With participation from 101 schools, some from as far away as New York and Colorado, last Saturday’s Oatlands Invitational just outside of Leesburg turned out to be quite the cross country meet.
For a few area runners, the race provided a measuring stick against some of the most talented runners in the state of Virginia.
Chantilly’s Rachel Grochowski finished first overall in the Girls B race. Grochowski, a junior, finished atop the 334-runner field with a time of 19 minutes, 43 seconds.
“Last year I didn’t do well in this race, so I wanted to show I could do it,” said the second-year Charger, who finished ahead of second-place Stephanie Marzen and third-place Sarah Stites, both Jefferson Colonials.
In the girls’ team standings, Westfield High was fourth overall, Centreville was 10th and Chantilly was 22nd among a field of 47 schools. Westfield was led by senior Jessie Hartman (23rd), while Centreville had a solid outing from sophomore Juli Cuono (32nd).
On the boys’ side, top local finishers were Centreville senior Dan Grimm (18th in the Boys A race), Chantilly junior Chris Foley (11th) and Westfield senior Jack Canatsey (6th in the Boys B race).