Lady Vikings Set PRs at Oatlands

Running an incomplete varsity team didn't prevent the girls of Loudoun Valley from producing impressive results in this weekend's Oatlands Invitational. Battling illness and minor injuries, the Viking's played it safe by withholding 4 of its top 7 varsity runners from the race. Even so, the team, as a whole, tallied 8 personal records among its 15 competing members.

Senior Ceci Fetterolf did the early leading for the team in the Varisty A race, opening her season with a time of 21:21, the exact time she posted at last season's state championship on the same course, showing that she is ready to pick up precisely where she left off last season. Although Fetterolf led through approximately halfway for the team, it was sophomore Eryn Lackey who patiently moved her way through the field to overtake the team's lead position. Lackey passed the mile mark in approximately 50th place before climbing her way to finish in 33rd, setting her second consecutive PR with a time of 20:21 and taking 11 seconds off of the time she set just two weeks ago at Great Meadow.

Like Fetterolf, Geneva Dinh also made her season debut at Oatlands in grand fashion. tThe senior showcased the benefits of consistent summer training as she opened her season with a personal best of 22:19, taking approximately 20 seconds off of her previous best time. Katherine Slovak rounded out the varsity team with her time of 22:53, a season best by 54 seconds.

The bulk of the team's PR-setting came in the underclassman race. Featuring 8 newcomers to the team, the Lady Viking's came away with 6 new personal bests. Malayna Smith and Kaitlyn Sullivan paved the way for the team as the duo ran times of 25:04 and 25:16, respectively. Smith's time was over 4 minutes faster than her time on the same course just 3 days earlier and 1:40 faster than her season opening time at Great Meadow. Sullivan had a similarly impressive performance, running over a minute faster than earlier in the week and slicing 13 seconds from her previous best.

Behind Smith and Sullivan, the PRs kept rolling in. Jolie Brackens opened her Viking career with a 26:04, a time that is a faster pace than her 2-mile time trial earlier in the preseason, despite being more than a mile longer. Mirren Boswell crossed the line 4th for the Vikings underclassman girls with her personal best of 26:42, a 40 second drop from her previous best time. Grace Maceri continued to show improvement, dropping over 2 minutes from her time on Wednesday to cross the line in a season best of 27:57.

Clementine Little and Grace Kestler also earned personal bests with their times of 31:53 and 33:35, respectively.

In upperclassman action, Sadie Smith opened her season with a time of 24:56. A late addition to the team, Smith looks to drop considerable time from her season opener as the season progresses. Behind Smith, fellow senior Ally Bell ran a season best by more than two minutes, taking her Great Meadow time from 29:50 down to 27:13 at Oatlands. Bell now has her sights set on her all time PR of 25:12 as the second half of the season approaches.

Full results can be found on milestat.com's results page, while team results can be found on our own performance tracker.