Indoor season underway

Could one of our state's best pole vaulter this year not even be able to compete in a state championship in her specialty event? There are several talented vaulters returning, but Nelson County's Kate Collins opening with a 11'0" personal best clearance at the Liberty Christmas Invite was quite impressive. Unfortunately, Nelson County is in Group A, which does not have an official indoor state meet and does not contest the pole vault either in their outdoor state championships. (Photo by Ted Plunkett from 2007 Dogwood Classic)

Back from San Diego and there is plenty of indoor results already to digest in early December. Please be patient as we enter the indoor performances into the database and compile meet summaries from this past weekend's action. For now, here are the results:

Boys Database Event Rankings: 55m - 300m - 500m - 1000m - 1600m - 3200m - 55H - PV - HJ - LJ - TJ - SP

Girls Database Event Rankings: 55m - 300m - 500m - 1000m - 1600m - 3200m - 55H -  PV - HJ - LJ - TJ - SP

Liberty Christmas HS Invitational

Saturday, December 8th
Liberty University's Tolsma Track Center - Lynchburg, VA

Results: Boys - Girls 

Meet Summary: The Lake Braddock girls and Orange County boys took team titles at the Liberty Christmas Invitational on Saturday at the Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg.

Lake Braddock tallied up a total of 71 points with contributions from their distance crew, relays, and Melanie Akwule (pictured right by John Herzog). Akwule won the long jump (18-0) and garnered high places in the 55 meter hurdles as a runner-up (8.63) and triple jump as a third place finisher (36-4).  Akwule also ran on the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays, which finished in the top three along with their 4x800 meter relays.

Liana Epstein, who won a district title in cross country for Lake Braddock this past fall, scored in two distance events with a fifth place showing in the 1600 meter run (5:22.46) and third place finish in the 1000 meter run (3:07.30). Anna Corrigan was the team's top finisher in the distance races though as a runner-up in the 3200 meter run (11:35.93).

The individual efforts by Kevin Pearson and Logan Collins keyed Orange County's invite team title as the squad figures to be a Group AA title contender in March. Pearson matched his leading preliminary time of 6.62 in the 55 meter dash finals. Pearson also placed fourth in the 55 meter hurdles finals with teammate Jeff Carey finishing just behind him in fifth. A third place finisher in the triple jump, Pearson also ran opening leg for the winning 4x200 meter relay from Orange County as they clocked in at 1:35.98.

Collins had an exciting battle at the 2007 AA State Indoor Championships in the 1000 meter run with Peter Dorrell of Blacksburg as he ended up edging out the eventual outdoor state triple distance event winner (3200, 1600, 800) Dorrell for the 1000 state title. Another Collins-Dorrell battle was revisited in the 1600 meter run at the Liberty Christmas Invite and fast times were produced as a result. Dorrell became the first under 4:20 this season in a 4:19.71, while Collins nearly ran a personal best time in second at 4:23.83. Collins then doubled back for the 1000 meter run to tack on another 10 team points for Orange County with a 2:33.82 victory. 

Photo by Ted Plunkett

There were some impressive opening clearances in the pole vault at Liberty University. Kate Collins of Nelson County cleared a new personal best height of 11 feet as she appears to have dramatically improved from last year when she cleared over 9 feet on only two occassions with a 10'6" clearance near the end of outdoors last spring. Unfortunately for Collins, she will not be able to show off her improved vaulting skills in state competition as there is no indoor state meet in Group A nor is the pole vault contested at the outdoor state meet for Group A.

One of the state's top boys vaulters in Daniel Inge of E.C. Glass had some company at 14 feet with Brookville's James Bell as earlier misses gave Inge the win over Bell. Inge is the defending Group AAA state indoor champion, while Bell has started off well this season to be considered a Group AA title contender.

George Washington's David Wilson (pictured left by John Herzog) scored an upset win in the triple jump over two-time AAA state outdoor champion Antonio Miller of Manchester (2nd, 44-5.25) with a leap of 46-7.50. It was a mild upset though considering that Wilson ended his season on a high note with a personal best mark of 47-9.50 at Nike Outdoor Nationals to post a better mark on the day in Greensboro than the state champion Miller who competed in a later flight with a mark of 46-9. 

Northern Region sprinters Nicholas Vaughn of South Lakes and Chris Letson of Lake Braddock had solid opening meets at Liberty with Vaughn winning the 300 meter dash (35.84) and Letson taking the win in the 500 meter dash (1:07.82). Vaughn and Letson also picked up third place finishes with Vaughn in the 500 meter dash (1:08.53) and Letson in the 300 meter dash (36.98) respectively.

Laura Rapp of Heritage joined 55 meter hurdles and triple jump winner Sherice Walker of Cummings (NC) as the other double event champion at the Liberty Christmas Invite. The AA state cross country champion Rapp rolled through the competition in the distance events with victories in the 1600 (5:13.63) and 1000 (3:01.65) meter races.

Blacksburg senior Laurel MacMillan gapped the field in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:23.41 after finishing third in the 1600 meter run earlier at 5:17.63.

Deep Run has a new talent to complement their two national caliber jumpers in Ashley Orr and Briana Hudson in sprinter Jayvonne Bowman as the newcomer crushed the 300 meter field with a winning time of 41.54. Bowman also ran on Deep Run's 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays, which finished second and first respectively.

The Manchester girls, who will likely be Deep Run's stiffest competition in the Central Region along with distance powerhouse and defending AAA state indoor champions Midlothian, defeated Deep Run in the 4x400 meter relay (1:50.17). Deep Run finished well ahead of third place Manchester (33 pts) in the team scoring in a runner-up showing to Lake Braddock with 60 points. Ashley Orr was a runner-up in both the long jump (17-7.25) and triple jump (37-1) to pick up 16 points in the field events for her team.

Charlottesville had a pair of winners in the high jump with Justin Jackson (6-4) and Christen Rhodes (5-6). 

UMES Lid Lifter

Saturday, December 8th
UMES Hytche Athletic Center - Princess Anne, MD

Complete Results 

Meet Summary: Bringing back two of the best teams in the state with their boys and girls squads, the Western Branch track team opened up their season at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore's Hythe Athletic Center on Saturday alongside Virginia schools McLean and Phoebus.

Their boys 4x200 ran a swift time without their full "A" team lineup of 1:31.76 as it did not include the likes of Daniel Nix and Javanti Sparrow. However, their team is deep and the group put together at UMES was very formidable in Jeffrey Artis, Kevin Newsome, Olimas Robison, and Torry Womack.

Artis (pictured right by John Herzog) and Womack won an individual event each as Artis went over 23 feet in the long jump at 23-1, while Womack clocked in at 35.32.

The Western Branch girls nearly swept the jumping events with Erika Morgan clearing 5-4 to finish second in the high jump, while teammates Ermesha Fair in the long jump (18-1.50) and Jessi Gaines in the triple jump (36-4). Fair also placed third in the 60 meter hurdles (9.10), while Gaines was a runner-up in the 300 meter dash (42.11).

Javanti Sparrow, the returning 500 meter state champion in Group AA, pulled off an interesting double showing off his range in finishing second in the 60 meter dash and then winning the 800 meter run. In between at 400 meters is his best event though with a 47.63 best.

The Western Branch girls have a well-rounded track squad with a distance squad complementing their sprinters and jumpers. Their cross country team just broke a long curse of Eastern Region teams failing to crack into the top three at the state meet. The distance runners for Western Branch cleaned up wins at UMES with Natalie Wynn in the mile run, Kayleigh Lewellyn in the 3200 meter run, and their 4x800 meter relay.

Darious Shelton was the top performer for Phoebus with a mark of 23-0.25 for second in the long jump as well another runner-up performance in the triple jump with a leap of 45-3. Meanwhile, Keeven Kuatekonga was the highest finisher for McLean with a second place clocking of 8.61 in the 60 meter hurdles.

St. Christopher's Mini Invite #1

Saturday, December 8th
St. Christopher's School Indoor Track - Richmond, VA

Results: Varsity Boys - Varsity Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls 

Photo Gallery by David Fleenor - 524 photos total 

The first of a series of smaller Saturday meets which will be held at St. Christopher's until the St. Christopher's Invite in late January and Mid-Atlantic Track Clash in early February was held with Collegiate, Douglas Freeman, Fork Union, Norfolk Academy, St. Catherine's, and host St. Christopher's in attendance. A collection of great athletes between the six schools was able to produce some great early season performances on the outstanding 200 meter indoor track at St. Chris.

Fork Union's Jeremy Haney and Douglas Freeman's Lewis McPherson (both pictured left by David Fleenor) went out to blast fast 1600 meter times in early December as the spirited battle went down to the wire with Haney as 4:21.02 winner and McPherson in a close second at 4:21.46. Another battle between a Fork Union and Freeman runner was found in the 3200 meter run later with Patrick Hayes (1st, 9:53.49) and Chris Woody (2nd, 9:58.53) breaking 10 minutes early this season.

Freeman senior Michael Quash was a winner in two events with a 35.96 clocking in the 300 meter dash, while blowing out the field in the 55 meter hurdles in 7.75.

Freeman's distance girls had a solid opener with Casey Fowler winning the 1600 meter run by 17 seconds in 5:22, while Katherine Selko dominated the 1000 meter run in 3:11.

Hillary Parsons of Douglas Freeman had the top performance in the girls' field events with a clearance of 10 feet in the pole vault. Parsons also placed third in the 300 meter dash, which was won by Collegiate's Molly McKeon (43.85) as McKeon's teammate Elizabeth Jessee took the 55 meter dash in a 7.78 victory.

Norfolk Academy's Michelle Sutherland was the lone double winner on the girls' side in the 55 meter hurdles (9.68) and high jump (4-10). 

Louisa County Polar Bear Invitational

Saturday, December 8th
Louisa County HS  - Louisa County, VA

COMPLEtE RESULTS