Group AAA virtual meet rankings including top 8 in each event and team scores based on performances in the MileStat.com database as of May 10th. A slew of boys' teams are in the hunt as the current #1 ranked squad being the Ahmed Bile-led Annandale squad with 39 points, while the same two schools from the indoor state championships in Cosby and Western Branch are the top two teams in contention for the girls' team title. For Western Branch girls to regain their perch as state track champions over the indoor champs from Cosby, they will need some of their top individuals come through including Tiffany Ellick, who had a big day in the triple jump at the Penn Relays two weeks ago with a third place PR mark of 39'9.25" to become the leading perfomer in Group AAA.

Photo by Ryan Kelly   Western Branch girls showed themselves to still be another gear shift ahead of the rest of the state in 4x200 meter relay after a US #2 clocking of 1:42.91 at the All American Track Classic on Thursday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex.  Last year's relay for the Lady Bruins set the Virginia high school state record in the event with their 1:38.74 performance at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. This year's quartet appears to be capable of running under 1:40 again on a banked track later this season. Other top performances include Lafayette's Heidi Peterson running a solo 3:05 in the 1000 and 1-2 finish in the hurdles for Western Branch's Taranisha Taylor (8.28) and Shamia Lassiter (8.36). Defending Group AA 55 meter dash state champion Coby Branch of Nottoway opened with a 6.62 clocking and win at Boo Williams. Lafayette sophomore Derek Holdsworth now has the top performance in Group AA at 500 meters with his 1:08.96 performance. Carolyn Brown of Phoebus is one of the state's top freshmen talents so far this season as she followed up running a 40.88 in the 300 this season last weekend with a 7.21 clocking in the 55 meter dash.    All American Track Classic Complete Results All American Track Classic Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly

The Western Branch girls under the tutelage of their head coach Claude Toukene, competed in their second straight Nike Track Nationals championship meet at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday. The Lady Bruins, who successfully repeated as indoor and outdoor state champions this past year, finished sixth with a total of 7,439.30 points in the overall team standings against the best 12 track & field programs in the United States. Keilah Tyson, who competed earlier in the weekend in the USATF Junior National Championships at Hayward Field in the 100 meter dash, won the 100 meter dash individually for the second year in a row as she broke her own meet record (11.72) with her 2011 time off 11.67. Next top performer for the Western Branch girls was Florida State signee Desmonae Gray, who picked up a pair of third place finishes in the 100 meter hurdles (14.16) and long jump (18'7.75").

Keilah Tyson in disbelief celebrating her 100 meter dash victory last year at the Nike Track Nationals.   After finishing third in last year's inaugural Nike Track Nationals at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, the Western Branch girls have been selected once again to return to the national high school track team championship meet through being the top ranked team in the Southeast Region this spring based on season best performances. This year's Western Branch girls are certainly in the discussion as one of the greatest track teams in the history of the state featuring incredible depth of talent in the relays, hurdles, sprints, and jumps. Keilah Tyson, who recently set Virginia high school state and AAA state meet records in the 100 and 200 meter dash, is the leading individual for the Lady Bruins and last year helped her squad to a third place showing at Hayward Field by winning the 100 meter dash individually. Their roster headed to Eugene, Oregon will also include outdoor 100 and long jump state champion Desmonae Gray and their top quarter miler Javette Lee (55.91 400 season best) who was a state runner-up in the 300 meter hurdles. The Western Branch girls are currently ranked #7 in the US according to the Nike Track Nationals virtual scoring, which scores events similar to a decathlon except using the best marks of any individual on a team in each event and dropping the lowest scoring event of the ten events offered (100 dash, 110/100 hurdles, 400, 800, mile, long jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus throw). The date of the meet is Saturday, June 25th.   

Western Branch girls still remain well out in front as the top ranked team in Group AAA and will be favorites to repeat as state champions this upcoming weekend at Sports Backers Stadium. Trailing Western Branch is two more Eastern Region squads in Phoebus and Grassfield, while teams capable of breaking up an Eastern Region top 3 trophy sweep include Cosby, Thomas Dale, Lake Braddock, Osbourn Park, and South County. Ahmed Bile and John Jenkins along with their 4x400 meter relay have the Annandale boys as the slight favorite over indoor state champions Atlee heading into next weekend, while First Colonial and Colonial Forge could be threats capable of scoring near 40 points.

Group AAA team rankings as of April 22nd. Two types of rankings included with the power rankings scoring the database's rankings as a normal meet through 8 places, while the depth rankings scores through 20 places with 1st place receiving 20 points on down to 1 point for 20th place. Indoor state team champions Atlee boys and Western Branch girls remain ontop this spring as the top ranked teams in both rankings.

                      At this weekend’s VHSL Group AAA State Championships, many teams will only have one or two athletes entered.  Western Branch can enter 10…in one race.   Desmonae Gray, Taranisha Taylor, Shamia Lassiter, Devin Mitchell, Alana Calhoun, Tiffany Ellick, Javette Lee, Ramona Thomas, Cierra Cutshaw, and Jamesha Richard are the young ladies who claim 10 of the top 20 spots in the Group AAA hurdle rankings this season.  All 10 are at the state qualifying mark of 8.66 or better.  Only 3 (Gray, Richard, and VMI signee Cutshaw) are seniors.  This is a truly ridiculous and dominant group of runners, led by 2 highly-acclaimed coaches.  (Photo by Ryan Kelly)

  Virtual meet preview for the Eastern Region Indoor T&F Championships based on season best performances in the MileStat.com database. Western Branch is projected to sweep the regional team titles. 

  A list of the top 10 Eastern Region boys performers in each event (links to full rankings included) through January 12th. Marcus Dean (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) has been a consistent performer for Western Branch coach Claude Toukene and valuable point scorer for his teammates in the triple jump. An All-State triple jump performer last year in indoor and outdoor as well as a 7th place finisher indoors and 10th place finisher outdoors in national championship competition, Dean won the triple jump at the Southeastern Invitational last weekend with a US #5 and state leading mark of 47'4.50" against one of his top challengers for the individual state title in Rickey Blake of Nansemond River.

Led by a 100 meter dash victory of 11.72 and runner-up showing in the high jump by Keilah Tyson (pictured right by Margot Kelly), the Western Branch girls finished third overall at the inaugural Nike Track Nationals held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon in a gathering of the nation's best high school track & field teams. The meet was scored in a decathlon scoring system using each team's top nine events as the Group AAA state indoor and outdoor champions amassed a total team score of 7427.85 points, while Chandler (AZ) girls won the team title with 7721.65 points. Also fairing well individually to score major points for Coach Claude Toukene's squad was hurdler Desmonae Gray with her third place 14.36 clocking in the 100 meter hurdles. Sydni Cobb was a solid top five finisher in both throwing events. Western Branch athletes received an all-expenses paid trip to Oregon, plenty of free gear from Nike, and enjoyed watching the world's top pros compete at the Prefontaine Classic this weekend.   More coverage at MileSplit US

All photos by John Herzog   It took several years for a Virginia school to qualify to compete for the Nike Cross Nationals in the fall, but it did not take long for the state to send a team to Oregon for the first ever Nike Track Nationals to be held on July 2nd at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.The Western Branch girls will be the lone representative for the Southeast region girls as their composite team scoring based on performances during the 2010 outdoor season ascened them to the top of the region rankings to be selected.With the likes of state champion caliber athletes Keilah Tyson, Desmonae Gray, and Sydni Cobb along with formidable relays, the Group AAA state indoor and outdoor champions will represent the state of Virginia in two weeks at the University of Oregon's facility.

Joanna Stevens of Blacksburg and Chris Foley of Chantilly wrapped up Saturday's events for Virginians at Nike Indoor Nationals posting some sizzling and historically impressive two mile times at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston with their All-American performances. Stevens finished fourth in the girls field with a time of 10:12.21 and right behind three of the nation's best runners in Foot Locker Nationals champion Megan Goethals (1st, 10:10), Emily Sisson (2nd, 10:10), and Aisling Cuffe (3rd, 10:11.65) in a breakaway group of top four finishers. Her race at Nike Indoor Nationals is the third fastest indoor performance all-time at the 2 miles or 3200 meter distance in Virginia high school history behind only a 9:57 and 10:07 races from all-time great Erin Keogh.   Meanwhile, the UVA recruit Foley held his own against as well as beating many national caliber distance runners and Foot Locker/NXN finalists from this past fall in his race tonight with a significant personal best run of 9:09.75 for a fourth place All-American honor. Foley's time converts to a 3200 time just over 9:06 and now ranks him just outside of the top 10 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.   Click for more updates: The Western Branch girls (pictured left by Matt Shaukus) claimed the national title in the 4x200 meter relay and despite not getting the sub 1:40 performance they were looking for on a banked track for the first time, a national championship is a national championship with their time of 1:41.27. Western Branch jumped out to the lead on their opening leg with Shakia Williams and stayed out in first for good with a strong second leg from Keilah Tyson. With no seniors on their relay, Western Branch will be back and stronger in 2011 with an opportunity to become the greatest girls 4x200 all-time in state history and break the state record. (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch girls 4x200)   Virginia's other strong favorite to win a national title in a girls' relay on Saturday in the Blacksburg 4xmile had serious aspirations entering this weekend of breaking the national record and a sub 20 goal time with 3 sub 1600 meter runners including two sub 4:50 legs in Kathleen Stevens and Joanna Stevens. However, Blacksburg was not on their "A" game without their "A" team as Kathleen Stevens was unable to run due to sickness today. Not at full strength, they finished with a time well off their goal at 20:24.07 and were defeated by the school who had the national record they were chasing in Saratoga Springs with the Toga girls as champions at 20:15.06. Still a solid national runner-up performance for the young ladies from Blacksburg without Kathleen Stevens.     With all the talk about the Blacksburg girls trying to break the national record which they ended up taking second to Saratoga Springs, many forgot to talk about the Blacksburg boys, who became the Nike Indoor  Nationals champions in the 4xmile relay a time of 17:45.63. Their total time averages out to just over 4:26 per mile leg and sub 4:25 for 1600 meters. The relay team (pictured above by Matt Shautkus) consisted of George Carter, Matt Howard, Quinn Hull, and Zack Link. Despite the event being a 32 lap race, the top two teams had little separation for the final finish with Blacksburg winning by a thrilling 12 hundredths of a second over Shenendehowa (17:45.65) of New York. (Watch Video Interview w/ Blacksburg Boys 4xMile)     Western Branch boys are keeping up with their female counterparts in the All-American and now national titles count as the boys 1600 SMR relay of Jeff Lewis (200), Tevis Snellings (200), Cameron Cipcic (400), and Blake Theroux (800) won at Nike Indoor Nationals in a time of 3:30.71. The state of Virginia was well represented in the event with four of the top 8 teams including three All-American squads in Western Branch, Fork Union (3rd, 3:32.65), and Bethel (4th, 3:32.74). In vain with too much ground to make up, Anthony Kostelac of Albemarle split a 1:51.7 800 meter anchor leg to give his team an 8th place overall finish! (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch boys SMR)   More to come from Saturday's action at the Reggie Lewis Center for the 2010 Nike Indoor Nationals.

Updates: Midlothian 9th grader Sean Willard (pictured right by Matt Shaukus of nj.milesplit.us) ran a 10 second PR to win the freshmen mile title in a thrilling and narrow 6 hundredth of a second win over Rob Napolitano of New Jersey with his first place time of 4:31.29. His times converts to under 4:30 for 1600 meters, which Willard had a previous season best of 4:40. (Watch Video Interview w/ Sean Willard). Both Western Branch and Grafton rolled out fast times in the distance medley relay under 10:10 to conclude day one events, but only one team earned a spot on the podium among the top six All-Americans. Less than two seconds separated the top seven teams with Western Branch in fourth and Grafton in 7th at 10:09 each. With a 4:59 anchor split from Paige Kvartunas, the West Springfield girls were able to split into the top 6 to earn All-American honors in the DMR with a school record time of 12:08.18.   Preview for Friday's events at Nike Indoor Nationals, which has expanded the first day of events to include more than just the 5000 meter run and weight throw contested in 2009. The DMR has several Virginia squads with All-American aspirations including the Grafton boys (featuring AA 1000 meter state champ David Gunnerson-pictured above by Ryan Kelly), Western Branch boys, and West Springfield girls. Keilah Tyson of Western Branch aims to set the bar heigher than 5'8" and achieve an all-time best height in the girls' high jump. Meanwhile, Midlothian freshmen Sean Willard is ready for a big PR drop in the freshmen mile at the Reggie Lewis Center on Friday.   Friday Meet Preview, Schedule, & Updates   Meet Page w/ Results & Interviews   Photo Gallery by Matt Shaukus of nj.milesplit.us

Boys Top 3 Team Scores 1. Western Branch - 41 pts 2. Landstown - 38 pts 3. Ocean Lakes - 34 pts   Girls Top 3 Team Scores 1. Western Branch - 78 pts 2. Great Bridge - 41 pts 3. Midlothian - 35 pts   MileStat.com Boys MVP - Darrell Wesh (Landstown) Photo by Ryan Kelly   The Landstown senior without a doubt, left her older sister's shadows with this overall showing at the 2010 indoor state meet. Wesh blew out the 55 dash finals field in a US #1 6.30 clocking and showed his range beyond 200 meters with a state leading 34.33 300 and second individual state title in the meet. His most incredible race of the day though had to be his 4x400 meter anchor leg with a state team title on the line. Landstown's third leg crashed to the track with the lead before the exchange zone and was able to get back up to hand off to Wesh, but now in third/fourth place with ground to be gained. Wesh nearly pulled it out despite the odds and time lost in a three way photo finish with Booker T. Washington (1st, 3:26.21) and Bethel (2nd, 3:26.28). Wesh anchored Landstown to near 4x400 win and state title with a final time of 3:26.31 for third place.   MileStat.com Girls MVP - Shakeela Saunders (Great Bridge) Photo by Ryan Kelly   The multi-event star Saunders scored 41 points by herself to give Great Bridge second place as a "team". Saunders won state titles in the 300 (39.83) and long jump (19'0.50"), along with runner-up finishes in the 55 meter dash (7.04) and triple jump (39'7.50". Her 300 meter dash win was most impressive on tired legs and bouncing back from an earlier defeat and fourth place finish (1:15.22) in the 500 from a US #1 1:13.30 performance by Green Run's Monica Williams. Saunders was able to make it a draw between her friendly rival with a sub 40 second performance.   2010 VHSL Group AAA State Championships Complete Results        

The point scoring machine that is the Western Branch girls has many key pieces and individuals which make them as the heavy favorites to win the Group AAA state title this weekend in Hampton. One key individual who has been with the Western Branch girls over the last three years when they competed in the shadows of their more successful boys programs is senior captain Sydni Cobb. Last June, Cobb was placed in the "emerging elite" division last year in the Nike Outdoor Nationals shot put, which she won that event in a personal best mark of 40'11". Cobb (pictured left by Ted Plunkett) is no longer emerging to be elite as the state's top performer in the shot put with a most recent season best of 40'4.50" at the Eastern Region Championships. Cobb will be attempting to win her first state title and kick start Western Branch's state championship run on Friday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex. Read more for interview with Cobb..

Leave it to the Eastern Region to give something to get excited about in a snowed out weekend from track meets for the majority of the state. Shakeela Saunders (pictured above by Ryan Kelly), Justin Hunter, and the Western Branch girls 4x200 had the leading performances on day two of the Atlantic Coast Invitational at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton on Saturday. Saunders stormed to a US #1 and VA #10 all-time 1:14.46 500, while Hunter cleared a US #2 height of 6'10" in his first high jump competition of the season. The Western Branch girls are capable of setting a state record later this season in the 4x200 after their US #2 1:40.72 performance this weekend.  

Not all of the state has been shut down due to this weekend's storm as more rain than snow has found its way into the Hampton Roads area at least on Friday allowing day one competition of the Atlantic Coast Invitational to occur at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. Many teams slated to the attend from the west and north were unable to attend, but many local schools were able to participate on Friday.

Virtual meet preview for the Southeastern District Indoor T&F Championships based on performances currently in the MileStat.com database as of February 2nd.  

A new #1 ranked boys' team in Virginia with Ocean Lakes moving into the top spot and previous #1 Western Branch slipping to #3 behind Stafford. Ocean Lakes team is a pretty much two man show with jumper Justin Hunter and distance runner Drew Paisley. Hunter is capable of winning all three jumping events at the AAA State Meet, while Paisley figures to contend in any distance race which he competes in. These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Grassfield girls (4x400 pictured above by Nicoll Knudsen) along with defending Group AAA state indoor champions Bethel figure to be the two teams who are most capable to challenge top state ranked Western Branch. Grassfield has two strong relays in the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays along with Amanda Smith in the 500 and Jazmen Townsend in the long jump as two of the state's best in their respective individual events. The Virginia high school indoor track & field depth team rankings as of January 19th. We scored 20 deep for individuals and 20 deep for relays. For example, for individuals 1st place received 20 points for their team, on down to 1 point for 20th place.

While the CNU Showcase was happening in Newport News this past weekend, just down the road on I-64 East was a competitive meet at the two year old Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. On the first day of Southeastern Invitational, two US #1's were produced by Joel Coleman of Oscar Smith in the 55 meter dash and Ricky Blake of Nansemond River in the triple jump. The second day followed up with some more impressive performances, especially on the track from two of the Eastern Region's top female sprinters in Shakeela Saunders of Great Bridge and Monica Williams of Green Run.

There was a total of 13 US top 10 performances on the first day of events at the CNU High School held Friday at the Freeman Center's Vince Brown Track in Newport News. The Midlothian girls 4x800 meter relay had the leading performance of the evening with their US #2 and state best time of 9:36.64. Despite nearly missing the race with a late arrival and no time for a warm-up, Midlothian senior Kathleen Lautzenheiser motored a 2:17 split on anchor leg for the Lady Trojans.

MileStat.com's Athletes of the Week award winners for the three weeks of limited action during the high school winter break (December 19th-January 2nd). Matt Hoogland of Lake Braddock (pictured above by Brandon Miles) is currently the state leader in the boys pole vault with a US #3 best of 15'1".

The first edition of the Virginia high school indoor track team depth rankings. These rankings were scored 20 deep for individuals and 20 deep for relays. For example, for individuals 1st place received 20 points for their team, on down to 1 point for 20th place. The depth rankings favor teams with more than just a few individuals stars gaining a bulk of the points and a well balanced team competitive in multiple events than the power rankings.

The first edition of the Virginia high school indoor track team power rankings. These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. The power rankings favor teams with a few top tier individual stars who can score a bulk of the points than the depth rankings.

The first MileStat.com Athlete of the Week honors for the 2009-2010 indoor track & field season. Monica Williams of Green Run was one of several athletes selected after her sub 40 second clocking this past weekend in the 300 meter dash at the Boo Williams Sportsplex, which ranks her #1 in the US currently in the early stages of the indoor season.. Athletes of the Week were selected for various discipline of events including sprints, distance, hurdles, relays, pole vault, jumps, and throws.

MileStat.com was on-site for the first meet of the 2009-2010 indoor season this past weekend at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. It was a very strong opener for the Atlee boys and Western Branch girls as both teams had more than their share of event winners. Western Branch girls did not show its full cards on the opening weekend of the indoor season, but certainly showed a glimpse of what to expect from them this season as they swept the relays and had five individual winners. Coach Jim Triemplar appears to have one of his better squads in recent years at Atlee. At least based off their team showing at the Peninsula District Icebreaker, which saw the Raiders collect of seven wins. The Atkinson brothers had a large role in many of those wins.  More coverage from Peninsula District Icebreaker (photo gallery to be posted Monday)

This year's VHSL State Championships could be a historic meet for the Northwest Region. The Northwest Region has arguably the greatest assembly of individual state title contenders with a big three in seniors Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View, Ariel Karabinus of Osbourn Park, and Katherine Walker of Brooke Point. Meanwhile, the Mountain View boys will look to not only get on the state meet podium for the second time in three years, but also claim the school’s first state title. In the first cross country season without Thomas Porter leading the Wildcats, Mountain View is in its best situation since the school opened five years ago to win a state cross country team title.

The Grassfield boys regained regional bragging rights in claiming their first Eastern Region cross country team title over rival Western Branch with a top five spread of 56 seconds and all five scorers among the top 20 ranging from times 15:52 to 16:49. Despite losing their top three runners from a year ago, the Ocean Lakes girls repeated easily as champions by a 46 point margin.  Landstown senior Stephanie Frenchik maintained her regional dominance with a personal best 18:22 win, while Drew Paisley made it a Beach District individual sweep as the Ocean Lakes senior scored a mild upset 15:37 victory.

Blake Theroux on third leg for the Western Branch boys and Liana Epstein on anchor leg (5th) for Lake Braddock girls helped their team secure wins to start the season at the first annual Potomac River Running Relay Kick Off held on Thursday afternoon in Centreville, Va. Theroux, the top ranked runner in Group AAA, took the baton in seventh place (he also accidentally dropped his baton 2K into his leg) and gave his team the lead with time to spare with a 9:45 split. Western Branch lost the lead to Centreville on the fourth leg with Yazid Zouaimia running a strong leg with a 10:02 split, but George Matais ran the second fastest leg of the meet to teammate Theroux with a 9:52 anchor as the Group AAA #1 ranked Bruins won by margin of 1 minute and six seconds with West Potomac moving into second late in the race.   Epstein (pictured left by Brandon Miles), a defending Northern Region champion in cross country, was given the baton with a slight lead over Thomas Jefferson girls who were running without 2 of their top runners in Sarah Stites and Lisa Junta. The Lake Braddock girls are look to challenge the returning team champions from TJ this season for the regional title and also get back on the state meet podium after a rare 3 year hiatus from a top 3 state meet finish. Epstein, a senior who started running cross country as a sophomore, has been on the podium as an individual but would like to bring her teammates up on the stage as well at Great Meadow. She was the fastest leg in the girls race by 12 seconds at 11:43 as Lake Braddock finished with a total time of 1:02:55 for the win. Read more and rest of coverage from =PR= Relay Kick Off...

The Western Branch boys have arguably been one of the best track & field programs in the decade or at least the last half of the first decade in the 21st century in Virginia. Without a doubt, the biggest individual contributor to Western Branch's state title runs over the past few years has been Jeffrey Artis (pictured by John Herzog). The recent graduate in June, Artis as a 2009 state champion in the 55 meter hurdles indoors and 110 meter hurdles outdoors as well as numerous state runner-up and high finishes in several jumping events and hurdle races in state competition over the past few years, has scored more points for Western Branch than any other individual athlete for Coach Toukene.   His personal bests are as followed: 7.32 in the 55 meter hurdles, 13.99 in the 110 meter hurdles, 37.80 in the 300 meter hurdles, 23'8.50" in the long jump, 49'1" in the triple jump to deservedly not only make the MileStat.com All-Decade team in the hurdles, but jumps as well. Artis, a two-time Nike All-American in the hurdles, is headed to the University of Oklahoma in the fall.

The power went off at the UMES Coach O Invitational on Saturday to interrupt the meet temporarily, but meet management did not need to call in a electrician to restore the power to the facility. All they had to do was call on Western Branch senior Jeffrey Artis (pictured right by John Herzog) and a US #1 mark in the triple jump to electrify the building. "It was on my last jump. We had four jumps, but unfortunately the power went out during my first two jumps, but the power came back on for my third and fourth." Talk about poise. Despite the annoyance of the power outage, Artis leaped to a national leading mark in the triple jump of 49'0.75". He bettered the previous US #1 mark by a whole foot with his performance. Read more...

Team rankings broken down by regions in Group AAA. These rankings were calculated by scoring the performances entered in the database so far this season as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. #1 ranked teams for each region Central Region: Deep Run boys & Deep Run girls Eastern Region: Western Branch boys & Western Branch girls Northern Region: South Lakes boys & Lake Braddock girls Northwest Region: Albemarle boys & Osbourn Park girls

#1 and #2 ranked teams face off for the first time this season to settle the debate (for now at least) at Saturday's Manhattan Invitational. Jamestown and Oakton boys have been head and shoulders better than the rest of the competition so far this fall, but both will have their hands full when they race against each other and a loaded field at the Manhattan Invitational. Meanwhile, Glory Days Grill Invitational will feature 6 schools which are ranked among the top 10 currently led by the Octoberfest champs from James Robinson, who are racing in their fourth major invitational in as many weekends and so far have improved their team performance each weekend.

The 50th annual William & Mary Invitational will be contested this weekend at Eastern State Hospital. The longest running high school cross country invitational might not be as large and competitive in past years with meets such as Oatlands and Maymont growing to fields of 100 plus schools, but the meet still has a large gathering and will feature some of the state's better runners and teams including matchups of VA #1 Jamestown and VA #9 Western Branch as well as VA #4 Andrew Colley and VA #8 Bobby Peavey. More...

Five Virginia boys teams and four Virginia girls teams are featured in the latest cross country regional team rankings by Marc Bloom and Rich Gonzalez for the Southeast Region. Oakton boys dropped from #1 to #2 in the region, while Jamestown gained a spot from #6 to #5. Thomas Jefferson boys fell 3 spots as well from #3 to #6. Two new Virginia squads are ranked though with Atlee in the #9 spot and Western Branch rounding out the top 10 with the #10 ranking. SE #4 Midlothian and SE #7 Oakton girls maintain their rankings from the previous week, while the Lake Braddock and Blacksburg girls make their first appearances in the rankings this fall as the #8 and #9 ranked squads in the Southeast region respectively. The state is certainly represented well in the latest regional rankings with 9 of the 20 ranked teams in the entire region from the Commonwealth of Virginia. These schools will be tested in the coming weeks with big showdowns looming at Oatlands and Maymont, while Manhattan on October 11th again appears to be the meet which will give a clearer picture if Nike Cross Nationals is a reachable goal.

The Newport News Invitational saw a very early season showdown of the two runners who likely will be battling for the Eastern Region title later this season in Kellam's Bobby Peavey and Western Branch's Blake Theroux. The only definite heading into the race would be that fast times would be posted in a duel between the two as the #10 ranked (Peavey) and #11 ranked (Theroux) in the state of Virginia would meet on one of the fastest 5K courses in the state found at Newport News Park. The senior Peavey defeated the junior Theroux in their first head-to-head race of the season with a state leading 5K time of 15:32 to break the old course record of the newer version of the Newport News Park course. More... Newport News Invitational Results: A Boys - A Girls - B Boys - B Girls - C Boys - C Girls - JV Boys - JV Girls

The checks are still coming in, but as of today the Western Branch team has raised over $11,000 for cancer research and their team thanks to 100+ miles put in by their coach in 24 hour span and 933 total miles combined by all of the Western Branch athletes who participated in the Tuesday, August 13th event which spilled over to 7 am on Wednesday, August 13th at their school's track in Cheseapeake, Virginia. Western Branch's distance coach Ryan Carroll in memory of one of his friends who was a victim of cancer, honored his friend by raising money for cancer research by completing an incredible task as he circled the track for hours and hours to run a total of 104 miles in less than 24 hours. His Western Branch athletes logged quite a few miles as well to help fundraise for their team for this upcoming year of meets as Blake Theroux put in a total of 60 miles and David Warren ran the second furthest at 54 miles. Natalie Wynn ran the most among the girls with 51 miles, while Kayleigh Lewellyn completed 49 miles. A total of 22 athletes participated in the run-a-thon fundraiser. The team passed team on their breaks from running lounging in the tent areas on both ends of the end zone, taking advantage of ice baths made in kiddie pools, refueling with food and drinks, and even playing a few games of ping pong. More on the Western Branch's long distance method to raise money for their team below. WAVY TV: WBHS track club holds 24 hour relay to raise money WAVY TV: WBHS coach runs 100 miles in 24 hours for cancer research Kale Running: Western Branch HS 24 Hour Relay Results  

Western Branch's state champion hurdler Kevin Newsome (pictured right by John Herzog) will not be back to defend his AAA titles in the 55 meter hurdles and 110 meter hurdles this upcoming year as the two-time state champion transferred to Hargrave Military Academy for his senior year to prepare for his future college football career, which a verbal commitment would currently have Newsome going to Michigan. Newsome's transfer was major and sudden loss to both the track and football teams at Western Branch. This is not the first time that football has taken away a state champion hurdler with still much untapped potential left on the track. Granby's Chris Bell won multiple state titles in the 110 meter hurdles from 2004 to 2006, but never bothered to compete at a national meet in high school due to the focus being on football immediately after the state track meet. Granted both Bell and Newsome clearly had or have the talent to compete at big-time college football powerhouses (some tout Newsome as one of the top two high school football recruits in Virginia), but could it have hurt to still leave the door open to compete in the hurdles as a collegiate? Freep.com article: Kevin Newsome answers critics at national showcase The Roanoke Times: Hargrave's postgrad team lands star

Jeffrey Artis will attempt to lead the Western Branch boys to their third team championship in the past four state meets as the #1 ranked athlete in the 110 meter hurdles, #2 in the 300 meter hurdles, and #5 in the triple jump. Currently roughly 20 to25 points separates Western Branch on paper from their challengers in Group AAA. (Photo by Andy Paisley) Updated Group AAA boys team rankings with all regional performances entered and reflected in the new team rankings. These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. It is important to note these rankings are not scored by what athletes will actually be competing in at the Group AAA State Championships as many athletes contributing points to the top teams will be forced to make choices on what events they will focus on with a limit of three running events and only one other running event on Saturday if competing in the 3200 meter run. Example: Jason Witt cannot compete in the 1600, 800, and 3200 as well as the 4x800 meter relay for Midlothian. The top 10 teams include in alphabetical order: Battlefield, Bethel, Douglas Freeman, Green Run, Midlothian, Mountain View, Nansemond River, Oscar Smith T.C. Williams, and Western Branch. View full rankings with 56 teams scoring and see where each team may be getting their points at the state meet next weekend.

The 2007 All-MileStat.com Girls Cross Country Team has now been released. The article includes Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, Most Improved of the Year as well as first, second, third team, and always close call honorable mentions to the All-MileStat.com Team.All-MileStat.com Boys Team to be released on Wednesday!

Photo by Ted Plunkett The goal of every runner who comes to the Group AAA state cross country meet is to make it on the awards podium. That means placing in the top 15 individually or top three as a team. Tallwood senior Octavia Rinehardt and Western Branch’s girls both achieved those goals, placing third on a cold Saturday morning at Great Meadow. Rinehardt ran a personal-best 18 minutes, 5.9 seconds, the fastest time ever posted by an Eastern Region girlsat the state meet. It’s also the sixth-fastest time overall at the state meet. Read full story... 

Tallwood's Octavia Rinehardt leading the pack early at the Eastern Region Championships as the senior went onto win easily in a personal best time of 18:18. (Photo by Andy Paisley). Octavia Rinehardt was running so smooth and effortlessly Thursday afternoon that it looked like she was taking a stroll through the park. Rinehardt, a Tallwood senior, was running in Bells Mill Park, but she was far from strolling. No, she was dominating as she breezed around the course in a personal-best time of 18 minutes, 18.10 seconds to win her first Eastern Region cross country title. “I just wanted to run my race and go for a good time more than anything,” said Rinehardt, who won by 25 seconds. Read full story... Eastern Region Championships Results: Individual Results - Boys Team Scores - Girls Team Scores Eastern Region Championships Photo Gallery - By Andy Paisley. 407 photos total.

Photo by Andy Paisley Western Branch made it a complete sweep of the Southeastern District cross country meet at Bells Mill Park Wednesday. The Bruins took both the boys and girls individual titles, as well as both team titles. Callen Powers won the girls race, while Blake Theroux garnered the boys title. Both runners trailed at the one-mile mark, then took the lead two miles in and held it the rest of the way. Powers, a senior, picked up her first district cross country title in 18:54.15, besting freshman teammate Natalie Wynn. Wynn finished just six seconds back, at 19:00.75. “It feels pretty good to win, but I was more excited about the team championship,” Powers said. “I was definitely running for my team, for my girls.”Read full story... 

 The Southeastern District Meet could be a Western Branch show with the potential of Bruins coach Ryan Carroll to have both individual and team champions in the boys and girls races. The Western Branch girls have looked sharp this fall as a team that could possibly represent the Eastern Region well beyond the regional meet onto Great Meadow.

No one was missing at the Chesapeake Invitational this past weekend among the best teams and individuals in the Eastern Region. As a result, the winners from Ocean Lakes boys impressed up front with four under 17 minutes and 3 of the top 5 finishers in a Chesapeake Invite win. Photo by Andy Paisley.  Saturday at Bells Mill Park have to now be considered the clear favorites to win the Eastern Region cross country titles when they return back to the home course of the regional championships in November. Read on for full story... Chesapeake Invite Photo Gallery by Andy Paisley 

 More than 80 schools will be represented at Saturday's William & Mary Invitational as many outstanding cross country runners and teams from Virginia, Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina will be spread out among the three varsity race divisions. Leading the individuals will be newly minted stars with Foot Locker South rankings in Virginia private school runners Johns Ross (pictured above by Linda D'Amato) of The Potomac School and Barbara Strehler of Trinity. The Jamestown boys will be the overwhelming team favorites with none of their fellow NTN regionally ranked Virginia squads present to take on the NTN Southeast #3 ranked Eagles on their home course at Eastern State Hospital. Meanwhile, Eastern Region title contenders in the Western Branch and Ocean Lakes girls look to clash for the first time this season with several Northern Virginia teams looking to make things interesting.

MileStat.com's Brandon Miles takes a crack at the top 10 girls cross country teams in the state for this upcoming season. The top 5 of the 10 are revealed on Sunday with the remaining 5 to be posted on Monday. No surprise with Midlothian on top as the Lady Trojans will have one of the country's most fearsome top sevens in the nation. Midlothian pulled off the huge victory last year at Manhattan Invite and gained valuable experience with a top 10 finish at Nike Team Nationals to better prepare for a likely return trip this fall. The Lake Braddock girls, who had a group last year which would have been Virginia's best any other year if it was not for the Midlo girls, return another team with plenty of firepower with four sub 11:30 3200 meter gals including Christine Moore (pictured left by John Herzog). The defending AA state champions of Blacksburg look to firmly establish themselves as the next team after Midlothian. Maggie Walker looks to be one of the squads to move further up the totem pole than others with a very strong front two in Susannah Piersol and Clarissa Schick and possibly give the Central Region a second year in a row of two of the three podium teams in AAA. Brentsville has a solid core of five back from their tough second place finish to Blacksburg in the AA state race and will look to thrive in the new underdog role and take back their title.  Complete top 10 teams list posted Monday 7:50 PM.

James River senior Kristen Wolfe (pictured left by John Herzog) leads one of deepest and most talented pool of Central Region individuals and teams as the defending regional champion. Only the likes of Footlocker Nationals runner-up Aurora Scott, 15-time AA state champion Catherine White, and eventual 10:31 2 miler Sarrah Hadiji joined Wolfe under 18 minutes for 5K last fall as Wolfe has the fastest returning time in AAA at 17:58. 12 of the top 20 returning 5K times among AAA girls happen to be from the Central Region. Meanwhile, the Midlothian girls will be heavily favored to win their third consecutive state title, while Douglas Freeman and Maggie Walker return talented squads that can make podium runs and give the Central Region a possible rare accomplishment in a sweep of the top three positions. However, the Northern Region possesses several solid teams including last year's state runner-up Lake Braddock.  More in-depth preview as well as pre-season predictions from MileStat.com's own Brandon Miles to come in August.

 Ever wonder where your best mark ranks in Virginia history? Well while a true all-time Virginia high school list is still a work in progress project for MileStat.com, we do have plenty of performances in our database since the beginning of MileStat.com in December of 2000 to provide a "MileStat.com Era" All-Time List. Check where this year's boys rank all-time on these 50 deep lists. Class of 2007 athletes and beyond are highlighted in BOLD on the list. While a total of six Virginia girls had #1 MileStat.com Era all-time performances this past year, only one Virginian among the boys had a #1 performances to put the current gender war in perspective. Promise for next year though with plenty of returning talent including the lone #1 MileStat.com Era performer in the 300 meter hurdles, Damien Thigpen of Stonewall Jackson (pictured above by John Herzog). As a sophomore this spring, Thipgen clocked his 37.44 best in the prelims of the 300 meter hurdles at the AAA State Championships, which he went onto win in the finals.

The Virginia Beach Flames Invitational this past weekend had some of the best high school performances in the summer track season so far this year with numerous noteworthy marks and times in the intermediate boys and girls as well as young men and women divisions.   Booker T. Washington junior DeShana Briggs (pictured left by John Herzog), who has struggled in the past with her consistency in the high jump as well as performing well in state competition, seems to be correcting that now after being a non factor at the AAA State Indoor Meet despite clearing 5'8" two occassions before the season.  Briggs cleared 5'8" in two early season outdoor meets and returned back to her season best height at the AAA State Championships to place third in the event.   Much of the higher expectations which were placed on Briggs this year were due in large part to a clearance of 5'10" last summer at the AAU State Meet. Well she is back in top form again after this weekend with her second clearance ever at 5'10". With the likes of multiple state champion Ashley Gatling and Nike Outdoor Nationals champion April Sinkler graduating, the expectations will once again placed on Briggs to win a state championship after another 5'10" clearance to tie Gatling as a state leader for the year.

4:21 is only good enough for 7th at Nike Spring Invite 1600 Mike Spooner of West Springfield and Chris Tyson of West Springfield worked out a pre-race plan to take the first 800 meters out together in 2:04 and then Tyson would push the third lap in hopes of both attaining personal best times and possibly a run at a sub 4:10. Neither was able to come close to breaking 4:10, but Spooner earned a PR in a 4:13.31 win and their bold racing strategy made the rest of the field come along for the ride with 7 runners at 4:21 or faster for one of the deepest races one will find in Virginia in the distance event. Check out the race video!  (Photo by Brandon Miles)  One of the biggest weekends so far with the number of invitationals being held across the state this weekend, so please be patient as we try to digest it all! MileStat.com's Brandon Miles tried his best to be everywhere by attending three meets in two days with the Fluvanna Invitational on Friday night, Gar-Field Invitational on Saturday, and Nike Spring Invitational on Saturday Night. Photos and video are forthcoming from all three meets by Brandon Miles as well as photos from other selected meets by MileStat.com contributors. Meet directors please email us your meet results. Results posted so far from Caroline Inv, Draper Invitational, EMU HS Qualifier, Five Forks Track Classic, Fluvanna Invite, Gar-Field Invite, Landstown Invite, Lee-Davis Subvarsity Invite, Lynchburg All-Area Meet, Nike Spring Invite, Suffolk Invite, Times-News Relays, T.C. Williams Invite, and VMI High School Classic. Check back Sunday for more results and throughout the week for more coverage from this past weekend with performances, meet summaries, photos, and videos to be added.  Tuesday's focus of site work will be on capturing, editing, and uploading of video and pics from Fluvanna, Gar-Field, and Nike Spring.

The Deep Creek boys were the lone Virginia relay to make into the Championships of America finals this past week at the Penn Relays as the Hornets won their qualifying heat on Saturday morning with a time of 3:18.08. In the COA finals of the 4x400 meter relay, Deep Creek finished sixth in 3:19.44 as the second US squad with Long Beach Poly of California winning in 3:09.89. Making up the Deep Creek 4x400 were Keonta Coleman, Dejor Simmons, Dewey Gatling, and Curtis Campbell. Lakeland junior Chris Copeland had the highest individual finish at Penn among any of the Virginia boys in the high jump as the Nike Indoor Nationals All-American and defending AAA state indoor champion matched his personal best height with a clearance of 6'8" to earn second place honors. Check out race videos from Penn Relays at flocasts.com 

 Coach Claude Toukene at Western Branch High School and Coach Stan Morgan at Midlothian High School have been announced as the 2007 All-MileStat.com Indoor Track Team Coaches of the Year.

The first annual St. Christopher\'s Indoor Invitational in Richmond had nothing but rave reviews whether it was regards to the facility itself or how well the meet was run. The performances this past weekend certainly indicated that Richmond\'s newest indoor track facility will produce to many future great meets, times, and marks.

T.C. Williams senior Samella Koroma continued to impress this season in the shot put as the state leader in the event improved upon her top mark at Friday night\'s UMES Coach O Invitational in Princess Anne, Maryland. Fresh off her win at the F.I.T. Invitational with a personal best throw in a MileStat.com Athlete of the Week performance, Koroma did it again with another state best throw at UMES with a winning mark of 41\'9.50\" on Friday evening.

The state\'s top ranked boys and girls teams from Midlothian both survived scares at the Great Meadows Invitational in their opening races. The Nike Team Nationals Southeast #1 ranked squad in Midlothian ran well as shown by their low team total of 55 points in the competitive meet, but the NTN SE #6 ranked and two-time defending AA state champions Brentsville proved to be just as good as they finished two points shy of them in second place with 57 points. Midlothian junior Jason Witt took the individual title in a time of 16:03.15. Meanwhile, the Midlothian girls had two of their seven runners drop out of the race including top returnee and 4:53 miler M.C. Miller yet their amazing depth and talent was showcased still in dominating the #2 ranked team in the state and #5 ranked team in the NTN Southeast region in Brentsville by a 65 point margin of victory. The Lady Trojans were led by the Lautzenheiser twins, Kathleen (1st, 19:20.92) and Leia (3rd, 19:46.59), as the freshmen pair finished first and third respectively. More to come from Great Meadows...

The Kellam girls and Ocean Lakes boys appear to be the teams to beat this fall in the Eastern Region, while Derrick Robbins is expected to easily defend his regional crown. Meanwhile, Western Branch freshmen Aurora Scott, who already has some national age group records under her belt, will be expected to make a huge splash on the Virginia high school running scene.

A handful of Virginia teams including Deep Creek, West Springfield, Great Bridge, and Western Branch ventured south to compete at the Easter Challenge at the University of North Carolina\'s year old indoor track facility.

Athletes of the week for the week ending on April 20, 2002, are Deandre Hyman of Deep Creek and Leslie Treherne of Western Branch. Each athlete had outstanding performances leading their squads to dominating team wins at the Gus Lacy Track Classic held at

Possible thunderstorms and lightning loomed in the distance throughout much of the day, but those storms never came as the Gus Lacy Track Classic was blessed with excellent race conditions as it gave way to many outstanding performances.

The third annual Gus Lacy Track Classic set for this Saturday has a loaded field and spectators can expect an assault on the record book. With Deep Creek and Atlee entered expect a great team battle in the Boys

The two race winners at the Southeastern District Meet both came from Western Branch. Western Branch's Brandon King won the boys race in a time of 17:02 and Amber Brain won the girls race in a time of 20:21.

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.     Eastern Region Championships - Day 1 Results   More to come from the Eastern Region Championships including photo gallery by Ryan Kelly, race videos by Andy Paisley, and full meet summary.