Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411230013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: THE PLAINS LENGTH: Medium
Nervo won her third consecutive Group A girls' championship, and Christiansburg bounced back from a tough defeat last year to win the Group AA boys' title.
Glenvar's Nervo acknowledged she was worried about Brentsville District's freshman sensation, Valerie Echevarria, who had lost only one race this season.
But Echevarria was no match for the Highlanders junior. Nervo led from start to finish, covering the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 6.4 seconds, nearly one minute ahead of Echevarria (20:06.1), who finished third, and 48 seconds faster than runner-up Kelly Rector (19:54.4) of Patrick Henry-Glade Spring.
None of Nervo's rivals was in sight when she crossed the finish line. Her time would have been the second best in the Group AA girls' race and the 14th-best girls' time overall, regardless of classification.
``I was pretty nervous after reading [Bob] Teitlebaum's article in the paper,'' she said. ``My biggest fear is a freshman, because you don't know what to expect. I remember when I was a freshman and nobody knew what to expect from me.''
The course at Green Meadow has more hills at the end of the course than what Nervo has been accustomed to this year, but the Glenvar standout said she prepared for that by jogging the course Friday.
She usually uses the hills in the first mile to separate herself from the pack, but this time she came out strong and took the lead at the sound of the gun.
``Usually towards the middle of the race, I like them way back,'' Nervo said of her rivals. ``I knew halfway through they were far enough back that they couldn't catch me.''
Another factor was the weather: a race-time temperature of 49 degrees and a brisk wind. For Nervo, it was ideal.
``The first few yards, the cold would hit your legs and arms and you would tighten up,'' she said. ``The [cold] air cools you down at first, but once you get warmed up it's was all right.''
Nervo is well aware she has a chance next year to become a rare four-time state champion - something that few, if any, have done in the state of Virginia in Group A or at any level.
``It's going to be harder,'' she said of repeating. ``This is everything to me, winning it three times and now having a chance to win it four times. People expect me to win. If I don't, they're [critics] going to say, `There she goes [slipping].'
``I was told, `If you win three, you'll get twice as many [college] letters. Colleges are looking for consistent results.'``
Christiansburg's Kevin Nolan has been consistent much of the season in Group AA and was expecting to make a good showing Saturday. Nolan helped his team win the state title in the afternoon, but he didn't know that until the award ceremonies.
The senior had been running stride-for-stride with eventual winner Joseph Gibson of Spotswood and was in front when Gibson accidentally stepped on Nolan's right heel and knocked his shoe off. Nolan had to stop and put his shoe back on to finish.
In the process, he lost ground to Gibson and the other runners and finished 16th.
``It means a lot to me,'' Nolan said of winning the team title. ``I had a bad race and finished 16th. The guy running behind me got my heel - that's Joe Gibson, the guy who won the race. I was leading the race and it took me 10 seconds to get my shoe back on. I came in here ranked second and finished 16th.``
But Nolan's brother, Matt, picked up the slack and finished fifth. Justin Mosby placed 11th for the Blue Demons.
Other top performances by local runners included Floyd County's Johanna Neumann, who finished fifth in the race won by Nervo, and Ben Cooke, who placed second in the Group A boys' race with a time of 16:26.1, 19 seconds behind eventual winner Adam Bennett of Central Woodstock.
Christiansburg didn't win the girls' Group AA title, but the Demons' Bethany Eigel and Laura Evans finished in the top five. Eigel ran a 19:12.6 to place third, and Evans was fifth with a 19:28.9 clocking in a race won by Abingdon's Colleen Crawford.
The area's lone Group AAA runner, David Angell of Franklin County, finished 36th in a field of 138 runners in 16:32.7.
by CNB