Great Race of the Great Bay 2001

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- The state of Virginia will be represented at the annual Great Race of the Great Bay in San Francisco, California by some of the top teams and individuals in our state.

Headlining the race for Virginia is the #25 nationally ranked Midlothian boys squad. The defending Group AAA State champions will be looking to have an even stronger 2001 cross country season as they lost only 1 runner from last year's squad. Leading the way for Midlothian will be Anthony D'Amato, the #10 ranked runner in the state. He's got a strong group of guys backing him up with brother Mike D'Amato, Jason Call, Andrew Baker, and Ryan Witt. The squad will be toeing it up with some of the best squads on the West Coast. However, Midlothian will most likely prove why they are a nationally ranked squad as they are one of the favorites in the high profile race.

Along with the Midlothian girls squad, the Lake Braddock girls, last year's Group AAA State champions will be competing in San Francisco. The team was hit hard by graduation, but returns one of the premier distance runners in the state in junior Kelly Swain. While the rest of her squad, bypassed the Monroe Parker Invitational, Swain ran the race teamless, but showed no signs of weaknesses as she blazed the 2.98 mile course at Burke Lake in an amazing time of 18:10.

Like Swain, Lake Braddock junior Steve Hoogland ran without his squad at the Monroe Parker Invitational. He performed extremely well as also as he placed third with a time of 15:49. Hoogland and Swain will be running with their squads behind them this weekend however and hope to show that Lake Braddock is not going through a rebuilding year, but instead a championship contending year. Good luck in Cali to all Virginia runners!