After one day of action it is amazing to think we have another day of this quality competiton. Already in just a few hours of competition there have been well over 100 elite performances, a list that is to only grow. Here is a highlighted recap of day one's action.
Photos by: John Herzog
- Results: 5A - 6A
- Photo Coverage: Mary Ann Magnant - Lisa McArthur - John Herzog
When a runner, or in this case a relay, sets a state record you kinda have to mention them first. Western Branch, a team made up of Faith Ross, Nina Massie, Amanda Thomas, and Ebony White seemingly sprinted away from the competition to win the girls 4x800 in 9:02.11! That beated the previous state record of 9:03.35 by over a second. Still though no Virginia team has ever gone sub 9:00 in the girls 4x800, something many people think should have happened years ago. Though after today it seems since West Springfield and Lake Braddock ran non-A-squads that Western Branch really wants to challenge themselves and chase the record further at New Balance Outdoors. With a team around them, these girls could definitely run something special. Not to mention three of them are only sophomores!
Photo by: Mary Ann Magnant
Following that performance on the list of very impressive performances was Grant Holloway's clearance of 7-1 in the high jump. That is a new personal best, a new state leading mark and a US #3 mark as well. He cleared 7-1 with ease, on his first attempt, then left the competition to prepare for the 200m dash. He is also only a sophomore. Grant also ran the fastest qualifying time (14.36) in the 110m hurdle prelims and also qualified in the 200 meter dash. He will have quite a full day tomorrow when he faces off with some very stiff competition in all the rest of his events.
Photo by: John Herzog
Leading the way for the 5A front was Hampton star Chantel Ray running a time of 13.72 to lead her fellow 5A competitors by over a second. She will also enter tomorrow as one of the top seeds in the 300m hurdles as well. This will not be her last time running in the Newport News area as she will be running for Hampton University in the fall. She was also joined in the hurdle competition by some stellar talent from Western Branch who will be highlighting the 6A competition. Leading the way in that event will be Funlayo Oluwole and Milan Parks who have also run sub 14 this season. They will have to run much harder then Ray however as they have stiff competition from South County's Morgan Knight.
Still on the girls side, and leading the preliminary competition was Kiana Hairston of Osbourn Park who was Friday's fastest qualifier in both the 100 and 200 for the 6A classification. She threw down an impressive 11.97 to take her heat of the 100 and become only the third girl this year to break 12 in the state. On the 5A side of things, Mountain View's Meshala Morton did just that and ran 11.95 to move onto tomorrow's final as the top seed. And just as Hairston did, Morton also led the prelimary competition on the track in the 200 and will be Saturday's favorite in that as well.
On the boys side of qualifying it was the Lyles brothers show. Though they are not the fastest qualifiers moving onto tomorrow, they were the most impressive for how easily they ran their times. Noah (10.96) was the second fastest qualifier behind Ricky Morgan(10.90) in the 100 and third fastest in the 200 (21.60) behind his brother Joesphus (21.55) and Gregory Chiles of Western Branch who seems to be turning on the jets just at the start of post season when he clocked a 21.50 to lead the 6A classification.
In 5A qualifying it was Naukym Morton (North Stafford - 10.91) in the 100 and Marcus Taylor (Highland Spring - 21.99) in the 200. Both of these guys are not the top seeded runners based on season best but definitely cannot be counted out with how they were running today. Both will be doubling as they both qualified to the finals. They will see tough competition though from Haiden Lamb of Lee-Davis who is the top seed at 10.72 and is coming back into form just in time. In the hurdles it was D'Ante Yarborough leading the field at 14.46 just ahead of Lee Warren at 14.69. With both of these guys in lanes next to each other, it should be one heck of a race to see.
Photo by: John Herzog
Notable performance on the field were definitely John Warren of Prince George, current US #1, winning the boys triple jump with a 50-3.5 mark and LaChyna Roe who is also a 5A triple jumper and won her state competition with a 39-6.25 mark. She has a season best of 40-7. Though one of the best events of the entire meet was hands down the boys shot put. It became quite the battle between Cosby's Tyler Powell and C.D. Hylton's Christopher Lee where both throwers had to launch 60+ foot throws to contend with one another. Lee ultimately launched a 61-6 mark that bested Powell's 61-2.5 to win the state meet. Both of these throws were the first 60+ throws in the state this year. Jacqueline Meek of First Colonial also had a great first day winning the 6A pole vault with her 12-0 clearance. She never even gave another girl a shot at beating her this meet. And in the girls triple jump it was Funlayo Oluwole and Milan Parks both from Western Branch taking 1-2 with marks of 39-8 and 37-11.25 respectively to win the 6A triple jump.
The team battles are very close through only a few events in all four competitions but with the way finals are shaping to be things definitely look good for Highland Springs (5A boys), Hampton (5A girls), T.C. Williams (6A boys), and Western Branch (6A girls) who advanced four girls into the 100m hurdle final. That was on top of their 4x800 win, triple jump 1-2 finish and other qualifiers in the 100.
Events get underway at 8:30am tomorrow morning with the girls 3200m runs. Field events will start shortly thereafer followed by running events starting back up around the lunchtime hour.