by Pearl Watts

Wednesday, October 25 -- Seek and destroy. That is what Alan Webb of South Lakes did today at Burke Lake Park in the Concorde District championships as he did not just go after the course record of 14 minutes, 19 seconds set by Sharif Karie of West Springfield in 1996, but thoroughly demolished the old mark with a remarkable time of 13:57 for the scintillating Seahawk's senior.

In an exciting Concorde girls match up, Jefferson and Chantilly were even at 51 points through their first five scoring runners but the winner was Jefferson with their number six runner finishing 17th and Chantilly's number six at 39th position in the tie-breaker. Keira Carlstrom of Oakton ran a personal best of 17:54 to win the girls individual title with Kelley Otstott pacing Jefferson to the victory with her runner-up finish in 18:05.

Webb, who off his excellent training workouts and race performances in the early season, started thinking about not only the record but also an assault on the seemingly impregnable 14 minute mark a month ago, showed why he is considered one of the finest high school distance runners to emerge in the nation in the past few years.

Running in excellent weather in the 60's with virtually no breeze, Webb let everyone know that this was no walk through the park as he went out extremely fast; covering the first half mile in 2:09 and then going through the first mile in 4:32. The Webbmaster then split 2:13 for his next half mile on the mostly downhill portion of the course to be at 6:45 for the 1.5 mark and then put a 2:25 split on the board on the mostly uphill following section to pass the two mile mark in an eye popping 9:10.The next half mile is mostly uphill and considered the hardest part of the course and Webb responded with a time of 2:30 to be at 11:40 at 2.5 miles. From there it was a matter of maintaining his form and holding on and he did just that in covering the final portion of the course in 2:17 for his 13:57 record-breaker. That was 28 seconds faster than Webb had run in early September at the Monroe Parker Invitational on the same course and is even more remarkable considering only three other runners besides Webb had ever broken 14:30 in the 27-year history of the present course layout. As if that isn't enough, only 21 other regional runners have ever run within one minute of Webb's time, in an area known for producing quality distance runners.

Webb said, "I spent from that effort. To run below 14 minutes, I made myself think of well below 14. Once I got through the first mile in the 4:30 range I knew I was on pace to do it." Webb's heroics were not enough to propel the South Lakes team to victory as Oakton was impressive in scoring 30 points to win the Concorde boys title paced by Matt Maline's second place finish in 15:07.

In an exciting Concorde girls match up, Jefferson and Chantilly were even at 51 points through their first five scoring runners but the winner was Jefferson with their number six runner finishing 17th and Chantilly's number six at 39th position in the tie-breaker. Keira Carlstrom of Oakton ran a personal best of 17:54 to win the girls individual title with Kelley Otstott pacing Jefferson to the victory with her runner-up finish in 18:05.

Concorde Boys:

Team Results: 1. Oakton 30; 2. South Lakes 60; 3. Jefferson 74; 4. Herndon 84; 5. Chantilly 110; 6. Centreville 165; WestField 194

Individual Results: 1. Alan Webb (SL) 13 minutes, 57 seconds, [new meet and course record; breaks meet record of 14:53 by Eric Post (CHA) in 1996 and Alan Webb (SL) in 1999; breaks course record of 14:19 by Sharif Karie (West Springfield) in 1996]; 2. Matt Maline (OAK) 15:07; 3. Phil Gaeta (OAK) 15:39; 4. Richard Smith (SL) 15:46; 5. Justin Simcox (OAK) 15:52; 6. Colin Chapman (CHA) 15:52; 7. Jon Walsh (JEF) 15:53; 8. Rasheed Thompson (HER) 15:54; 9. Chris Provencher (OAK) 16:01; 10. Ethan Coffey (CHA) 16:04; 11. Mike Krappweis (OAK) 16:04; 12. Traik Jones (JEF) 16:05; 13. Michael Heiner (CEN) 16:06; 14. Chris Weedon (HER) 16:07; 15. Todd Kronenburg (SL) 16:08

Concorde Girls:

Team Results: 1. Jefferson 51 (win on tie-breaker, number six finisher in 17th place); 2. Chantilly 51 (number six finisher in 39th); 3. Herndon 76; 4. Oakton 78; 5. Centreville 121; 6. South Lakes 139; 7. Westfield 186

Individual Results: 1. Keira Carlstrom (OAK) 17:54; 2. Kelley Otstott (JEF) 18:05; 3. Dacia Barr (CEN) 18:20; 4. Tracy Williams (CHA) 18:39; 5. Laurie Yarger (CHA) 18:42; 6. Kristen Hart (HER) 19:06; 7. Jenny Miller (HER) 19:07; 8. Blair Eadie (CHA) 19:15; 9. Pat Murtagh (SL) 19:18; 10. Hilary Goss (JEF) 19:26; 11. Jessica Rapheal (OAK) 19:32; 12. Ana Avramovic (JEF) 19:34; 13. Sarah Levine (JEF) 19:44; 14. Andrea Lopez (JEF) 19:45; 15. Sara Youngren (OAK) 19:51