FORK UNION, VA - Following their victories at the Region II Meet, the Charlottesville boys and Western Albemarle girls have situated themselves as two strong favorites to win the team titles at the AA State Meet, which will be held on February 28th at Virginia Tech's Rector Fieldhouse in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Black Knights won the boys' team title with a combined team total of 156 to place themselves 110 points ahead of second place Turner Ashby, while the Lady Warriors took the girls' regional crown by nearly 30 points as they amassed 120 points.
The Charlottesville boys possess a very balanced squad and showed how dominant they can be at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center. The Black Knights owned the horizontal jumping events as they took the first five finishers in the long jump and first four in the triple jump. In the long jump, Reuben Jones of Charlottesville was the event winner with a leap of 21-5, while teammates Wesley Watson (2nd, 21-4), Bryant Witcher (3rd, 21-2.50), Addison Kirkland (4th, 20-10.5), and Tommy Lucas (5th, 20-10) rounded out the top five scoring places. Jones won yet another event in the triple jump with his 44-6 mark, while teammates Watson (2nd, 43-10.25), Witcher (3rd, 43-4), and Lucas (4th, 43-3) finished not too far behind. In the two jumping events alone, Charlottesville amassed a total of 59 points, which already clinched the regional title for them. However, the Black Knights were not finished.
Jones won his third event of the meet in the 55 meter dash with a 6.59 as he looks prime to defend his state title from a year ago. Teammates Witcher (2nd, 6.66), Richard Jones (4th, 6.73), and Kirkland (5th, 6.83) made for another Charlottesville dominated event. To make for a banner day, Reuben Jones got greedy and took his fourth victory of the meet in the 300 meter dash with a 37.77 clocking. Charlottesville's sole individual event winner not named Reuben Jones was Tommy Lucas in the 55 meter hurdles with a swift time of 7.78.
Charlottesville dominated the relay action as well with wins in the 4x200 (1:36.2) and 4x800 (8:30.4) meter relays. An injury was suffered by the team's top distance runner Michael Negash in the 4x800 meter relay, which forced him to scratch from his individual races, but he is expected to return to run anchor leg on the relay at the state meet.
Rockbridge's Will Williams earned two regional titles in the distance races with wins in the 1600 (4:39.7) and 3200 (9:57.2) meter races. His greatest threat in both races at the state meet appears to be Region III's Donnie Mikels of Rustburg, who was a double winner in the same events at his regional meet.
Nathan Turner looks to be untouchable for the AA State Meet after yet another win in the shot put at the Region II Meet. Turner's toss of 54-3.50 was three feet farther than his closest competitor, Jason Cook of Brentsville (51-3).
The Western Albemarle girls accumulated the majority of their points through their deep and talented distance squad with help from other event areas. One individual, who is not part of Western Albemarle's distance squad, yet is making a big impact on the Lady Warriors' chances of defending their state indoor title is pole vaulter Ashley Early. Currently the state leader at 11-4, Early won the pole vault with ease at Fork Union with a clearance of 10-9. Early will be heavily favored to win her first individual state title on February 28th.
With the help of Early, Western Albemarle's distance girls were able to take care of the rest as they took three wins and two runner-up finishes at the regional meet. In the 500 meter dash, distance runners Tasmin Fanning (1:20.36) and Katy Goeke (1:22.70) dropped down to the shorter event to take a 1-2 finish for Western. While Sarah Bowman of Fauquier notched an strong double win in the 1600 (5:07.6) and 1000 (2:58.1) meter races, Western Albemarle senior was runner-up to Bowman in both races with times of 5:12.2 and 3:06.4 respectively. Western's Kelsey Stafford won her first regional crown in the 3200 meter race with a time of 11:48.4, while teammate Gina Casella finished third overall (12:14.9) in the race.
The Lady Warriors were also strong in relay action with a win in the 4x400 meter relay (4:14.6) and second place performances in the 4x200 (1:54.3) and 4x800 (10:23.5) meter relays.
Joining Fauquier's Bowman as the other other double event winner of the meet, Charlottesville's Angela Johnson won the 55 (7.26) and 300 (42.73) meter dashes to help propel her squad to a second place finish (92 pts) behind Western Albemarle. The girls' team from Charlottesville was also victorious in the 4x200 (1:52.0) and 4x800 (10:07.6) meter relays.
FORK UNION, VA - Following their victories at the Region II Meet, the Charlottesville boys and Western Albemarle girls have situated themselves as two strong favorites to win the team titles at the AA State Meet, which will be held on February 28th at Virginia Tech's Rector Fieldhouse in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Black Knights won the boys' team title with a combined team total of 156 to place themselves 110 points ahead of second place Turner Ashby, while the Lady Warriors took the girls' regional crown by nearly 30 points as they amassed 120 points.
The Charlottesville boys possess a very balanced squad and showed how dominant they can be at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center. The Black Knights owned the horizontal jumping events as they took the first five finishers in the long jump and first four in the triple jump. In the long jump, Reuben Jones of Charlottesville was the event winner with a leap of 21-5, while teammates Wesley Watson (2nd, 21-4), Bryant Witcher (3rd, 21-2.50), Addison Kirkland (4th, 20-10.5), and Tommy Lucas (5th, 20-10) rounded out the top five scoring places. Jones won yet another event in the triple jump with his 44-6 mark, while teammates Watson (2nd, 43-10.25), Witcher (3rd, 43-4), and Lucas (4th, 43-3) finished not too far behind. In the two jumping events alone, Charlottesville amassed a total of 59 points, which already clinched the regional title for them. However, the Black Knights were not finished.
Jones won his third event of the meet in the 55 meter dash with a 6.59 as he looks prime to defend his state title from a year ago. Teammates Witcher (2nd, 6.66), Richard Jones (4th, 6.73), and Kirkland (5th, 6.83) made for another Charlottesville dominated event. To make for a banner day, Reuben Jones got greedy and took his fourth victory of the meet in the 300 meter dash with a 37.77 clocking. Charlottesville's sole individual event winner not named Reuben Jones was Tommy Lucas in the 55 meter hurdles with a swift time of 7.78.
Charlottesville dominated the relay action as well with wins in the 4x200 (1:36.2) and 4x800 (8:30.4) meter relays. An injury was suffered by the team's top distance runner Michael Negash in the 4x800 meter relay, which forced him to scratch from his individual races, but he is expected to return to run anchor leg on the relay at the state meet.