Both Western Branch boys and girls squads made huge leaps into the second day of competition of the 2010 Eastern Region Indoor Track & Field Championships with the triple jump performances by their athletes on Friday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. Desmonae Gray (pictured left by Ryan Kelly) uncorked a monster jump in the triple jump with her new US #1 and VA #7 all-time mark of 40'10". A significant improvement for the Western Branch junior who had a previous best of 39'0.50" from last June's Nike Outdoor Nationals.
The Western Branch boys picked up a great deal of points in the triple jump with their top 3 sweep led by a US #2 and state leading mark of 49'5" from Kendrick Smith. Also performing well in the event for the Bruins was Marcus Dean at 47'9.50" and Keenan Smith at 45'11". Without a dominant individual in the sprints or hurdles, Western Branch may have to rely on their triple jumpers and their distance crew for another state title run. Their 4x800 meter relay certainly look to do their part at the state meet as shown with their state best time of 7:58.02 on Friday night as Western Branch became the first team to break 8 minutes this season in Virginia.
More to come from the Eastern Region Championships including photo gallery by Ryan Kelly, race videos by Andy Paisley, and full meet summary.
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
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