VHSL Group 3A & 4A State Indoor Championships Coverage

Group 3A Boys Team Champions - Christiansburg

 

Group 3A Girls Team Champions - Blacksburg

Group 4A Boys Team Champions - E.C. Glass

 

Group 4A Girls Team Champions - E.C. Glass

Photos by Jon Fleming

 

 

  Anyone who attended these meets would no doubt say they were very entertaining and exciting all the way through. Despite this new “watered-down” format it seemed that the competition was better and that the team titles were much better competitions. Winning these titles were E.C. Glass taking both 4A titles, Christiansburg taking home the boys 3A, and Blacksburg taking home the 3A girls title. Though these titles coupled with the great performances that helped shape these races are great, the most bizarre or cool thing about these meets was the 4x400 rerun.

  For the few hundred that stayed, spare the explanation. In the last event, for the last division, on the last relay leg, on the last turn an incident happened. The cause is uncertain but the incident involved Glen Allen and I.C. Norcom colliding and falling to the ground. Both teams got up and finished the race, Norcom finished in 4^th. After the race there was no flag visible and teams, parents, and officials began to leave and get ready for the team titles only to hear moments later that the track had to be cleared for a rerun! What this meant was that I.C. Norcom was ruled to be interfered with and had the option, which they elected to use, to rerun their race in 30 minutes. They chose to do that and ran by themselves to the screams and cheers of the fans who stuck around. What made it very cool was the I.C. Norcom fans and Blacksburg teams cheering as loud as they could during the entire race. With all that effort I.C. Norcom ran only .01 seconds off of winning the state title in that event, something that was very impressive and with only 30 minutes of rest. 

  Aside from that one in a million ending the meet ran to schedule and the results followed suit. The highlight athletes of the meet were Blacksburg’s Bonnie Angermeier and Kenneth Hagen, E.C. Glass’ Libby Davidson, Phoebus’ Carolyn Brown, and Glen Allen’s Stanley Davis.

  Angermeier’s meet consisted of winning the 1600 and 3200 in 4:59.63 and 10:58.94, both very respectable times. These two titles were Angermeier’s second and third state title this year and could only be a start for her with the entire outdoor season to come. On the boys side of the Blacksburg team was Kenneth Hagen who won all three events he competed in. Hagen was the anchor leg for Blacksburg’s winning 4x800 and the winner of both the 1000 and 1600 meter runs. Hagen’s winning times were 2:33.90 and 4:18.68, both very fast times but not quite as fast as he has ran earlier this season, Hagen is the state leader in the 1000.

  On the 4A side it was two distance athletes and a multiple event athlete stealing the show. Scoring the most points of these athletes was Carolyn Brown who won the 55 dash, 55m hurdles, high jump, and placed second in a photo finish in the 300. That was 38 points by herself, which would have scored herself in the top six for teams. On the distance side it was two athletes completing doubles of their own with Davis winning both the 1000 and 1600 and Davidson sealing the team title for E.C. Glass by winning the 1600 and 3200. Davis ran 2:33.31 and 4:24.83 to win his races and Davidson, a freshman, won her races in 5:13.85 and 11:01.15.

  A few other impressive performances that should not be overlooked are: Brandee Johnson’s of Nansemond River 39.06 300m dash. E.C. Glass’s Matthew Zajac’s 59-02.25 shot put. Kara Lyles of Nansemond River running a 1:16.04 to win the 500. Blacksburg’s boys’ 4x8 breaking eight minutes and winning all three relays, and Lafayette’s Derek Holdsworth running a new VA #1 in the 500 with his winning time of 1:04.03 to go along with his 300 state crown.

 Some more performances that were noteworthy were Cave Spring's Katie Fortner's 2:57.46 1000 meter run. Latrice Morris of Heritage winning both the 55 and 300 in swift times. Alyssa Shupe of Jefferson Forest winning the 4A 1000 in 2:56.92. One more performance that was noteworthy was Tabb's Baron Kieffer 9:36.31 3200. 

Remarkable top 3 sweeps in the boys shot put and high jump were huge point swings early in the competition to favor of the Christiansburg boys for them to overtake other team favorites Blacksburg and Lafayette for the 3A state team title with 97.50 points. Jordan Fenton (1st, 51'2.50"), CJ Napper (2nd, 48'2.25"), and Andrew McFee (3rd, 46'10.50") dominated the shot put together for the Blue Demons, while the senior trio of DD Smith (1st, 6'1"), Mackenzie Muldoon (2nd, 6'0"), and Josh Moore (3rd, 6'0") picked the right day to go 1-2-3 in the high jump to give a state title to their brand new first-year coaching staff at Christiansburg High School.

  All of these great performances and two state team title races coming down to the final event made this meet one to remember. Below are some of the highlights of the meet, hours of race and field event footage and thousands of pictures that were all taken over the two days of this meet.  Don’t forget to check back to view athlete interviews over the next week with several of the individual state champions.

 

VHSL Group 4A State Indoor T&F Championships

 

 

VHSL Group 3A State Indoor T&F Championships

 

Girls Highlights

• 1,000 Meter Run - Katie Fortner (Cave Spring High School) 2:57.46 SB; Annie Taylor (Western Albemarle) 3:01.62; Emily Beatty (Blacksburg High School) 3:01.77; Olivia Hodge (Blacksburg High School) 3:02.94 SB; Darby McPhail (William Byrd High School) 3:05.07 SB; Averi Witt(Western Albemarle) 3:05.27 SB;
• 1,600 Meter Run - Bonnie Angermeier (Blacksburg High School) 4:59.63 SB; Jennifer Fleming (Blacksburg High School) 5:00.95; Annie Taylor (Western Albemarle) 5:01.23 SB; Emily Beatty (Blacksburg High School) 5:01.59 SB; Claire Ewing-Nelson (Blacksburg High School) 5:03.41 SB;Katie Fortner (Cave Spring High School) 5:09.64;
• 300 Meter Dash - Latrice Morris (Heritage (Lynchburg)) 40.96 SB; Kendell Wiles (Blacksburg High School) 41.20 SB; Aleah Keaton (Northside High School) 41.93 SB; Audrey Hurley (Lafayette) 42.59 SB; Kaitlin Scott (ARMSTRONG) 42.96; Alexus Wells (Warhill) 43.20 SB;
• 3,200 Meter Run - Bonnie Angermeier (Blacksburg High School) 10:58.94; Claire Ewing-Nelson (Blacksburg High School) 11:03.64; Adriana Hooks (Lafayette) 11:19.14; Samantha Marin (Blacksburg High School) 11:22.94 SB; Miriam Buscher (Warhill) 11:29.64;
• 4x200 Meter Relay - Tuscarora High School (VA) 1:47.81;
• 4x400 Meter Relay - Blacksburg High School 4:10.44;
• 4x800 Meter Relay - Blacksburg High School 9:44.48; William Byrd High School 9:48.57; Lafayette 9:58.59;
• 500 Meter Dash - Kendell Wiles (Blacksburg High School) 1:19.00;
• 55 Meter Dash - Latrice Morris (Heritage (Lynchburg)) 7.21; Aleah Keaton (Northside High School) 7.39;
• High Jump - Emily Fulton (Cave Spring High School) 5-4 SB;
• Pole Vault - Kathryn Tomczak (Lafayette) 11-6; Katrina Barredo (Western Albemarle) 11-3;
• Shot Put - Breontae Crump (Hidden Valley High School) 39-11.5;

Boys Highlights

• 1,000 Meter Run - Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg High School) 2:33.90; Christopher Short (Warhill) 2:34.19;
• 1,600 Meter Run - Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg High School) 4:18.68 SB; Jason Menzies (Lafayette) 4:19.14 SB; Gaige Kern (Alleghany) 4:20.45 SB; Michael Carter (Blacksburg High School) 4:23.83 SB;
• 300 Meter Dash - Derek Holdsworth (Lafayette) 35.02 SB; Jamik Alexander (Heritage (Lynchburg)) 35.74 SB; Tanner Reed (Christiansburg) 36.28;
• 3,200 Meter Run - Gannon Willcutts (Western Albemarle) 9:37.83 SB; Jason Menzies (Lafayette) 9:38.25 SB; Sam Teller (Blacksburg High School) 9:42.84 SB;
• 4x200 Meter Relay - Blacksburg High School 1:34.15;
• 4x400 Meter Relay - Blacksburg High School 3:29.02; Warhill 3:30.47; Christiansburg 3:31.00;
• 4x800 Meter Relay - Blacksburg High School 7:58.88; Lafayette 8:05.18; Western Albemarle 8:15.28;
• 500 Meter Dash - Derek Holdsworth (Lafayette) 1:04.03 SB; Jacob McCoy (Blacksburg High School) 1:06.16; Flip Bishop (Blacksburg High School) 1:08.36; Raheem Smith (Thomas Jefferson (Richmond)) 1:08.91 SB;
• 55 Meter Dash - Jamik Alexander (Heritage (Lynchburg)) 6.42 SB; Isiah Garland (Rustburg) 6.57; Eric Duncan (John Marshall) 6.57;
• Long Jump - Devon Cook (Brookville High School) 22-3 SB;