All-County Cross Country Team: Divergent paths led Neal, Patrick to front of pack

Will Neal and Chris Patrick use decidedly different strategies in races, yet both produced similar results. The Capital-Gazette Communications' Boys and Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year found championships could come in many different forms.

Neal, Chesapeake's fifth overall county champion and first since David Dietzway in 1988, stormed out of the gates in races, trying to get as much of an advantage as possible two miles in, then warding off all comers the rest of the way.

"I look at what other runners have done and figure this can be a mental activity as much as physical," Neal said.

Neal's...