This year\'s Virginia Tech Invitational was once again loaded with great performances as Virginians put themselves on top of the state and national leaderboards. On the fast two hundred meter banked indoor track surface at Rector Fieldhouse, fifteen new state leading performances were posted as well as two national bests were produced. National leading performances from the Bethel girls\' 4x200 meter relay and Granby\'s Dionne McClain in the triple jump highlighted the two day event.

Sophomore Dave Baxter (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) placed fifth among a field of 30 in the 1,000-meter race and was one of three James Madison team members to qualify for the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Men

Virginia\'s Kathryn Pettine moved up to the #2 position all-time in school history when she cleared 11\' 9.75\" in the pole vault on her first attempt, setting a new personal best by a half-a-foot. She finished sixth overall in the meet, as just one of a handful of Cavaliers who hit personal best marks in the National Open held at Penn State this weekend (Jan. 28-29). A pair of male distance runners, Alex Tatu and Will Christian, also both ran personal records with Tatu running a 4:06.64 in the mile and moving him into the top-10 all-time in the mile in UVa history. Tatu placed fifth at the meet.

Two-time defending CAA Champion William and Mary men

The VMI men

Virginia Intermont

Virginia Intermont College\'s Fernando Cabada led a contingent of high performing Cobras at East Tennessee State University\'s Niswonger Invitational this past weekend. Cabada came from behind to out kick a stellar field in the invitational 3,000-meters. His time of 8:08, a nation leading mark, bested runner-up teammate David Cheromei by three seconds. The duo combined to outdistance Liberty\'s Josh McDougal, who in cross-country had beaten both when taking the individual title at the Great American Nike Race of Champions. McDougal had only suffered one loss this entire year, that being at the NCAA Division I XC Championships.

With the retirement of Coach Cox and graduation losses, it might have appeared that this would be the year that the Deep Creek boys\' track team may possibly slip from being one of the dominant programs in the state. However, that is not the case as the Deep Creek boys posted three state leading times at the UNC hosted Eastern Challenge meet. Raphael Hall won the high jump in a state best 6-8 clearance, while teammate Quentin Moore won the 300 meter dash also in a state best performance of 35.31. The Deep Creek boys\' 4x400 meter relay team garnered a second place finish in the event, while running the state\'s fastest time to date this season in a 3:27.18 clocking. The Hornets finished third in the team standings of the interstate contested meet with 50 points behind Ridge View (SC) and Mount Tabor (NC). Full meet writeup to come later.

Four-time defending CAA Champion William and Mary women

Two-time defending CAA Champion William and Mary men

Virginia Tech\'s Sven Hahn won the shot put competition today at the Clemson Invitational, which was held at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Facility. Virginia Tech\'s No. 23 men\'s team didn\'t disappoint this weekend as two NCAA qualifiers battled it out for the shot put title. Hahn overtook teammate Ryan Norwood for first place to capture the win.

Great Bridge\'s Michael Morrison and Western Albemarle\'s Ashley Early ventured out west to Reno, Nevada to participate in what has become one of the premier pole vault events in the nation among high school, collegiate, and professional athletes at the Pole Vault Summit. At the Pole Vault Summit, Morrison and Early cleared heights at which have never been reached known to the days of MileStat.com coverage within the state nor to any state meet records. Morrison hit a height of 16 feet and 2 inches, while Early cleared a height of 12 feet and 2 inches. Early\'s mark can be verified as being a \"state records\" for either indoor or outdoor competition, while Morrison\'s is a new state record for indoors. There is no official list maintained by the VHSL or any governing body in the state of state record performances recorded outside of state meet competition, but is something that MileStat.com is hoping in the near future to compile and take charge with assistance from track historians within the state.

Due to probable inclement weather this weekend, the East Coast Invitational Track Meet for Friday and Saturday has been cancelled.

Performance list for the 2005 East Coast Invitational, which will be held this Friday and Saturday at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, Virginia.

The James Madison 3200-meter relay team took first place to highlight the Dukes

The 16th Annual Fork Union Military Academy Indoor Track Invitational held at the Estes Athletic Center may have been smaller than last year

All-East senior Charlotte LaRoche (Centreville, VA) was William and Mary women

Virginia Tech had one winner, one NCAA qualifier and several top 10 performances on the last day of the Virginia Tech Invitational, which took place on a 200 meter banked track inside the Rector Field House on the Tech campus.

The first day of the Virginia Tech Invitational concluded with two Tech athletes breaking their own school records and several Hokies finishing in the top 10 in their respective events. The invite is held on a 200 meter banked track inside the Rector Field House on the Tech campus.

Hardly a flattering slogan for the Fork Union Invitational, but consider some recent outcomes in the fifteen- year history.

Bobby Wilson has been named an assistant coach to the William and Mary men

Liberty University announces the completion of a 200m flat indoor track at their North Campus site. The track is a 14mm depth Mondo track with a 21.5m radius on lane one. The facility has four lanes on the curve and eight lanes on the straight. Liberty will host collegiate meets on 1/29, 2/5 and 2/26. Interested college coaches should contact Lance Bingham at lrbingha@liberty.edu or phone 434-582-2057. Liberty will not host high school meets until next year.

Virginia Tech\'s track & field teams host the Virginia Tech Invitational starting on Friday, Jan 14 through Saturday, Jan. 15 on a 200 meter banked track inside the Rector Fieldhouse on the Tech campus.

This is one of those rare occassions that you will see an article written by me that has nothing to do with running and by no means am I worrying about being professional or using correct grammar. I have always tried to keep my personal life private and away from my site\'s visitors, but I feel that there is something beyond me that is compelling me to publish this piece for all to see. I\'m simply a messenger for Him. This is about something that is far more important than the sport of running, which in times like these, seems almost like a trivial matter in life. Today, we lost Grace Lovegrove...

Christopher Newport cross country runner Grace Lovegrove passed away this afternoon, two days after suffering cardiac arrest while on a training run. Miss Lovegrove, a freshman from Roanoke, Va., had participated with the CNU cross country program and was in training for the indoor track season.

Virginia Tech\'s Director of Track & Field, Dave Cianelli, announces the addition of Stacey Vidt to the coaching staff. Vidt, a Tech alum, begins her coaching career this winter as the assistant distance coach. She replaces Mary Jayne Harrelson who is now training full-time in Tennessee for competitions.

Many of the top teams and individuals returned to racing action over the winter break to compete at the CNU Showcase in Newport News. The two day event held at Christopher Newport University\'s Freeman Center witnessed eight state leading performances and times being posted as the meet was filled with great action and competition. Katie Doswell and Queen Harrison continued their amazing indoor campaigns, while Melissa Dewey and Amanda Patterson renewed their great rivalry in the 3200 meter run as they ran the U.S. #1 and #2 times in the event. Great Bridge\'s Michael Morrison also made his way on the national leaderboard with a U.S. #2 clearance of 15-6 in the pole vault.

Greg Jack begins his fourth season at Virginia Tech as the new associate head men\'s track and field coach. The past three years Jack has been the Hokie throws coach. Dave Cianelli, director of track and field, said, \"Greg Jack has earned this promotion as a result of his tremendous work ethic in building our throws program to a national level. We will continue to seek and develop high level throwers here at Virginia Tech because of Coach Jack.\"

Juniors David Bolton (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) and Travis Lambert (Charlottesville, Va./Albemarle) each had third-place showings in the sections of their respective events at the Gulden Relays hosted by Bucknell University on Saturday. The meet was the first of the calendar year for the Dukes, who plan to compete each weekend leading up to the March 4-5 IC4A Indoor Championships in Boston.

The King

James Madison sophomore Adrienne Mayo (Reston, Va./South Lakes) clinched first place in the triple jump at Bucknell

At the Keydet Invitational, the women team championship title was strongly contested but James W. Robinson won the team title in The