DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710240678

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: VICKI L. FRIEDMAN

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 42 lines

HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP

Maury, Granby

runners capture

District titles

PORTSMOUTH - At the beginning of the season Maury's Katie Connors was the only girl on the cross country team. And at the end of Thursday's Eastern District meet at Churchland High she was alone again - at the finish line.

The Commodores junior cruised to her first district title in 19 minutes, 48 seconds, beating Angie Buchanan, the defending champion from Granby, by 24 seconds.

Granby's Delano Harris won the boys race in 16:13, and the undefeated Norview boys took the team title with 44 points. In the girls division, the Comets' runners finished 2 through 6, for a near-perfect 20 points and the district title. The top four teams and first 15 runners qualified for next Thursday's Eastern Regional at Newport News Park.

Connors, who lost to Buchanan by 30 seconds in a dual this fall, said she thought the sophomore was playing games and would catch her at the end. But Buchanan, hindered slightly by a sore ankle, said it wasn't her day and it was Connors'. Connors exhibited a fierce kick at the end after looking up to see a familiar face: former Maury coach Walt Green cheering on the sidelines.

Harris, the top-ranked runner in the area, got past Churchland's Ben Booth after the second mile and was never threatened again. The senior trained all summer with the Atlantic Coast Track club.

Led by Melvin Williams and Ron Smith, the Norview runners finished 3-4-6-8-22. Darnell Miller, who co-coaches the team with Neal Jenkins, said he knew the Pilots were contenders after the first meet of the season.

The Granby, Maury and Wilson boys and the Wilson and Lake Taylor girls made the regionals. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Maury's Katie Connors ran alone much of the race as she easily won

the Eastern District cross country title by 24 seconds.

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