NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- Despite winning five events at the Peninsula District Meet, Corey Vinston\'s effort was not enough for Phoebus to walk away with the team title as the Denbigh boys successfully defended their district title. The Bethel girls (97 pts) won by a relatively close margin over Menchville (87 pts) as Coach Williams tried to not to have his top girls tripling in events to save them for Saturday\'s Eastern Region Meet. The meet also included three state bests performances to show the strength of the district this year.
Vinson individual earned 50 points for his squad by winning the 55 meter dash (6.46), 55 meter hurdles (7.65), high jump (6\'3\"), long jump (22\'0\"), and triple jump (43\'4\"). Only two more points were provided by his fellow teammates to give Phoebus a team score of 52 points and fourth place finish behind Denbigh (1st, 117.50 ps), Bethel (1st, 69 pts), and Menchville (3rd ,66 pts). However, throw out a disqualification in the 4x200 meter relay squad that featured Vinson and Phoebus would have been district runners-up. At the Group AAA State Meet in March, Phoebus certainly could be a squad that earns a high finish with Vinson alone.
District champions Denbigh had no first place finishes out of the running events, but had event winners in the shot put with one of the state\'s best in Jaymes Brooks (53\'0.75\") and pole vault with Rodriguez Johnson (11\'6\").
The Heritage boys swept the sprint relays in the 4x200 (1:35.14) and 4x400 (3:31.91) meter relays, while relay member Keith Brown took the 500 meter dash in a time of 1:08.45
Second place Bethel had two individual district champions in Daniel Cummings in the 1600 meter run at 4:37.70 and freshmen Austin Cuffee in the 300 meter dash (37.73).
The Bethel girls were victorious at the district level and hope to have even greater team performances at the regional and state meet as contenders in both events.
The Lady Bruins were led by 300 meter national record holder Francena McCorory who posted a scorching state leading and personal best time of 6.92 in the 55 meter dash. Her time also ranks her just outside of the top five in the nation. McCorory was held out of the relay events as she won her second and last event of the day in the 300 meter dash in a time of 39.37. The Bethel girls were able to still easily win the 4x200 meter relay with a 1:44.18 clocking.
A big confidence boost for the Bethel girls in their chances at the state meet was found in a suprising district win from junior Shakia Forbes with a strong mark of 18\'4.50\". Previously it appeared the Bethel girls would have to rely on McCorory, Crystal Carrington, and the sprint relays as their only points at states, but now Forbes has emerged as a potential point scorer.
Her finish in the district\'s long jump competition was a surprise because Heritage\'s Carolyn Lewis was the expected winner and favorite, but she fouled out of her attempts. However, despite the poor finish in the long jump, Lewis still won three events in the meet with first place finishes in the high jump (5\'4\"), pole vault (10\'6\"), and triple jump (35\'10.50\"). Lewis picked up additional points with a fifth place finish in the shot put (33\'1.50\") and a sixth place in the 55 meter hurdles (9.04) to individually score 33 points for her Heritage squad.
In the 55 meter hurdles finals, two of the state\'s best battled it out to the finish with Kali Watkins of Menchville (8.18) coming up with the win over Tierra Brown of Hampton (8.19). Her time at districts now ranks Watkins number one in the state. Brown was later a member of the winning 4x400 meter relay squad at 4:04.32.
Another state leading time was posted in the 500 meter dash as Woodside junior Dominique sprinted to a swift time of 1:16.58 to win the fiercely contested event over Kecoughtan seniors Tiarra Swindell (1:17.94) and Lana McGowan (3rd, 1:17.98).
Third place finishing Kecoughtan (74 pts) was led by the performances by their 500 meter girls as well as a sweep in the distance events by Marlene Belizaire in the 1600 and 1000 meter races, Jessica Alberti in the 3200 meter run, and their 4x800 meter relay.