Just when we thought it couldn't get any better we remembered VA Track Nation really rolls deep! In Saturday's action things just kept getting fastest and faster for Team VA.
It started early with Grant Holloway in the pentathlon and we really never looked back. Grant ran a 7.78 in the 60H, went 24-4 in the long jump, had a personal record of 42-4 in the shot, had a solid 6-10.25 in the high jump but the 1000m proved to be too much in just a single day. He went 2:52 to finish just short of the national record but it truly only took 7.78 seconds for him to take the lead and he never relinquished it. He finished with a score of 4230 with the national record being 4307.
Grant also easily qualified to tomorrow's 60m Hurdles semifinal.
Sticking with the hurdles it was Western Branch's boys team taking home the highest honors this year with a very strong shuttle hurdle relay team that took home the gold in 29.58. This team was comprised of Anthony Williams, Micaiah Harris, Jahkwan Blackley, and Antwan Stukes.
Who knows if it was Grant on snapchat firing everyone up but Team VA definitely came to run today and it became very evident that that was the case once the 4x200's went off. First in the girls race Team War ran a US #1, and VA State Record 1:37.73 with Grassfield running a VA #2 All-Time 1:38.69! Both Brandee' Johnson and Lauryn Ghee split 23.2's! Both of these times were by far the fastest qualifying times into finals.
Western Branch kept it going running 1:28.19 to make it to finals ranked second. Though that time was fast, T.C. Williams absolutely through down a 1:26.86 VA State and National Championship Meet Record. That was in no small part thanks to 20.5 split from Noah Lyles.
In the much longer races, the 4xMiles, Loudoun Valley finished an all-american 5th place in 17:33.15. This was a tough double to come back just hours after their late night Distance Medley winning performances Friday.
Also holding on for an All-Ameircan finish was Team War in the SMR running a 4:04 out of the unseeded section with a very tough 800m leg from Amirah Jones.
It then came to one of the biggest events of the entire meet for VA, the boys SMR featuring XCB TC also known as Chantilly.The team was comprised of Scopellite, Loh, Jeffries, and McGorty. They ran 45 (first 400), 48, 1:49! That time totaled up to 3:24.02 for a new national record. (Read our full recap of just this record here)
In the qualifying rounds of the sprints we had Lauryn Ghee run 54.88 to qualify to the 400m final for girls and then Josephus Lyles threw down a 47.71 to easily be the fastest qualifier but announced he was not running in the finals. He is electing to just run the 60m semi-finals and 4x200.
Also noticeably missing was Noah Lyles in the 60m dash where he chose to save it for the 200 and 4x200.
Speaking of Noah Lyles... he cruised a very speedy 21.10 (US Top 10 All-Time) in qualifying in the 200.
In the final races on the track E.C. Glass ran a VA #2 All-time performance of 9:02.96! The team of Carrington, DeCarmo, Davidson, and Rennyson dropped 14 seconds off of their previous best to finish an impressive third.
The boys' unseeded section featured two new state leaders in Lake Braddock at 7:50.87 with Glen Allen finishing in VA #2 7:57.05.
Day 2 Recap
Photos by: Joe Swift - Kyle Brazeil