respectively. For the second year in a row Sharif Karie of West Sprinfield took home the Group AAA individual championship, while Centreville captured the team title in the boys' meet.
Cave Spring's Ben Dowdy took 23rd overall.
The Centreville girls made it a clean sweep for the school, winning the Group AAA girls' title behind individual champion Laura Heiner's time of 18:18.5.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB