Photo by Mary Ann Magnant
Three juniors from Virginia are headed to Puerto Rico this week to compete in the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational. Those three Virginia high school track athletes selected by the National Scholastic Sports Foundation (event organizers for the the New Balance indoor and outdoor nationals) include Hampton hurdler Chantel Ray, Cave Spring distance runner Katie Fortner, and Forest Park sprinter Ricky Morgan. All three will be members of a US delegation of top tier national class high school track & field athletes who will be returning to compete in 2014. Their competition will include athletes from several Caribbean nations and territories over two days on June 7th and 8th in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Hampton's Chantel Ray is coming off a record breaking Group AAA State Outdoor Championship meet in which she broke the girls' 100 meter hurdles meet record in the prelims with a 13.71 clocking before lowering her own record again in the finals with a US #9 performance of 13.69. The two-time Group AAA state champion in the 100 meter hurdles, Ray would be the #4 returnee in the nation for next spring as her season best currently stands. She was an accomplished hurdler prior to high school in age group summer track meets and her progression and time drops have continued each year in high school. During the indoor season, Ray was an All-American in the 60 meter hurdles (5th at New Balance Nationals) and ranked #2 in the United States in the 55 meter hurdles with a 7.88 personal best.
A state runner-up twice (1600 & 800 meters) last Saturday in Harrisonburg to Hidden Valley senior Carolyn Bethel at the VHSL Group AA State Championships, Katie Fortner begins to enjoy life after her long-time rival Bethel departs to graduation by making a trip to the Caribbean and representing her country. A state champion and All-American indoors as a sophomore, Fortner has an impressive list of personal best times including a 2:15 800, 2:53 1000, 4:49 mile, 10:36 3200, and 17:35 5K to carry over entering her senior year. Fortner finished 7th in the mile at the New Balance Indoor Nationals with a season best time of 4:53 this past March.
A key member of Forest Park's state championship squad for both indoors and outdoor this past year has been Ricky Morgan. While fellow junior teammate Mustaqeem Williams takes much of the spotlight away from his teammates being a multiple state individual champion, Morgan has quietly under the radar become one of the state's top sprinters and as shown by his selection by NSSF for this weekend's trip to Puerto Rico, gaining respect nationally as welll. At Todd Stadium in Newport News last Saturday, Morgan finished as a state runner-up in the 400 meter dash finals with a time which would win most years in a personal best clocking of 47.04, which ranks him US #14. Morgan just happened to be in the same race with the US #1 performance in Michael Cherry as the winner at 46.02. Morgan also ran opening leg on Forest Park's state champion 4x100 meter relay and a ran new PR in the 200 meter dash in the state meet prelims at 21.72. During the indoor season, Morgan clocked an impressive 500 meter time of 1:04.30.
More meet information on the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational can be found on the meet page at http://www.nationalscholastic.org/csi/ . Live results will be posted here: http://www.sodmpr.com/lai_files/csi2013/evtindex.htm
Photo by Mary Ann Magnant
Three juniors from Virginia are headed to Puerto Rico this week to compete in the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational. Those three Virginia high school track athletes selected by the National Scholastic Sports Foundation (event organizers for the the New Balance indoor and outdoor nationals) include Hampton hurdler Chantel Ray, Cave Spring distance runner Katie Fortner, and Forest Park sprinter Ricky Morgan. All three will be members of a US delegation of top tier national class high school track & field athletes who will be returning to compete in 2014. Their competition will include athletes from several Caribbean nations and territories over two days on June 7th and 8th in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Hampton's Chantel Ray is coming off a record breaking Group AAA State Outdoor Championship meet in which she broke the girls' 100 meter hurdles meet record in the prelims with a 13.71 clocking before lowering her own record again in the finals with a US #9 performance of 13.69. The two-time Group AAA state champion in the 100 meter hurdles, Ray would be the #4 returnee in the nation for next spring as her season best currently stands. She was an accomplished hurdler prior to high school in age group summer track meets and her progression and time drops have continued each year in high school. During the indoor season, Ray was an All-American in the 60 meter hurdles (5th at New Balance Nationals) and ranked #2 in the United States in the 55 meter hurdles with a 7.88 personal best.
