NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- The 2001 Captain Classic showcased some of top individuals and teams in Southeastern Virginia. Teams that stood far out ahead of the rest were the Bethel and Norfolk Academy girls squads who won the AAA and AA/A girls team titles respectively, and the Deep Creek and Bruton boys stood out as well winning team titles fairly easily.
The Bethel girls set the highest team score meet record with their 121 points as they were once again led by Indiana University bound Ara Townes. Townes had an awesome day as she was triple winner in the 100m dash (11.94), 200m dash (24.77), and long jump (18'2"). Townes 11.94 in the 100m dash was a new meet record.
Helping to push Ms. Townes in the 100m and 200m dash was teammate Asia Carroll, who plays basketball for Bethel during the winter and doesn't run indoor track. Carroll finished 2nd in both to teammate Townes as she was clocked in times of 12.24 and 25.40 respectively.
Bethel also showed that their success is not just directly linked to Townes but rather the all around team effort put forth by winning two relays, the 4x100 and 4x400, and placing runner-up in the 4x800. The 4x100 consisted of Townes and Carroll and they were able to break their own meet record set back in 1999 with a time of 47.65.
The biggest individual standout on the girls' side was Cox junior Lindsey Neuberger who broke the meet record in the shot put with her throw of 47'3". The previous meet record was 40'4", set by Bethel's Amanda Walker. The impressive thing about Neuberger's throw was that she had been away in the Tennessee mountains all week for spring break and really didn't prepare for the meet at all. Somehow she was able to throw a personal best and set a school record in the process. After the AAA State meet in Richmond this June, Neuberger will be representing our country as she will compete in the World Youth Games in Hungary this summer. She also won the discus easily with a mark of 121'7".
A great individual performance was put on by North Stafford's Kristyn Shiring in the 3200m race. She went into the race up against Thomas Jefferson senior Jeannie Addison who has always seemed to have her number when they've raced against one another. However, Shiring returned the favor as she soundly beat Addison and in the process broke 11 for the first time ever as she just did it by a second with her time of 10:59.
Jelyn Quick of Menchville had a huge day in the hurdles as she was a double winner in the 100m and 300m hurdles with times of 15.04 and 45.30 respectively.
Jennifer Byrd and a great distance program is the Norfolk Academy girls' recipe for success. Their 117 points put themselves well ahead of second place Nandua with 89 points.
Byrd was outstanding as she won the girls 100m dash (12.96), 110m hurdles (15.58), and 300m hurdles (45.3).
The Norfolk Academy girls distance crew also racked in plenty of points as they won the 4x800m relay in 10:06.10 and had an individual winner in the 1600m run with Jill Berger.
Lafayette senior Amy Hundley performed extremely well in the high jump as she jumped to a personal best mark of 5'7", breaking the old meet record set by Nicole Kelly of Bruton in 1998. With her mark of 5'7", she should be a contender for the state title in the high jump come June in Harrisonburg.
The 2001 Eastern Region indoor track boys team champions, Deep Creek, are continuing there success from indoors this outdoor season as they won the AAA boys team title with 63 point margin over second place Bethel with 122 points.
The school's name, Deep Creek, is very fitting as they are a very deep team, especially in the sprint and jumping events.
With the likes of Deangelo Hall, Deandre Hyman, Darrius Leaks, Quentin Matthews, Jimmy Terry, Chris Clifton, and others, this team is loaded with the talent needed for a run at the state title in June.
Deep Creek had 5 individual winners. They were Deangelo Hall in the 100m dash (10.95), Deandre Hyman in the 200m dash (21.98), Chris Clifton in the long jump (23'11"), Jimmy Terry in the triple jump (45'8.5"), and Darrius Leaks in the shot put (47'11"). All different athletes. That is incredible considerng most top teams have just two or three individuals that win events and the ten points that go along with it for them.
The Deep Creek 4x100 and 4x400 squads were smokin'. They won both events in amazing times of 42.98 and 3:20.66 respectively.
As Brian Ford of Atlee, Jerome Mathis of Petersburg, and Frank Francois of Lake Braddock ran indoors soaking up all of the fame, glory, and honors running quick times in the 300m dash during the indoor season, Dominick Richmond of Bethel could only sit out and watch as his rivals in the 400m dash were all performing well. Richmond was forced not to run during indoors due to injury. However, now that the outdoor has started to heat up, Richmond is back and he wants a piece of that pie of the in 400. Showing all indications that he is in fact back and in great shape, Richmond won the 400m dash in a time of 49.25. He also led off for his 4x400 squad, putting them in first for the time being with his high 48-low 49 split. It looks to a barnburner when the East Carolina bound Richmond toes the line along with Ford, Mathis, and Francois. Possibly the best race at the state meet in June.
Richmond's teammate, Gemayel Hazard also had a breakthrough day in the hurdles as he went onto win the 110m hurdles (14.34) and 300m hurdles (39.01) in dominating fashion.
In the boys 3200, John Piersol ran an excellent race virtually alone after the first lap as he ran a state qualifying time of 9:37.30 as he stayed pretty consistent with running 72 second laps.
Keith Moffatt is just looking better and better every meet he performs at. Moffatt, the national indoor champion in the high jump, won the high jump with a meet record jump of 7'0".
The Bruton Panthers were extremely dominant in the AA/A ranks as they won the boys AA/A team title with 154 points, with a distant second place Lafayette with 93 points. With new coach, Allen Overton at the helms, they look to make a run at the AA state title.
Bruton's biggest reason for success at the CNU meet was how superior their sprinters and jumpers were to all the other AA/A competitors.
One of those superior sprinters was senior Marcus Parrott who was a triple winner in the the 100m dash (11.19), 200m dash (24.31), and long jump (21'6.25"). He will definitely be a contender in all three of events for a state title at the AA state meet at JMU in June.
A big surprise to all of the other competitors at the meet was the performance of Bruton's Bruce Jones in the high jump and triple jump as he cleared 6'8" in the high jump and a mark of 43'7.75" in the triple jump. Jones, who plays basketball for Bruton in the winter, had a previous best jump of 6'0" in the high jump which made his jump of 6'8" at the meet even more so remarkable. No AA competitor has come even close to that mark as now Jones looks to be the odds-on favorite to be a state champ in the high jump if he continues his success.
After a 1:59 split the day before in the 4x800, Allen Carr of York came back the next day to run an uncontested 4:24 in the 1600m race. After his 1600m race, Carr had this to say after his race, "I ran alright." His closest competitor was William James of Mathews at 4:30.
James, who runs for the single A school, Mathews, ran a great 1600m/3200m double placing 2nd in the 1600, then winning the 3200m easily, running a personal best time of 9:50.80. James following his 3200 race, had this to say, "I was real happy with my race. A big PR." When asked about what kind of training he does, he had this to say, "My highest mileage is usually about 40 miles a week. I've trained by myself almost all of my high school career."
Thomas Batson of Tabb, a transfer from Texas, looks to be a favorite for the state meet in June in the pole vault as he won the pole vault at CNU in 14'6".
Scary is the best term to describe what the Lafayette 4x800m relay squad did on Friday. Running with only 1 runner from their "A" squad, they were able to win and run a state qualifying time with a mark of 8:18.10. The AA state indoor champions in the 4x800, Lafayette, show they have incredible amounts of depth in their squad at the 800m distance.