NEW YORK, NY -- The Lake Braddock squad made what has become an annual trip to the New York Armory fot the 53rd annual Bishop Loughlin Games and turned in some fine early season performances on one of the fastest indoor tracks in the country. Meanwhile, Stonewall Jackson sophomore Damien Thigpen picked up a big win and shows plenty of promise as argubably the state\'s fastest underclassmen.
As a freshmen last year, Thigpen had a strong outdoor season as he qualified for state competition in both 200 meter dash and 300 meter hurdles with season bests of 22.18 and 38.96 respectively. Thigpen was the only state qualifier in both events. He did not run indoor track last year, but showed no signs of a lack of experience at the indoor venues as he competed in one of the country\'s best at the New York Armory in New York City as won over a competitive field with a 6.48 clocking in the 55 meter dash. Thigpen is only the fifth sprinter in the state to run under 6.50 in this young season and while he may not be ready to challenge the state\'s best yet such as Robert E. Lee\'s Sean Holston, he certainly is running faster than any of the current top seniors did as a sophomore. Thigpen is setting himself up well for the future.
Year after year, the Lake Braddock girls find themselves in the state title hunt in AAA and 2006 should be no exception. The 2006 squad certainly is well rounded across the board.
Michelle Presley and Christine Moore helped lead the Lady Bruins to a state runner-up team finish in cross country and continued to run up front in the distance races for Lake Braddock at the New York Armory. Presley ran the state\'s second fastest time of 3:03.16 to finish fifth in the 1000 meter run. Moore also ran one of the state\'s faster times for two miles in 11:25.01 to get in an early season state qualifier. Along with Hayley Sullivan, Lake Braddock returns three of their four relay legs from last year\'s outdoors state champion 4x800 meter relay.
Allison Jones has picked up valuable points for Lake Braddock in the past in the throws and her early season performance of 38\'5\" in the shot put at the Bishop Louglin Games assures Coach Mike Mangan that more points can expected out of her this March.
Melanie Akwule also has potential to be a point scorer in the hurdles as she clocked a time of 8.78 on Saturday in New York.
Ian Prohaska had the top performance or performances for the Lake Braddock boys as he clocked a time of 8.02 in the 55 meter hurdles, leaped to a mark of 42\'0\" in the triple jump, and cleared 13 feet in his specialty event of the pole vault.