Emily Blagg

Check out the top rankings in the 5000 Meter Run for VA.

Here are the girls all-time rankings for 5K according to our database.

Check out the all-time performances by VA girls at McAlpine right here.

Who makes the cut for top 1000 all-time performers at McAlpine Park?

Here are the top 1,000 times all-time at Oatlands.

Here are the top 1,000 girls times from the Great Meadow non-state meet course.

Coaching boys and coach girls can be two totally different styles in this sport. There are some coaches who seem to enjoy much more success coaching one gender over the other as the balance and transition to use different approaches and adapt quickly can be difficult for any coach's natural personality. One coach who has enjoyed steady and consistent success with her girls' team over recent years including a current active streak of four consecutive VISAA division 1 state cross country team titles is Cindy Walls of Bishop O'Connell. Coach Walls appears to strike the right balance with her girls to get the best out of them competitively, but also let them know that she cares about them. Quite a few coaches of the top public school programs in the state often want to ask Coach Walls at the Blue Ridge Running Camp every summer how she does it. Find out in our interview with Coach Walls coming in at #8 on our top 10 high school cross country coaches in Virginia list.

Updated private school cross country rankings as of Wednesday, September 1st. No changes were made in the top 10 team rankings, but Josh McNamara (pictured left by Alan Norfleet) of Richmond Christian with track PR's of 4:38 1600 and 10:02 3200 jumps into the boys individual rankings at #11 after transferring back to the private schools from L.C. Bird.   The Bishop O'Connell girls had a impressive top three pack of runners finishing among the top 10 at the Great Meadow Invitational and ahead of many Group AAA and Group AA All-State caliber runners to give them the top three individual rankings this week with Sarah McCarthy taking over the #1 spot from teammate and pre-season #1 Emily Blagg while O'Connell sophomore Devin Nihill moves up to #3.

Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery had nothing but open space to run on Saturday after spending her freshmen year running with the likes of now graduated Northwest Region stars Katherine Walker, Kaitlyn Davis, and Ariel Karabinus. Lowery, splitting time once again with field hockey this fall, won by 51 seconds with her time of 18:35. Last year she improved a full minute from her first to second race at Great Meadow.   After putting together strong finishes and beating many of the top ranked public schools in Virginia for several years at Great Meadow, the three-time private school champion Bishop O'Connell girls scored a monumental win in the program's history with their first place finish on Saturday. The VA #10 ranked O'Connell girls put three runners among the top 10 in the competitive field with Sarah McCarthy (5th, 19:44), Emily Blagg (8th, 19:59), and Devin Nihill (9th, 20:00) as they front loaded with their top three on a well packed VA #9 ranked Colonial Forge squad (27 second 1-5 spread) to win by 31 points with their team score of 55.   The Gonzaga boys and Collin Leibold took it to the Virginians in the opening meet of the 2010 cross country season for the Washington, DC private school. Gonzaga's top runner Leibold was able to open up on a talented pack which included Loudoun County's Tommy Curtin, Lee-Davis' Cody Snyder, and Warren County's Seumas O'Reilly in the second loop of the hill course at Great Meadow. Leibold was the only runner under 16 minutes with his 15:54 victory. Following Leibold, Gonzaga had their entire top five under 17:30 and among the top 35 to finish with an overall team score of 92 points for the team title.   In the race for second individually after Leibold, neither Curtin nor O'Reilly were able to chase after the leader or break away from Cody Snyder of Lee-Davis with his 2:29 1000 closing speed. Snyder was able to take advantage to outsprint both highly ranked Group AA runners for second place in 16:03. Warren County's O'Reilly put together another strong opener at Great Meadow following his runner-up finish in 2009 and put his name in the hat as a Group AA state darkhorse defeating contender Curtin.   Curtin while disappointed with his first race of the season and coming off a recent wisdom teeth surgery to interrupt his training, had to take great pleasure in his team's performance as the Group AA #8 pre-season ranked team shocked a lot of people including their own coach Courtney Campbell in beating out VA #5 ranked Riverbend on the sixth runner tiebreaker for second place in the team standings with an equal team score of 143 points. Loudoun County not only leapfrogged several higher ranked teams in their region and Group AA, but also defeated two VA top 10 pre-season ranked squads in #3 Colonial Forge (5th) and #8 Mountain View (8th).   MEET PAGE w/ FULL COVERAGE Results: Varsity A Boys - Varsity A Girls - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls - JV FR/SO Boys - JV FR/SO Girls - JV JR/SR Boys - JV JR/SR Girls Photo Gallery by Brandon Miles - Over 2,000 photos total. Race Videos: Varsity A Girls - Varsity A Boys - JV FR/SO Girls - JV FR/SO Boys - JV JR/SR Girls - JV JR/SR Boys - Varsity B Boys - Varsity B Girls Video Interviews: Coach Campbell (Loudoun County) - Coach Walls (Bishop O'Connell) - Hannah Lowery (Stafford) - Cody Snyder (Lee-Davis) - Seumas O'Reilly (Warren County) - Tommy Curtin (Loudoun County)

Private school girls pre-season cross country rankings with 10 deep in teams and 25 deep in individuals. The Bishop O'Connell girls have no plans on stopping their dynasty and streak of Virginia Independent Schools state titles with their entire top seven back from a year ago, which won the state crown by a margin of 30 points. Last year's runners-up from St. Catherine's should be even stronger than a year ago and the Episcopal girls will make for formidable challengers to O'Connell while also making it tough for other teams to break into the top 3 come November at Woodberry Forest.   Three of the top four finishers from last year's Division I state race including Julia Sroba of Collegiate and Emily Blagg of O'Connell (both pictured above by Brandon Miles) who had a spirited battle for second place. While always known primarily as a middle distance runner. the success and state titles by Taylor Clevinger of St. Catherine's this past indoor and outdoor season including a 2:14 800 should elevate her to excel at the 5K distance as well.

After slow starts to their seasons, the Woodberry Forest boys and Anneka Wilson of The Potomac School are coming on strong in championship season and ready to defend their state titles from a year ago. The Bishop O'Connell girls are expected to stream roll through another state title with no signs of letting up in the near future with no seniors in their top seven, while Fork Union's Josh Morris appears more than fit to join the small list of sub 16 performers at Woodberry Forest.

A young Bishop O'Connell girls squad with many newcomers for a school looking to extend its streak of Virginia Independent Schools state championships this fall showed the strength of pack running on Saturday at the Peter Geraghty Invitational in Maryland. After starting the season with a distance fifth place finish at the Great Meadow Invitational, the O'Connell girls (photo left by Tim O'Dowd) looked much better a week later with a tight 18 second spread among their top five through places 10 and 15. Their final team score of 58 points allowed them to outdistance themselves by 18 points from runner-up Century High School of Maryland in the 24 team field.   There is not a single senior among their top five this weekend with freshmen Devin Nihill (10th, 20:28), sophomore Sarah McCarthy (11th, 20:28), junior Ashley Stumvoll (13th, 20:42), sophomore Emily Blagg (14th, 20:46), and junior Michelle Van Horn (15th, 20:46), which is not good news for the rest of the private school teams in the state of Virginia.   Meet Results