Shadow on a Rising Star - Sherwood MD senior Solomon Haile is making a serious impact on the prep running scene, most recently with his CR at the Manhattan Invitational, but questions linger about his age and eligibility - by Dave Devine

It should have been the perfect afternoon. 

The sun was shining on an unseasonably warm October Saturday in New York City.  Leaves were starting to color and fall.  The flats and hills of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx were ribboned with the motley uniforms of a thousand high school cross country teams competing in one of the largest meets in the nation.  In its 36th year, the venerable Manhattan College High School Invitational was lurching through another exciting, chaotic, exuberant day of racing.  The boys and girls Eastern States Championship races were looming and loaded with talent.  The best of the meet was yet to come.  And then, just after 2 pm, a runner from Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, Maryland, powered out of the woods with a wide lead in the Varsity Boys E Race and streamed across the finish with an eye-popping time.  The tall, lanky runner froze the clock at 12:06.7, slicing nearly 4 seconds from the 2006 course standard of 12:10.6 by Fayetteville Manlius NY star Tommy Gruenewald.

With 40 races on the slate, and at least two races on the course at any given time, the accomplishment failed to register immediately with the harried finish line contingent.  There was no loud speaker countdown as the...