Friday will be reserved only for the relay races as teams will be putting their best on the track to pass the baton along the Jim Holdren Track at Maggie Walker Governor's School. The relays being moved to Friday not only allows for athletes to put more focus on their relays than maybe previously on a single day event, but allows for more individual entries and time in the schedule on Saturday at Sports Backers Stadium.
The Blacksburg girls are making the 7 hour round trip on Friday to see if they can drop a fast time in the 4x800 meter relay and potentially threaten the state record of 9:06.00 held by a 2005 squad from Oakton High School. The Blacksburg team is competing as a whole at the Cosmopolitan Invitational in Salem this weekend, but Coach James DeMarco is bringing his state champion 4x800 meter relays down to Richmond on Friday night. The Blacksburg girls ran 9:13 indoors at Nike Indoor Nationals and have already posted a state leading time of 9:16.29 (Vince Bradford Relays) this season. Their relay will feature the Stevens twins, Joanna and Kathleen, who ran under 3 minutes for 1000 meters indoors and can both likely run 2:15 or faster in the 800 this spring. Joanna was the AA state indoor champion for 1600 meters, while Kathleen was the state champion at 1000 meters.
Attempting to give chase will be two Central Region schools Deep Run and Maggie Walker, while Colonial Forge and Thomas Jefferson will also attempt to get in the max. Deep Run and Maggie Walker had a pair of girls each automatically qualify for state competition this past Wednesday at Mills Godwin in the 3200 meter run. Deep Run finished 3rd at the AAA State Indoor Meet in 9:31, while Maggie Walker also ran under 9:40 this past winter. The Thomas Jefferson girls already broke 10 minutes in a tri meet this season, so expect them to drop much further in an invitational setting with increased competition.
The boys 4x800 meter relay includes a half dozen schools who have ran under 8:10 in 2009 either during the indoor or outdoor season with the AA state indoor champions from Blacksburg as the top entrants as they broke 8 minutes twice in the indoor season including a 7:58 best at Nike Indoor Nationals. Their fastest leg Brian Hencke ran an impressive open 800 time of 1:54.57 at the Volunteer Track Classic. Blacksburg's George Carter is also running well as the sophomore ran lifetime bests at 2 miles (9:19) and mile (4:23) last weekend.
Hencke's time in Tennessee ranks him #2 in Virginia currently, while #3 ranked Devin Lacks will also be featured in 4x800 relay action on Friday night. Lacks and his Varina boys were rolling on Wednesday night at the Mills Godwin State Qualifier Meet with Lacks winning the 800 in a time of 1:54.73. Varina could be a formidable challenger if they can find a decent fourth leg to complement Lacks, Kristopher Johnson (1:59.03), and Nyler Gaskins (2:00.01).
Grafton ran the fifth fastest time in Virgnia this past indoor season at 8:03.05 and feature one of AA's top middle distance runners in David Gunnerson, who clocked a 2:30 1000 this past indoor season. Another great 1000 meter performer from this past winter will also be in the race with Douglas Freeman's Alec Ward, who placed second overall at the AAA State Indoor Championships through winning the slow section of the event with a PR time of 2:32.
Deep Run and Maggie Walker will add even greater depth to the 4x800 race as Deep Run was arguably the best 4x800 in the state to not qualify for state meet competition and proved just that last weekend at Fork Union with their 8:05 performance, which ranks them #2 in the state heading into this weekend. Maggie Walker posted a time of 8:07.41 in indoors and will relish in the opportunity to run faster on their home track on Friday night.
The 4x100 meter relays may not feature the speed from the Eastern Region, but will be some very interesting and exciting races with several teams in the hunt for victories. The girls' race will be a good preview for the Central Region Meet with Patrick Henry as the current area leader at a 49.58 season best from last weekend at the Amherst Invite. Their relay features a promising young talent in freshmen Shyra Moulton, who clocked a 12.67 in the 100 meter dash on Wednesday at Mills Godwin.
Meadowbrook could be a darkhorse with one of the best duos in the field with Angela Harris at 12.56 and Ciarra Morris at 12.52 for their 100 meter bests and led their team to state competition in the 4x200 meter relay this past indoor season.
Riverbend will look to bring up the Central Region schools with their 50.04 season best to recall on from the Wolverine Invitational earlier this month. Several schools are knocking on the door of their first sub 50 second clocking of the outdoor season including Hermitage and Deep Run.
Two of the state's top 5 fastest boys relays will be competing on Friday with Lee-Davis at 43.05 and Deep Creek at 43.07. Both teams will likely need to improve upon their season bests in order to maintain their top 5 rankings with fast times expected from Penn Relays on the same day. Both teams have been surprises so far this season with their performances as Lee-Davis is one of the few non-Eastern Region schools found ranked high up in the state rankings, while Deep Creek has often been overlooked just in its own district despite its great tradition for sprint relays.
Tyrone Bridgers has been Deep Creek's top short sprinter this season including a 11.14 personal best in the 100 meter dash, but the team has been successful so far without a true star athlete. The same holds true for the Lee-Davis relay as they have four solid legs to have allowed them a great start in the event early this season.
Three girls teams went under four minutes on Thursday at Penn Relays from Virginia. Lets see if any join them under the barrier on Friday at Maggie Walker. Riverbend at 4:03 and Lee-Davis at 4:05 for their season bests are the best bets and making the run at the time. Friday night will likely be the most fresh all of the schools will be all season for the relay event which is usually reserved at the very end of a long day of competition for athletes.
To close the evening will be a pack of teams chasing after automatic state qualifers in the boys 4x400 meter relay after having already run under 3:30 this season. Heritage (Lynchburg), John Marshall, and Cosby have all ran 3:28 recently and the top 3 overall teams could come from any team among the fastest 2 sections with no clear clut favorite.