RICHMOND, VA – The fourth annual McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont is excited to announce the list of high schools that have accepted invitations as of June 30 to compete in the Elite Invitational Division of the September 29-30, 2006 event.
The quality of the teams is outstanding and a national level competition is assured. In the Boys Invitational Division, Chapel Hill (N.C.) returns four of their top seven from a team that finished last season as the North Carolina State 4A champs, ranked #1 in the Nike Southeast region and #12 in the U.S. Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology (Fairfax, Va.) returns five of its top seven on a team that placed second in the state meet and was ranked #6 in the Nike Southeast. Trinity (Louisville, Ky.) returns all seven members of its state runner-up team that was a Nike Southeast #9. Oakton (Va.), the defending state AAA champion and #5 ranked team in the Nike Southeast, will attend. West Springfield (Va.) may be a little depth shy but features arguably the best individual in Mike Spooner. Hermitage (Richmond, Va.) will bring in a squad that returns six of seven and finished 4th at the 2005 state meet. Jamestown (Williamsburg, Va.) and Western Albemarle (Crozet, Va.) return at least five of the top seven from teams that placed 5th and second respectively at the Virginia "AA" level. Western could be a sleeper in that the bulk of the team will be sophomores and juniors this year and has a history of coming up big in big meets. Clarke County (Berryville, Va.) has dominated that portion of Virginia and all of group "A" for the past several years. This will be the "Clarke Kents" first foray on the national stage. Also accepting an invitation is Fork Union Military Academy (Va.). They bring their own set of big time credentials to the meet. Coach Brown returns the top five runners from a team that won the small school championship at the Great American Cross Country Festival in 2005 and dominated the Virginia Prep League.
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The Girls Division may be tougher than the Boys! Eleanor Roosevelt (Green Belt, Md.) returns everyone from the 2005 Maryland 4A Championship team that ended the season ranked #1 in the Nike Southeast Region Poll and #11 in the U.S. Tatnall (De.) returns everyone from its state championship team that was ranked #3 in the Nike Southeast. Chapel Hill returns all seven runners from the North Carolina 4A championship team. They are poised to break into the Nike rankings. Blacksburg (Va.) returns six of the top seven from the state "AA" runner-up squad and has proven they can run with anyone on a given day. Clark County (Va.), coming off a state A championship, also returns six of their top seven. Virginia High School League (VHSL) Eastern Region power Great Bridge returns six of their top seven and features Kristy Tobin, who has won multiple state championships and All-America honors in the running sports. VHSL Northwest Region entry Albemarle is similar to West Springfield in the Boys Division in that they have questions in the back of the pack. The front is very solid with state "AAA" champion Rachel Rose and #2 Elizabeth Barclay. Other acceptances will be announced as they come in.
The Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers, organizers of the event as well as the nationally acclaimed SunTrust Richmond Marathon and Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k, are also pleased to announce the addition of Dan Ward as meet director. Dan is a veteran cross country and track and field meet director whose resume includes the annual Southern Track Classic and the Virginia High School League AAA state meet.
The Sports Backers have also entered into a partnership with the highly acclaimed website MileStat.com to provide complete coverage of the meet. The extensive meet coverage will include stories, profiles of top competitors, photos and video.
The McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont is expected to draw more than 2,000 athletes in the four different divisions. Entries are confirmed from the following states: VA, NC, DE, NY, NJ, VT, KY and MD.
For general information, contact info@sportsbackers.org. For information about the Invitational Division, contact danielward@spsk12.net. All meet information is posted at www.sportsbackers.org.