By: Roger Hopper
Season Overview
What a wild ride it has been! With COVID-19 wiping out all live local races from mid-March to mid-June, the spring rankings were a total loss. Then the summer had more than its fair share of postponements and cancellations. Of course I am a huge proponent of safety and caution, especially in times of uncertainty, but I was also more than happy when races came back and were able to be held somewhat safely within government-mandated guidelines. Unfortunately, some of the biggest races, and many people's favorites, are unable to adhere to those guidelines no matter what efforts are made to do so, but luckily a handful of smaller events were able to carry on with some limitations. Masks and social distancing on the starting line, multiple heats of 50 or less instead of one big race, and reduced or altogether cancelled post-race festivities were just some of the implementations made to allow these few races to take place and make them as safe as possible. Hats off to the race directors and others involved in making these events happen, especially when it came to dealing with last-minute venue and course changes. These days, the opportunity to race is something we can't take for granted, and we should express our gratitude to those who work so hard to safely give us that opportunity.
With high temperatures and humidity, especially in Hampton Roads, summer is usually a time with less competitive races and even fewer great performances than other seasons. This was particularly true this year, when the weather was exceptionally oppressive and COVID limited the number of local races to about a quarter of what we usually have, resulting in the least competitve rankings ever. Despite this, there were just enough local races to put these rankings together. I usually wouldn't consider the Strider Mile as these rankings typically only include events 5K and further, but with such a scarcity of races, especially Southside, I made an exception. All of that being said, despite all of the challenges of this summer, there were some great performances to acknowledge. If the age grades seem a bit less impressive than what you are used to, this is because I am using the updated 2020 tables for age grading. These tables are updated every 5 years, and since the last tables were released in 2015 there have been significant improvements across the board for age grade standards. Depending on your age, runners can expect to see a drop in age grade by about 0.5-1% compared to what it would've been using the 2015 tables.
Male Overall
Just about all of us have a bucket list. Over the past several years, a couple of seemingly unattainable things at the top of my bucket list were someday winning the Elizabeth River Run 10K and the Run the DOG Street 5K, two of the marquee and most competitive races annually in Hampton Roads. More recently, I added topping these rankings to that list. When I "won" the 2019 ERR 10K after the bike leader took the should've-been winner on a 7+ mile tour of Portsmouth while race director Thomas Hicks jumped on his bicycle to ensure I ran the proper 6.2 mile course, I rightfully ascribed a big asterisk next to that "win" in my head. The same applies here, with DOG Street missing it's annual sub-15:35 (or much faster) winner and these rankings missing a handful of the most competitive runners in Hampton Roads, all more or less thanks to COVID, one way or another. Still, at least half of life is just showing up, and show up I did to take advantage of near-perfect weather for early September in Williamsburg and run a PR 15:44 (81.67% age-graded) to win the DOG Street 5K with a rankings-best 32:48 10K equivalent. DOG Street bookended my summer with my 16:12 win at the Virginia Regional Ballet 5K on June 20th, the first race back in Hampton Roads after all of the pandemic cancellations and postponements. I also picked up a win at the Night Owl 9K in July.
The summer wasn't without any drama, however, as just a week after I beat William Thompson at the Ballet 5K, he handed me a 17-second defeat with his robust 16:09 win at the very warm Run for Mental Strength 5K. Thompson's times at those two races would stand tall in 1st throughout the summer until my 15:44 at the buzzer, not unlike how Seth Kolosso knocked off my top performances for 1st on the last day of the winter 2019-2020 edition of these rankings. Will and I each moved up one spot from the previous rankings. Sam Stephenson turned in a 4:53.3 for 12th at the very competitive Strider Mile (1600m), which had much more agreeable weather than the Real Feel 110F we had at the short-course Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles), where Stephenson ran 17:03 for 5th. Stephenson is one of a small handful of ranked returners from the last rankings, moving up to 3rd here from 10th this past winter. Draven Fernandez, one of the Salem High School cross country and track athletes I coach, was right on Stephenson's heels at the Strider Mile in a PR 4:53.6, and slots into 4th here. Fernandez finished 3rd at the Ballet and Mental Strength 5Ks behind Thompson and me, including a PR 17:23 at the Ballet 5K. Finishing out the top 5 is impressive master Joel Bell, highlighed by his great sub-5 Strider Mile performance in 4:59.3 (81.06% age-graded).
Rounding out the top 10, we start with 6th-ranked Cary Caldwell, a Warhill High School senior who recorded a 17:41 for 4th at the Ballet 5K and picked up the win in 18:19 on the always-challenging Warhill Trail 5K course at the H.E.A.R.T. 5K. 7th and 8th are Salem junior Robert Cummings and Salem alumnus Jarrett Sindt, with their respective 5:07.1 and 5:11.3 efforts at the Strider Mile. Sindt looked impressive flying by 9th-ranked Tommy Neeson in the last 100m of the 2nd heat at the Strider Mile, where Neeson finished in 5:13.1 for an age grade of 80.95%. 10th is Patrick Quirk, who did narrowly beat Neeson's time at the Strider Mile with his 5:12.5, but also finished almost a minute behind Neeson at the Scholarship 5K, resulting in him ranking just behind Neeson here. Rankings 11th-13th also illustrate the importance of head-to-head competition. Jonathan Torres (11th) and Glenn Glass (12th) ran nearly-identical times at DOG Street, but Torres had the much more superior time at the Ballet 5K (18:10-18:48), so he gets the nod over Glass here. Jason Miller had the best 5K time of the 3 with his narrowly-better 18:08 at DOG Street, but Torres and Glass both beat Miller handily at the Ballet and Mental Strength 5Ks, resulting in the rankings falling as they are. Torres jumps up 13 spots in the rankings compared to last winter. 14th-ranked Lorenzo Short, a Warhill sophomore, rounds out the returning ranked runners by moving up 7 spots from the winter with his strong 18:16 for 7th at the Ballet 5K.
There was quite the crop of competitive runners with only one qualifying effort. In fact, well over a dozen runners could have made the top 5 had they run another race. It would seem COVID limited everyone's racing opportunities, and that is reflected by these rankings being by far the least competitive male overall rankings yet. You can usually count on the 10K equivalent barrier for entry into the top 10 being about 35 minutes, and 38 minutes and slower 10K equivalents are usually left out of the top 25. Here, however, the usual time needed to break into the top 25, about 37:30, was good enough for the top 10! And a 10K equivalent as slow as 40 minutes could get you into the top 25. Top runners with only one race included Western Branch High School alum and current VMI runner Andre Jordan, who topped my second place effort at the Strider Mile (1600m) by quite the margin, 4:31.9 to 4:42.5. Next was William and Mary and Team Blitz man Jacob Warner, who finish 2nd at DOG Street in a swift 16:26. There was a large contingent of Southside high schoolers, along with local favorites Drew Midland and Ryan Carroll, whose lone efforts of the summer were sub-4:50s at the Strider Mile. Grassfield High School alum Thomas Amabile conquered the heat, and my 2nd place effort 16:09, to win the Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles) in 15:55. The Tompkins family had a banner day at DOG Street, with Jamestown High junior Luke running 16:38 for 3rd and his father Mark, Jamestown's cross country and track coach, running 16:48 for 4th. Finally, rankings-regular John Walker, who is now at the Naval Academy but returns to the 757 for races now and then, ran a solid 16:21 for 3rd at the Scholarship 5K.
Male Masters
Top master Joel Bell pulled off the unusual feat of rising all the way from #25 in the previous rankings to #1 here, much deservedly so on the strength of his great sub-5 Strider Mile (1600m) performance (4:59.3 for 81.06% age-graded) that also earned him #5 in the overall rankings. Bell was also predictably the top master at the brutally hot Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles) in 17:56. 2nd master to Bell at both of those races, and now on this list, was Tommy Neeson, whose 5:13.1 1600m age grade of 80.95% is just inferior to Bell's. Top grand master Neeson moves up 7 spots from the last edition of these rankings. 3rd-ranked Jason Miller would get the summer's most improved master title if there was one, as after a handful of 5Ks well into the 19s he threw down his fantastic 18:08 in the great racing conditions at the DOG Street 5K on the last day of the ranking period, more than making up for his losses to 4th-ranked Greg Lynn and 5th-ranked Robert Whitaker in June. Like Miller, the ever-consistent Lynn capitalized at DOG Street for his best time of the summer, 18:19. Miller and Lynn were each big movers, improving 9 and 11 spots, respectively, from the last rankings. Robert Whitaker leads an awe-inspiring trio of senior grand masters in the top 10 with his 18:53 at the Virginia Regional Ballet 5K, good for a male-rankings-runner-up age grade of 84.82%. The inimitable Steve Chantry was the only one who could top that, with his DOG Street 18:58 grading out to a stellar rankings-high 87.43% and earning him a ranking of 7th. Chantry's time, far superior to the current Virginia state men's 65-69 age group road 5K record of 19:53, could've been credited with that acheivement, but due to last-minute course changes, the new course was not USATF certified in time and thus disappointly not eligible for state age group records. Rick Samaha rounds out this trio ranked 9th on the strength of his 19:38 (82.26% age-graded) at DOG Street paired with his 19:43 at the Ballet 5K (81.91%). Samaha beat 10th-ranked Joe Calkins 19:38-19:46 at DOG Street, but Calkins matched Samaha's 19:38 en route to topping his 19:43 at the Ballet 5K. Samaha's 3-second advantage in their 2nd-fastest races gives him the razor-thin edge here.
Let's go back to 6th-ranked Randy Shelton, who had a great summer of racing up in the Richmond/Petersburg area and will surely be headed down the Peninsula for more racing this fall. His top time came at his 3rd place finish at the Race for the Cause 5K in Colonial Heights, where he was top master by over a minute. Shelton also picked up overall wins at the Summer Pocahontas 10K and Explore the Shore 10K. Paul Pelletier added to the bunch of great masters performances at DOG Street with his 19:07 for a ranking of 8th, as did ranks 11-13 where David Anderson and Greg Dawson battled closely for 11th and 12th while Jon Leiding made the most of his trip up to Williamsburg with his 20:29. Leiding improves 5 spots from 18th in the winter to 13th here. Rounding out the few previously-ranked runners to make these rankings is Timothy Suhr, whose reward for challenging himself with the sweltering Patrick Henry Half Marathon and the slow, hilly, largely single track Night Owl 9K as his two qualifying races is being the only previously-ranked runner, male or female, to lose any ground, droping from 10th last time to 18th here. I have no doubt he is looking forward to running higher-quality times in better weather and on more forgiving courses this fall.
There were some great one-off masters efforts as well, including one runner who would've topped the category by over a minute with another race. Mark Tompkins, 44, ran an extraordinary 16:48 for 4th place overall at DOG Street, which is good for a 34:59 10K equivalent and an age grade of 83.04%. Tompkins was the top master in the last edition of these rankings, and there are undoubtedly more great times from him to come. Adding to the fantastic masters crowd at DOG Street was Steven Kast and his 18:51, good for an age grade of 80.73%. The quality at the top of these masters rankings dipped similarly to the overall rankings, with the 10K equivalent needed to make the top 10 falling by about 3.5 minutes. On the back end, the time needed to make the top 25 fell from sub-40 to just sub-49:30. With a full slate of fall races on the schedule, let's hope the COVID situation improves and we see a much more competitive rankings next season.
Female Overall
The top 4 overall women were very close, but Megan Schulze runs away with #1 on the strength of her early-summer 19:41 victory at the Virginia Regional Ballet 5K. Schulze picked up a trio of other wins at the Night Owl 9K, the Lake Matoaka 4.3 Mile Trail Challenge, and the Lighthouse 5K, the latter of which saw her beat all of the men in addition to the women for an impressive top overall finish in 20:20. She somehow managed to not race any of the other top 4 head-to-head - hopefully we will see at least one of these matchups in the fall. 2nd-ranked Emily Honeycutt ran well in great weather to win the DOG Street 5K in a PR 19:48, kicking hard to fend off 4th-ranked Jenny Moran, who had the lead late. Honeycutt also picked up wins at the warm Mental Strength 5K in 20:13 and the challenging-course H.E.A.R.T. 5K in 21:23. Moran did beat 3rd-ranked Ekaterina Aaron 20:21-20:46 at the Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles), but Aaron struck back at the Strider Mile (1600m), beating Moran 5:45.0-6:01.0, thus earning the narrow edge here. Moran, the only female master with a 10K equivalent under 44, let alone 42, ran well to achieve a PR 19:54 at DOG Street as her best time. 2020 Jamestown High School graduate Sorenna Jean rounds out the top 5 with a pair of strong 2nd place finishes to Schulze at the Ballet 5K in 20:38 and to Honeycutt at the Mental Strength 5K in 20:42. Schulze, Honeycutt, Moran, and Jean were the only returning ranked runners from the last rankings, and they all made sizable improvements by an average of about 10 spots each. With a more competitive fall looming, I'm looking forward to seeing how well they can maintain their high rankings.
Masters-rankings-regular Julie Hicks finds herself in the overall female rankings for the first time, all the way up at #6 thanks to her 6:17.4 for 9th at the Strider Mile and 22:36 for 12th at the Strider Scholarship 5K. 7th- ranked Christine Fernandez, whose son Draven is the 4th-ranked overall male, wasn't too far behind Hicks as she ran 6:29.9 at the Strider Mile and 23:34 at the Scholarship 5K. 8th on the list is Meaghan Gsell, who ran much better in the reasonable June temperatures at the Ballet 5K, where she finished 3rd in 22:57, than she did at the much warmer Mental Strength 5K, where she ran 25:00 for 10th. 9th-ranked Svetlana Goncharova nearly eclipsed Gsell's top time with her 23:00 for 4th at DOG Street, this after Gsell beat Goncharova by almost a minute at the Ballet 5K. Goncharova was the top female at the Tom Ray Predict Your Time 5 Miler in 40:45, 3rd overall including men and also 3rd overall at predicting her time. Karen Grabowski finishes out the top 10 with her 23:09 for 4th at the Mental Strength 5K. Rankings 11 and 12 go to a pair of local high schoolers, Salem junior Sidney Sindt for her 6:47.1 PR at the Strider Mile, and Jamestown junior Cannon Jean for her 23:30 for 6th at DOG Street.
There were some particularly spectacular times by women with only one race this summer, and no less than 5 of these could have been #1 had they put forth another effort. Maury High School grad and UPenn-bound Maeve Stiles impressed with her 17:23 win at the Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles), a 37:34 10K equivalent and 85.29% age-graded effort, both female-rankings bests. I'm sure I speak for us all when I say we look forward to seeing what great things Stiles will accomplish while running collegiately. Less than a minute behind Stiles' 10K equivalent, and 2.5 minutes ahead of Schulze's, was last season's #4 Christin Hoffstadt with her 5:20.6 win at the Strider Mile. Not too far back from there was Ocean Lakes alum and Ole Miss runner Madeleine King's 17:59 for 2nd at the Scholarship 5K. King's younger sister Meredith, a 2020 Ocean Lakes grad, had the second- best time at the Strider Mile, 5:34.3. Western Branch High School senior Saylor Burris was just a few seconds back of Meredith with her 5:38.4 for 3rd at the Strider Mile.
Like the men, the women's rankings saw a sharp drop in quality compared to the norm, quite obviously due to the warm and humid summer weather and limited opportunities to compete due to COVID. The typical 43-44 minute 10K equivalent to make the top 25 fell all the way to 57 minutes, while the whole top 10 of the 2 previous rankings would've been good enough for #1 here, though that shouldn't take away from Schulze as she herself was 9th last time with a 10K equivalent of 40:18. A top 10 qualifying 10K equivalent fell all the way from the usual 40-41 minutes to just sub-48. Also like the men, I expect to see a significant increase in rankings competitiveness come the fall season.
Female Masters
Jenny Moran fell just short of #1 in the overall category, but reigns supreme here, clearing the field by over 2.5 minutes in terms of 10K equivalent time with her PR 19:54 for 2nd at the Run the DOG Street 5K. Moran moves up from 2nd female master in the last rankings after being ranked 1st in fall 2019, and she will no doubt continue to make her case for #1 this fall. Southsiders who ran the only 2 summer races on their side of the water, the Strider Scholarship 5K (3 miles) and Strider Mile (1600m), for their top 2 times dominated the top half of this list, with 7 of the top 13 falling into this category. Leading this group is 2nd-ranked Julie Hicks, up 2 spots from the previous rankings with her 6:17.4 for 9th at the Strider Mile and 22:36 for 12th at the Scholarship 5K. Christine Fernandez wasn't far behind Hicks with her 6:29.9 Strider Mile and 23:34 Scholarship 5K, earning her a ranking of 3rd, an improvement of 13 spots from the last rankings. 4th- and 5th-ranked Susan Hagel and Kirsten Kelly finished in that same order at the Strider Mile with their respective 6:56.9 and 6:59.9. Kelly climbs all the way from #25 last time to make the top 5 here.
6th-ranked Kimberly Borges also did the Southside double, highlighted by her 7:05.8 effort at the Strider Mile. Borges moves up 17 spots from 23rd last time. Deelyn Robinson at 7th is the first Peninsula female master; the Williamsburg native ran well at DOG Street in 25:42 to earn her spot. Ranked 8th is the fastest female septuagenarian around, Betty Brothers, with her 7:35.4 good for a ranked-female-high 82.86% age grade. 9th is Kristi Chiles, who was just 3 seconds behind Robinson at DOG Street for a 10K equivalent time superior to Brothers', but Brothers beat Chiles by over 10 seconds at the Strider Mile to top her rank. Jennifer Cornette finishes out the top 10 with her 25:43 at the Scholarship 5K. Norma Phillips' ranking at 14th is significantly based on head-to-head matchups rather than just her deceptively slow 10K equivalent at the challenging Night Owl 9K; while the 4 women behind her have better 10K equivalents, Phillips beat 3 of them handily, by 4-10 minutes, at the 9K, and thus she ranks ahead of them here. There were quite a few female masters runners with only one race that could've easily made the top 7 or better with another effort, led by Robyn Roberts with her 21:47 for 10th at the Scholarship 5K, Kelly Russo and her 6:50.3 at the Strider Mile, and Kimberly Speed with her 1:48:47 Patrick Henry Half Marathon time that was good for 4th female master and just 20 seconds away from 2nd in that category.
The female masters rankings saw the largest drop in quality of all the categories, with the typical sub-49 to 50 10K equivalent needed to make the top 25 falling all the way to 68 minutes. The top 10 wasn't so bad, with sub-55 making it here while it took sub-46 to 47 in the past. I have personally heard from multiple formerly-ranked masters women that they have been avoiding racing in an effort to minimize their COVID exposure risk, a sensible course of action if ever there was one, and a sentiment that I'm sure applies to some masters men, too, being in the highest risk group for the disease. Hopefully the COVID situation will improve and some of these great runners will feel comfortable and be able race safely again in the fall.
Races
In order to be considered for these rankings, a race must have open entry to all, have full results listed on a website, and preferably list age, gender, and city of residence of all runners. Road and cross country races will be considered. Any race that is known to have an actual distance significantly different from its advertised distance will have its actual, or more accurate best-guess, distance displayed in parentheses. Races will fall into the following seasons based on the following boundaries: spring is the first full weekend of March up to but not including Memorial Day weekend, summer includes Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, fall is from after Labor Day to before Thanksgiving, and winter includes Thanksgiving races up to but not including the first full weekend of March.
