Thursday, November 2 --Bryce Ruiz seems to only be getting stronger as the cross country season nears climax. Ruiz a junior at Jamestown high school set the William and Mary course record on Thursday running 15:03. The old record 15:05 was set in 1994 by former Arkansas star Seneca Lassiter of Lafayette high school. Ruiz and Alan Webb of South Lakes high school in Reston, are the only two Virginia runners that have had all their races under 16:00. Ruiz took control from the start and never looked back. Alan Carr of York High school came 16 seconds later in 15:19.
"I just went out and tried pushing the race," Ruiz said. "This is my home course, so I know every inch of it. I just made a surge in the middle of the race and around the curves."
Jamestown coach Ed Boyd was proud of his boys team, not just Ruiz. The Jamestown boys used a 42 second "pack" time between the 2 and 5 runners to control the race.
"Today they came out and wanted to dominate," Boyd said. "They wanted to come out and play. They really wanted this. (Bryce) ran a good race today. He looked tough. He looked scary tough."
The Jamestown boys and Grafton girls followed up their Bay Rivers District cross country team championships by adding the Region I hardware to their schools' showcase Thursday.
Jamestown crushed runner-up Lafayette by 42 points on the 5-kilometer Eastern State Hospital course and placed 5 boys in the individual top 15 to easily capture the crown.
The third-place York boys and fourth-place Tabb also earned spots in the state meet, which is Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Great Meadows course in Warrenton.
The girls race was the most exciting of the day with Ann Lee Cole of Nottoway and Stacy Potter of Massaponax running together and changing leads many times throughout the 5k race. With 50 yards to go Cole put on a kick but she was followed closely by Potter with a kick of her own. Cole was able to win the race in an outstanding time of 18:53 to Cole's 18:54.
In the girls team standings, Grafton beat Lafayette 59-65, with Jamestown coming in third and Chancellor fourth. York finished fifth, 25 points behind Chancellor for the last state berth.
Both Grafton and Lafayette had three runners in the top 15. Jamestown, with Chrissie Rich (19:34) running the fastest time of all Bay Rivers runners, put two in the top 15. Grafton's girls, paced by the fourth-place showing of Bay Rivers champion
Amanda McHenry, ran well enough to grab their first-ever Region I title.
Boys
Team Scores:
1. Jamestown 32
2. Lafayette 74
3. York 102
4. Tabb 117
5. Caroline 118
6. Spotsylvania 157
7. King George 179
8. Powhatan 197
9. Chancellor 210
10. Nottoway 266
11. Greensville County 332
Top 15 Individuals:
1. Bryce Ruiz (Jam) 15:03
2. Allen Carr (Y) 15:19
3. Christopher Gutridge (Car) 15:56
4. Tony Davila (Jam) 16:07
5. Dallas Sicay (Gra) 16:14
6. Preston Wall (Laf) 16:20
7. Jeff Magner (Jam) 16:23
8. Brandon Miles (Jam) 16:24
9. Keith Sim (Pow) 16:27
10. Christopher Gray (Car) 16:27
11. Jimmy Kohlman (Laf) 16:39
12. Timothy Mulherin (Tabb) 16:43
13. Scott Tiernan (Laf) 16:45
14. Cord Bise (Car) 16:47
15. Phillip Cooke (Jam) 16:49
Girls
Team Scores:
1. Grafton 59
2. Lafayette 65
3. Jamestown 77
4. Chancellor 94
5. York 119
6. Massaponax 146
7. Nottoway 178
8. King George 224
9. Courtland 237
10. Greensville County 244
11. Powhatan 272
Top 15 Individuals:
1. Ann Lee Cole (Not) 18:53
2. Stacy Potter (Mas) 18:54
3. Chrissie Rich (Jam) 19:34
4. Amanda McHenry (Gra) 19:43
5. Laura Smith (Tabb) 19:44
6. Ashley Reyher (Laf) 19:45
7. Briana Kearney (Laf) 19:46
8. Mary Beth Litton (Chan) 19:53
9. Julianne Terry (Y) 20:23
10. Valerie Lamber (Gra) 20:25
11. Remy Merriam (Mas) 20:26
12. Grace Zamora (Jam) 20:37
13. Melissa Kershner (Laf) 20:44
13. Melissa Patterson (Cha) 20:47
14. Amanda Alward (Gra) 20:58
