Bartels wanted a solid program to run with

By Robert Daski

Published: November 6, 2008

Allison Bartels came to Prince William County hoping to run. She wanted to enroll in a school with a solid cross country and track program.
Her father Tim was bringing the family from Colleyville, Texas last December after being transferred for work purposes.
When their friends, the Marianos family, suggested looking at Brentsville where their daughter Jill runs cross country, Allison and her family listened.
“They were like, ‘Hey this school has a really great running program,’” Allison said. “We were like ‘Hooray. That’s exactly what I need.’”
It seems Bartels made a wise decision.
While it would have been easy to overlook Bartels during the 2008 indoor and outdoor track seasons because she was not winning the 1,600- or 3,200-meter runs at the Northwestern District or Region II meets as teammate Maggie Gentry was, Bartels has emerged as Brentsville’s top cross country runner.
She won the Hagan Stone XC Classic in a personal-best 18-minutes, 47-seconds, the Region II meet and finished second at the Northwestern District meet. Her 19th place finish at the Sept. 20 Oatlands Invitational topped all Brentsville runners.
“I’m doing better than I thought I would,” said Bartels, a junior. “So it’s great.”
There is a reason for Bartels’ solid season: motivation. She wants to show she is an elite athlete and not someone filling a roster spot.
“I didn’t want to be that put her in and let’s get points runner,” Bartels said. “I wanted to win.”
She combines her upbeat attitude with her other strengths to make her a solid teammate.
“She’s a very consistent runner and a very mentally tough competitor, physically tough,” Brentsville coach Rob Dulin said. “She’s a girl that her teammates can count on to always be there, to have the right attitude and a girl who’s going to give it everything in the race. That’s big when you can have one of your top runners be like that. It’s a good person to build a team around.”
If Bartels can add one more high finish in Saturday’s Group AA race, the Tigers will have points to push for their first state title since 2005.
But stiff competition awaits.
Blacksburg is a two-time defending Group AA champion. Its top runner, Allison Homer, is the River Ridge District and Region IV champion.
Hidden Valley placed second to the Bruins at the district meet, but beat them at the region meet.
Brentsville beat Millbrook by 29 points at its district meet, but only 14 at its region meet.
So the challenge is for Brentsville to run in a tight pack and pick up as many high finishes as possible.
“We want to keep our gaps really tight,” Bartels said. “That’s been our biggest problem this year has been our gaps being really loose. So we want to get those much tighter.
“We’re going to be a team to beat on Saturday.”