ST. MARGARET'S, ESSEX COMPETE AT WILLIAM & MARY INVITATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY MEET

Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357 (w)
Fax: 804-443-6781

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Margaret's, Essex Compete at William & Mary Invitational Cross Country Meet

St. Margaret's 1999 Cross Country Team with the 1999 Essex High School Boys and Girls teams, Williamsburg, VA.

St. Margaret's first ever cross country team ran in its second meet of the season Saturday, October 2 in Williamsburg. Essex High School's boys and girls teams also made the trip from Tappahannock to join St. Margaret's at the 37th Annual William & Mary High School Cross Country Invitational.

The Girls "C" race (third level varsity) alone featured 40 teams from around the state and southeast including Bethesda/Chevy Chase, Trinity Episcopal, St. Andrew's, Norfolk Academy, York, Covenant, Greenbriar Christian Academy, New Kent, and Virginia Beach's Frank W. Cox High School.

Five St. Margaret's runners competed in the junior varsity 5,000 meter (equivalent to 3.1 miles) race at 8:45 a.m. To lead SMS, Lexi Shoemaker, of Richardson, TX, placed 189th overall with a respectable time of 26:59. Shoemaker was followed by Kathleen McDermott (27:23), Whitney Bowen (28:07), Tonia Arsala (30:32), and Margot Whisnant (33:00). SMS finished 37th overall in the junior varsity division.

"All of the hard work (at practice) leading up to this point suddenly made a lot of sense," reflected Kathleen McDermott on Saturday's race. "Before today I couldn't make a connection between practice and meets, but now we know--as a team--how we size up and what we have to do."

Sophomore Kelly Proctor (23:33; 102nd overall) led St. Margaret's top seven runners helping her squad place 35th in the Girls "C" varsity division. Lisa Jimenez (25:20), Alston Moore (27:10), Truc Pham (27:12), and Laura Bishop (27:32) added to give SMS a combined team score of 870 points (team scores are derived by adding the overall finish place for the first five runners on a team). Nabila Ali (29:18), of Dhaka, Bangladesh, finished sixth for SMS; Kristen Hassel, of Mathews, NC, (29:33) was seventh.

Essex High School finished one spot behind St. Margaret's as the 36th overall team in the Girls "C" varsity race. Dolly Rennolds (24:02) took top honors for Essex finishing 126th overall; Sarah Perry (24:50), Kristi Gordon (28:10), Robin Mundie (28:10), and Kristen Helms (29:57) combined to give Essex an overall team score of 928 points. With another strong showing, the Essex boys finished 37th overall in the Mens "C" varsity division. Ashby Carver (19:42) placed 165th overall; followed by Michael Langford (20:33), Billy Turner (20:52), David Trombello (21:18), Ricky Shannon (23:39), Ulric Rogers (25:15), and Mathew Kirk (26:00). Essex finished with 1,047 points.

"That was intense," said St. Margaret's head coach Clarissa Roberts following Saturday's race. "There were so many schools. It got kind of crazy."

Roberts adds, "I am so proud of the girls. They didn't get distracted by the big scene and just settled into their own, and each ran her own race just as we talked about. At this point in the season with a brand new team, we are exactly where we want to be."

Roberts, a runner herself, spearheaded this year's cross country program. "I love running and wanted to give the girls something constructive to do with their time," comments Roberts. "Running can be very therapeutic and has so many benefits both physically and mentally. It's really a lot of fun."

Roberts teaches geography at SMS and also plans to coach soccer this spring. Her team will make its home debut this Saturday, October 9th, in the 5K Rappahannock River Run to begin at 8:00 AM in front of St. Margaret's Hall on Water Lane.