LYNCHBURG, VA -- Plenty of teams are talking about being the best team in the state. The Manchester boys are proving they are one of the best teams in the state on the track. Despite missing one of the top returning middle distance runners in Andrew Duty as Duty suffered a stress fracture at the end of the cross country season, the Manchester boys look to have the ingredients for a powerful punch this season at Saturday\'s Wally Gilbert Invitational in Lynchburg. Meanwhile, a total of nine state best performances were put up throughout the day including a 1:31.10 4x200 meter relay from Manchester.
Manchester returned two key legs from last year\'s 4x200 meter relay in Anthony Chesson and Reggie Hill. Chesson won the 55 meter dash at Liberty University\'s 200 meter indoor track at the Tolsma Track Center in 6.48. Meanwhile, Hill took second to Patrick Henry\'s Joseph Mesadeu (35.73) in a very close race with Hill clocked in at 35.86. The Lancers simply blew out the field in the relay event as they won by a six second margin over Patrick Henry (1:37.24) with a time that should rank fairly high in the early season national rankings of 1:31.10. Manchester\'s time beat their 2005 best of 1:31.23 posted at a fast and banked 200 meter track at Virginia Tech. Manchester also finished out the meet and become team champions of the Wally Gilbert Invite with a first place finish of 3:29.64 in the 4x400 meter relay. Manchester is the first team to break 3:30 in the relay event this season in Virginia.
Manchester\'s Evan Brooks teamed up with Chesson and Hill on the 4x400 meter relay after winning the 500 meter dash earlier in 1:09.72. Defending AAA state outdoor triple jump champion Antonio Miller took second with a state best leap of 46\'7\" in a very competitive triple jump competition as Austin Davis (47\'1\") from North Durham High School in North Carolina bettered Miller by four inches. Manchester has a total of three state leading performances with Miller in the triple jump and their two relay squads. Meanwhile, both Chesson and Hill rank in the top five in the state currently in the 55 and 300 meter dashes.
South County senior Jeff Miller was the final state leader last year indoors for 1000 meters as he ran a 2:32.81 personal best at Virginia Tech and he finds himself on top of the state leaderboard again this year after posting a solid early season time of 2:34.17 at Liberty. Miller suffered a season ending injury last year not long after Virginia Tech to prevent him from going after a state title in the event, but hopes to stay healthly this year to win his first championship.
Peter Dorrell has not lost a step since a fantastic close to his cross country season with a top 20 All-South personal best run of 15:30 at Footlocker South. The Blacksburg junior now owns the state\'s fastest times for 1600 and 3200 meters as he lapped the majority of the field with a personal best time of 9:26.96 at Wally Gilbert. On the same track at Liberty last weekend, Dorrell ran another state leading time for 1600 meters at 4:23.30.
Northside senior Catherine White did not have as pleasant memories of the end to her cross country season after the 2005 Footlocker Nationals All-American dropped out at Footlocker South at the two mile mark and failed to qualify for Footlocker Nationals for a second year in a row. However, White was quick to bounce back for the indoor season and erase those bad memories from Charlotte on Saturday with a near sub five run for 1600 meters by posting a state best time of 5:00.08. White will have an excellent opportunity to run even faster and well under five minutes in late January at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. The race will feature one of the nation\'s top returning milers in Danielle Tauro from New Jersey.
Patrick Henry sophomore Natalie Woodford joined her teammate Mesadeu as a state leader as Woodford held off one of AA\'s best in Brittany Cabbler of William Fleming (1:19.21) in a photo finish victory in the 500 meter dash with a 1:19.18 clocking. Cabbler was also a runner-up in the 300 meter dash with a solid individual double for the day in 42.64.
The state of North Carolina was well represented in many of the sprint and jumping events. Southern Durham\'s Jacida Evans was a double winner in the girls\' sprints with fastest clockings of 7.28 in the 55 meter dash and 42.05 in the 300 meter dash. Evans also claimed first in the long jump with an impressive mark of 18\'5\".
Another event winner from North Carolina, North Rowan\'s Phillip Bush took the 55 meter hurdles in 7.53 as defending AA state champion Ethan Nixon of Brookville garnered second place in 7.69. Nixon will be a favorite to repeat in the event again as well as be in contention for the state championship in the high jump as he cleared 6\'4\" on Saturday to win the event.
North Carolina also swept the horizontal jumps for the girls with Cummings High School having a pair with the top two marks in the triple jump with Latoya James (38\'2\") and Sherice Walker (37\'2.50\"). Southern Durham\'s Evans won the long jump, while Northern Durham\'s Austin Davis had the best jump in the boys\' long jump at 22\'2\".
Jefferson Forest senior John Pavia is the top returnee in the shot put from last year\'s AAA State Meet after finishing third and did not show any reason why not to consider him as a favorite to win by throwing a personal best of over two feet at 53\'3.50\". The event featured three AA throwers having marks over 50 feet with Pavia, Liberty\'s Erik Kuster (2nd, 51\'10\"), and Turner Ashby\'s Justin Smith (50\'9\").
Fort Defiance\'s Katelyn Cummings won the throwing event for the girls as she threw for a distance four inches better than Spotswood\'s Cassie Merica (34\'8\") and E.C. Glass\' Susanna Timmons (3rd, 34\'8\") at a mark of 35\'2\".
Blacksburg junior Laurel MacMillan ran a personal best of 11:21.31 to win the 3200 meter run to follow up her 5:19 personal best run last weekend in the 1600 meter run at Liberty. The Blacksburg girls were strong in the distance races as they took a close win in the 4x800 meter relay (10:14.17) over Charlottesville (10:14.21) without three of their \"A\" team members including Cate Berenato and Allison Homer, who competed in a great 1600 meter race finishing third and fourth respectively with times of 5:13 and 5:16. Five runners went under 5:20 in the race and all were AA runners with White, Heritage\'s Laura Rapp (2nd, 5:12), Berenato, Homer, and William Byrd\'s Alisha Royal (5th, 5:19).
The defending AA girls\' state team champions from Blacksburg had a nice little preview meet with the team that will likely be one of their strongest challengers in Fleming. Fleming was strong in the sprints and jumps with Cabbler\'s two runner-up finishes in the 300 and 500 and their 4x200 meter relay finishing third in 1:51.84. While the girls from North Carolina ruled the jumps, the William Fleming girls were not far behind with Omni Ashford leaping a to second place finish in the long jump at 17\'2.75\" and claiming fourth in the triple jump at 35\'3.25\".
The Blacksburg girls had two relay wins on the day as their 4x400 meter relay (4:13.18) joined their 4x800 meter relay as a winner on the day.
For the second week in a row, Erin Patterson cleared a personal best height of 10\'6\" in the event, but this week the Franklin County junior was able to claim the win with the clearance.
E.C. Glass junior Daniel Inge was not able to match his clearance of 14 feet last weekend at Liberty, but 13\'6\" was good enough for his second straight win at the Tolsma Track Center.