This weekend\'s first annual MileStat.com Elite Track Gala will showcase some of the finest track and field talent in Virginia as well as a sprinkling of athletes from a total of 12 other states including Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida as well as the District of Columbia. The meet features twonational champions, more than a handful of All-Americans, and dozens of state champion performers. If these are the usual humble beginnings of a first year meet, watch and see how this meet grows over the years.
Field events will begin at 2:00 pm on Saturday with running events getting started at 5:00 pm. We hope to be finished before 8:00 PM on Saturday. We will resume with the meet on Sunday with field events starting at 10:00 am and running events beginning at 1:00 pm. We hope to have the entire meet completed by 5 pm.
Three national champions are set to compete this weekend at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond for the Gala in St. Catherine\'s senior and Duke University bound Katie Doswell and Great Bridge senior and University of Florida bound Mike Morrison.
Doswell will be the hometown favorite from Richmond in the girls\' one mile run, which will feature three girls who have ran under five minutes in the event. Doswell won the national title for 800 meters at the Nike Indoor Nationals this past March and ran a US #3 all-time 1000 meter time of 2:47 as a junior last year. She has a personal best of 4:54 for a full mile from the Penn Relays this April. She will get plenty of competition in the event as Jackie Drouin from Georgia has a personal best of 4:52 for 1600 meters and the state champion also won the Taco Bell Classic. The race also features West Virginia\'s top distance runner in Kaylin Christopher who has ran 4:58 for 1600 meters, but is stronger in the longer events with a 10:34 3200 best. With three runners of the caliber of Christopher, Drouin, and Doswell, this race is bound to be one of the featured events of the meet.
Mike Morrison pf Chesapeake, Virginia will be looking to better his own school record, which also unofficially stands as a state record of 17\'6.50\". Morrison eclipsed the Great Bridge school mark at the Eastern Region Meet two weekends ago with the U.S. leading mark. The record was held by Olympian Lawrence Johnson. A previous national champion in the pole vault, Morrison had two close attempts over 18 feet at his regional meet, which would have moved into the US all-time top ten list.
The way the meet schedule is setup. The only thing going on when the field events are being run off is the field events and that is a good thing when looking at the quality of the athletes that will be showcased with the likes of Morrison and in the girls\' throwing events. The Gala will feature Virginia state champions in the shot put and discus throw from both Group AAA and Group AA and has four throwers over 130 feet in the discus and six throwers over 40 feet in the shot put.
Park View sophomore Natalie Baird headlines the group of talented throwers entered as she holds the US #7 mark in the discus throw at 157\'7\" this season. Baird won her second consecutive Group AA state discus title last weekend as well as winning her first shot put crown. In April, Baird won the discus event at the prestigous Penn Relays.
The throws also features 5-time Group AAA state shot put champion Kathy Howard. The Lee-Davis senior has a personal best mark of 44\'11.25\" in the event. Jennifer Marinacci of Manchester is coming off winning her second Group AAA state title last weekend in the discus as the senior is headed to James Madison University in the fall. Liberty\'s Carly Morse would normally be a state champion with her best marks of 42\'4\" in the shot put and 135\'5\" in the discus, but happens to be in Group AA with Baird, so she had to settle for state runner-up honors last weekend. Another state runner-up in Teressa McCoy of Lake Braddock (41\'2\") is also slated to round out an exceptional strong field.
The girls\' pole vault will feature two-time AAA state champion Nicole Kazuba of Chantilly. Kazuba has a personal best of 11\'6\" in the vent as does Heritage senior Carolyn Lewis, who is also entered. Darkhorse in the event is former state champion Anne Marie Gordon of Mills Godwin with her 11\'7.25\" best, who is still working herself back into top form from a stress fracture, which forced her to miss most of the outdoor season
Lewis will be favored in the long jump with a 18\'3.50\" best. Lewis is the younger sister of NCAA triple jump national champion Yvette Lewis of Hampton University.
Rachel Butler enjoys the runways at Sports Backers Stadium. She sure had fond memories when competing in the triple jump at the Southern Track Classic when she joined three other athletes in leaping to marks over 40 feet and into a US top ten ranking. Butler will look to duplicate or better her 40\'0.50\" performance from Southern Track this weekend.
All-American and state champion sophomore Antonio Miller of Manchester leads all entries in the triple jump with his 48\'0\" best. Miller won his first state title only as a tenth grader at last weekend\'s AAA State Meet. Miller earned All-American honors this past indoor season with a top six finish in the triple jump at Nike Indoor Nationals.
The boys\' discus will have two state champions and one state runner-up. Group AA and A state champions Alex Ball of John Handley (167\'1\") and Ryan Swanger of Strasburg (152\'8\") are entered, while AAA state runner-up Devan Clark has the best mark coming in at 177\'0\". Clark is also the top seed in the shot put at 53\'2\".
The sprints should see some great match-ups at the Gala. Manchester junior Anthony Chesson has one of the fastest times in the state for 100 meters at 10.55, while Nottoway senior Justin Stith recently won the Group AA state title and boasts a 10.75 best.
The epic matchup in the sprints may be found in the 200 meter dash as Chesson at 21.34 goes up against AA state champion Rashcad Kelso of Appomattox County. Kelso with a 21.51 best helped his team to team state championship at last weekend\'s AA State Meet with two individual state championships in the 200 and 400 meter dash. The 100 meter dash features six entrants under 11 seconds and the 200 meter dash has four athletes under 22 seconds.
DeMatha Catholic of Maryland\'s Jeremy Samuels will be coming back to smoke another fast 400 meter time at Sports Backers Stadium after posting a best of 48.18 in a victory at the Southern Track Classic last month. Teammate Jaumale Sykes is only steps behind him at 48.53, while pay attention to another Sykes in the race that is unrelated in Taylor Sykes. Sykes is the younger brother of current Great Bridge star Ryan Sykes. He is only an eighth grader, but has a personal best of 49.61 for 400 meters.
Brian Sklodowski, a junior from Tatnall Academy in Delaware has the fastest time in the 800 meter run at 1:54.67. He is closely followed by Dakota Lowery from West Johnston in North Carolina with a 1:55 best. The state of Delaware takes two of the top three seeds with
Dover\'s Matt Costen at 1:56.45.
Lowery will be competing in the one mile run earlier on Sunday as he will be battling it out with another 4:18 miler from North Carolina in private school state champion Lewis Woodward of Providence Day. Lowery finished fourth at the North Carolina State Meet with his 4:18 best in a race that featured a 4:04 run by Jack Bolas. The next two seeds are out of staters as well in Chris Slate from Delaware and Dwight Parker from Maryland, with times both at 4:20.
An excellent quarter miler from Georgia in Callie Pottinger will be making the drive north from I-85 and into I-95 to compete in the Gala. Pottinger has been clocked at 55 seconds in the 400 meter dash, while also is a solid in the 200 meter dash. Holding the top seed in the 200 meter dash is actually an eighth grader in Taylor Dewberry at 24.81.
The 100 meter dash will feature one of DC\'s top sprinters in DeAnna Brown of Dunbar, who has a personal best clocking of 11.80 in the event. Her greatest challenge will most likely come from Group A state champion Rasheeta Hundley of West Point, who posted a swift time of 11.94 in her state title victory last weekend.
The girls 800 meter run will be a hot race between All-American two miler Emilie Amaro out of Cypress Bay High School in Florida (2:14 best) and two-time AAA 1600 meter state champion Kristy Tobin of Great Bridge (2:14). Both will be using the two lap event as a tune-up for competition in the longer events at Nike Outdoors. Tobin is recently coming off a PR 1600 meter performance at the AAA State Meet, which she closed in a 68 second last 400 meters to win the state title in 4:53.
The race will also feature a former private school state champion in Michaeline Nelson of The Potomac School, who has ran a time of 2:15 in the event. West Virginia\'s Christopher may also be doubling back from the mile.
The girls\' two mile on Saturday night will pit two state champions against each other who are usually separated by quite a distance in Virginia\'s own Rachel Rose of Albemarle and two-time Colorado state champion Emma Burton. Saturday night will be Burton\'s first race below 6,000 feet altitude and she will be welcomed to sea level by Rose, who has ran 10:43 for 3200 meters this spring.
Clarke County junior Simon Biddle-Snead, who has won multiple Group A state titles in cross country and track will be looking to get under 9:20 for two miles on Saturday night as the top seed in the event.
In the relay portion of the meet, one of the featured events will be the boys distance medley relay in which West Springfield and Hermitage will knock heads in the event. Both teams feature two state champion studs in two-time 3200 meter state champion Mike Spooner of West Springfield and 1600 meet indoor and 800 meter outdoor state champion Alex Bowman of Hermitage.Spooner has ran 4:14 for 1600 meters, while Bowman has ran 4:10. If they receive the baton in striking distance of one another, you can be one is going to go after the other.
The hurdle events should be some close races. Gary Sumpter from Dover of Delaware has the top time in the 110 meter hurdles at 14.35, while is ranked second at 38.83 300 meter hurdle best for the 400 meter hurdle event. Lee Moore, the lone entrant from the state of Tennessee, has the top 300 meter hurdle time at 38.75 in the event. Culpeper\'s Jeff Ferris also has solid times of 14.57 and 38.87 in the two events.
Midlothian sophomore Jason Witt leads all entries in the 5,000 meter run with his 15:39 best. Witt is one of the top underclassmen distance runners in the state of Virginia as he has ran 9:19 for 3200 meters this spring. The race also features two state champions in AA 3200 indoor state champion Skeeter Morris of Nottoway and private school state champion Matthew Ricardson of Collegiate.
The long jump will feature two athletes over 23 feet in Daniel Richmond of Menchville at 23\'8\" and Matt Meyer of Liberty at 23\'5\".
A classic battle from the Eastern Region Meet 3200 meter run could be revisited in the 5,000 meter run on Saturday morning with 2005 regional champion Katherine Telfeyan of Great Bridge (18:48) and 2006 regional champion Callen Powers of Western Branch (18:44). The race also features two other athletes who have ran in the 18\'s for the 5K in top seed Sarah Weber of Washington-Lee (18:25) and Diana Filtz from Pennsylvania (18:51).
We have found several brave souls to compete in the steeplechase on Saturday. Gloucester\'s Emily Webb has the most experience in the event as she has competed in the event during summer track in years past and also competed in the event at the Volunteer Track Classic in Tennessee this spring. Hopefully, this event will gain in popularity and numbers for future meets.
Along with Doswell in the mile, St. Catherine\'s also will have two other talented individuals entered in the Gala with Virginia Ginn in the high jump (5\'4\") and Casey Jordan in both hurdle races. Ginn and Jordan both won VIS state titles this spring.
We will have a duel in the high jump with just two entries, but two strong entries in Ginn and Huguenot\'s Wanetta Kirby with her 5\'7\" best. Kirby is also the top seed in the 100 meter hurdles at 14.81, but Rachel Butler of Lee-Davis at 14.93 has beaten her before. Butler may also be competing in the 400 meter hurdle event.