Cross country runner dealing with injuries, conditions

There are a few familiar storylines with unusual twists on the cross country scene this fall.
Altavista’s girls, the seven-time defending Dogwood District champions, will try to extend their streak to eight on their home course at Frazier Farm, though they’ll have to do it without four-year standout Sarah Murphy.

The Colonels’ boys team, meanwhile, which won its second district title in three years before placing second in the Region B and fourth in the Group A state meet, return its top three runners — seniors Daniel Blanks and Stephen Mattox and junior Forster McCracken, who all ran in the 17-minute range at Great Meadow in The Plains.

Jefferson Forest’s boys and girls return as favorites to defend their Seminole District championship titles for the umpteenth times on Oct. 27. However, they’ll have to do it on E.C. Glass’ Presbyterian Homes course rather than their own at Wolf Branch Farm, which has hosted the meet for at least the past 10 years.

“It’s too bad it’s going to go there, (but) we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Cavaliers coach Jerome Loy said.

JF’s boys and girls, which both finished seventh in the Group AA state meet last November, could be seriously tested by E.C. Glass’ boys — in their second year in the Seminole after moving over from the Western Valley — and Brookville’s girls, respectively.

The Bees graduated only one girl from last year’s top seven that placed 10th at the state meet and return No. 1 runner Cathleen McCarron, a senior, No. 2 Kaitlyn Brown, a junior, and No. 3 McKenna Coalson, a sophomore.

The Presbyterian Homes course is at least as hilly as Wolf Branch Farm, but not quite as spectator friendly, with much of the running through the woods rather than open plains with the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop.

It is currently used not only for meets hosted by Glass and nearby Virginia Episcopal School, but also for Randolph College and Lynchburg College, making the markings a bit confusing.
“It’s chaos,” Glass girls coach Amy Trent said after the Hilltoppers’ boys and girls swept Amherst and Heritage there in dominating fashion Wednesday.

Glass’ girls featured 19 of the top 21 finishers for a near-perfect 16 points and the boys scored 18 with six of the top seven. The Hilltoppers were paced by David Barney, who has overtaken the No. 1 spot from junior teammate Dylan Beck, who is out until October after suffering a high-ankle sprain in the season-opening meet at Brookville.

Barney, for one, likes the Presbyterian Homes site.

It’s a hard course, but I like the home field advantage,” he said after running a personal best time of 18 minutes, 13 seconds on it Wednesday, a week after finishing a second off the pace of Staunton River’s Stuart Robertson at Brookville. “I think it’ll be close (with JF), if we get Dylan back in it.”

The course, also the site of next Saturday’s Hilltopper Invitational and the Oct. 9 Rod Camden Relay Classic, is not friendly to the Cavaliers.

“We’ve got a couple kids who just have trouble on it because there’s something in the woods or the fields that closes up their airways,” Loy said, referring primarily to his senior No. 1 runner Justin Resendes, who has a rare condition called Vocal Cord Dysfunction.

“This is a tough time of year to run, when you think about this course, with all of this ragweed,” Glass boys coach Jerry Salmon said. “In the fall and I guess in the spring are the toughest times.”

Resendes was able to finish the first race of his career at the Presbyterian Homes course last month in a sub-18-minute time.

However, after auspicious starts this season, he and sophomore sensation Katie Vann, have continued to deal with the baffling medical conditions — Vann has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy — that have sidetracked them over the past few years.

Resendes was unable to finish Wednesday’s meet at Rustburg as well as this past Saturday’s Blue Demon Invitational, where JF’s girls took second behind Blacksburg and the boys came in third behind the Bruins and host Christiansburg.

“He did great when we ran out in Tennessee (leading JF to a first-place finish at the Run Fer Da Hills Invitational in Bristol, and) he was fine, right with the lead guy for the first mile and a half (at Christiansburg) and his vocal chords collapsed on him again,” Loy said. “It’s a flip of the coin with him, and it’s too bad. He’s a great talent and a great kid. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that come October, he’ll be able to get through it.”

After graduating Robert Deis, Todd ten- Pas and Curtis Whitlow from last year’s team, the Cavaliers are relying heavily on returning runners Ben Jackson, Will Stratton and Tres Langhorne, as well as newcomer Josh Oswald, especially when Resendes can’t finish.

“You’ve got to have five good ones,” Loy said. “Ben, Will and Tres are very, very consistent (but) I don’t know who our No. 5 is going to be. We’re still good locally without Justin, but in the big meets, it makes a tremendous difference when you have to trade a No. 6 for Justin. If you trade a kid who might come in fifth out of 200 runners, and the sixth runner finishes 55th, basically, you’re trading 50 points.”

Vann, who was the Cavaliers’ top JV runner last year, finished second between two seniors, co-All-Area girls runners of the year Mary Deis and Leigha Schimmoeller, in Forest’s first two races before starting to fade as her condition worsened.

“Katie Vann has been running so well and now all of the sudden, this stuff is creeping back up on her,” said Loy, who didn’t even take her to Wednesday’s meet at Rustburg, instead sending her to her doctor and to UVa Hospital for an MRI on her swollen ankle. “I’ve been taping her shins for the past month and sometimes it was helpful and other times I could tell by the look on her face” that she was in agony.

“It’s really unfortunate that we’ve got such great kids that work so hard, that don’t do anything wrong as far as training, and they’ve got these conditions that only the good Lord has control over,” he added. “Life’s not fair (but) every school has kids who work hard and things don’t come out right for them.”

Even if Vann can’t make it back, the Cavaliers still will be tough to beat with Deis, Schimmoeller and a few younger runners such as Hannah Owen, Anna Carter, who ran a lifetime-best time of 21:24 at Christiansburg, freshman Carson Wilkerson, who’s running in the 22-minute range, Alexis Bowen, Becky Blue and Elizabeth Francis, daughter of JF principal Tony Francis.

But Loy doesn’t count out the Bees, coached by Cory Morris.

“You’ve got to respect Brookville,” he said. “They’re well coached. They have three girls that are very good.”

Glass’ boys and girls teams both had tremendous turnouts this summer, with an excellent feeder program at Linkhorn Middle, making them seem more like Group AAA competition.

“I think he’s got 35 and I’ve got 33, so it’s insane,” Trent said of boys coach Jerry Salmon and herself.

Trent’s team is loaded with underclassmen, but features seniors at the top, including No. 1 runner Elizabeth Lee.

“She’s never even run before,” Trent said. “She’s a horseback rider. Her boyfriend told her she would be a great runner and she ought to try it. She can run forever. She’s very good.”

Salmon is optimistic about his boys, who returned six of their top seven runners, all but John Adams, from last year’s squad that placed ninth overall in their first Group AA state meet.

“I don’t know if I’m good enough to beat Forest, but I’ve got a good team,” he said. “I’m hoping that if they run to their potential we’ll have some success on all three levels (district, region and state).”

The future looks bright for the Hilltoppers.

“I’ve got some great ninth graders,” Salmon said. “Assuming these kids stay with it, next year we ought to be really good because everybody will have aged up.”

Glass’ No. 4 runner is Jermayne Waller, a junior who also plays cornerback, receiver and on special teams for the football team. He may have injured a hip flexor muscle after sprinting past teammate Joe Seo down the finish chute at Presbyterian Homes on Wednesday.

“I’m hoping it’s not a football injury,” said Waller, who’s running cross country to try to improve in the distance relays in indoor and outdoor track.