Photos by Jon Fleming
Featured stories by Cory Mull from the VHSL Group 3A State Championships and VHSL Group 4A State Championships.
Group 4A State Boys 55 Dash Champion - Davion Hutt (King George)
There was this small idea swirling in Davion Hutt’s head. It was a negative feeling, something telling him he wasn’t good enough.
But that doubt, which sprung out of the belief that he wasn’t fully healthy from an injury he suffered a season ago, withered in less than seven seconds.
The King George senior product ran his best 55-meter race at the Group 4A Indoor State Championships at Liberty University’s Tolsma Track Facility on Saturday, finishing in a personal record 6.47 seconds to claim the state title.
It was the first of his career. It also came just two years into his track career.
He beat Dontae Mauck, who entered as the race’s second seed, and finished in 6.52 seconds.
He also beat Churchland’s Chris Walker, who had the fastest time entering the state championships and had the fastest preliminary heat. But Walker wasn’t able to put together a similar performance in the finals, finishing in fifth at 6.62 seconds.
“It wasn’t expected. It really wasn’t,” Hutt said. “Someone told me there’s a guy running 6.43 and my fastest time was a 6.48. So I figured that guy would beat me. I was always neck-and-neck with some other guy.”
Nerves rushed through his legs, which made his body feel ... off.
“When I was getting ready,” Hutt said, “I felt like my legs were heavy.”
But there was also a stronger majority taking over. With just seven guys to beat, Hutt thought, all he needed to do was get a good jump off his blocks. The strongly built sprinter did just that.
“I’m still kind of doubting that I won,” Hutt said. “I still feel like I didn’t win. It’s kind of shocking, because I wasn’t expecting it at all.”
One of the main reasons, he said, was that he was coming off a hip injury, which he suffered a season ago while at an indoor meet. A week ago, while performing dead lifts in the weight room, Hutt said he felt some of the same feelings he had before.
“I feel sore now,” he said. “But my back was hurting.”
Still, it didn’t discount him from running an electric race. Afterward, it took awhile for the shock to wear off.
“I’m just excited about it and I want to tell my parents,” Hutt said.
Group 3A State Girls Pole Vault Champion - Kathryn Tomczak (Lafayette)
In the pole vault, there are multiple strategies being utilized within the competition. There is the height of the bar, which typically elicits the most pressure.
And there is also the game within the game. Determining what height to go in at, and what to pass on, can sometimes put a successful athlete in a predicament.
That happened to Lafayette’s Kathryn Tomczak on Saturday at the Group 3A Indoor State Championships at Liberty University.
The accomplished vaulted decided to pass on jumping at 11-3, which Western Albemarle’s Katrina Barredo had previously beaten, and instead chose to come in three inches higher at a height she felt comfortable
But with the pressure of the state championship riding on each jump, Tomczak felt the weight of the event on her shoulders. She missed her first few events, as did the rest of the field who were still in it.
When Barredo missed her final attempt at the height, that left just one more jump for the Lafayette junior. Make it, she said, and she would win. Miss it, she added, and she would lose the state title.
“That was my make-it-or-break-it jump,” she said.
Well, this story turns out happy for Tomczak, as she hit her final jump at 11-6, winning the field on Saturday. It was her first state title, after winning the Group 3A East Region the previous weekend.
Her personal record, however, stood at 12 feet. She recorded that height at the Atlantic Coast Invitational at the start of February.
On her final attempt at 11-6, Tomczak used a 13-foot, 145 pound pole. It proved to be a good decision, yielding her the highest height of the day.
“For a good attempt, I just keep trying to remember what I did correctly and I go over what I have to do to get back on.”
Tomczak said she used poor attempts to refine her technique on the runway. Many times, she said, she went to her coaches for advice.
“Usually I’ll talk to my coaches because they’ll see what’s happening on the runway better than I would,” she said. “So they would tell me what things I would have to do at the top end of the pole.”
The Lafayette junior said she used the motivation of being a leader as a way to position her toward her best attempt.
“I remember when I was younger that I would look at all the older girls and I would look up to them,” she said. “Now, I feel like I’m the person they’ll look up to. So that’s what drives me.”
Group 3A State Girls 55 Dash & Hurdles/High Jump Champion - Carolyn Brown (Phoebus)
Carolyn Brown was on a mission. That mission, she said, was pretty familiar. But it wasn’t easy.
The Phoebus senior captured state titles in the 55-meter dash and the 55-meter hurdles, to go along with a win in the high jump and a second-place performance in the 300-meter dash, as she scored 38 points on Saturday at the Group 4A Indoor State Track and Field Championships at Liberty University.
Phoebus finished second to E.C. Glass in the team championships on Saturday, scoring a total of 58 points.
Brown said her motivation on Saturday was to help her team score as many points as possible. While the team didn’t win the state title, Brown was a big reason why they scored so high.
“I feel like I have to do my part or I couldn’t be called a leader on my team” Brown said. “So I try to help my team and win my events or place as highly as I can to collect points and win.”
The 55-meter sprints, she said, were likely the most difficult, considering they came back-to-back on each other.
Brown was the top seeded runner from Friday, earning a first day time of 8.39, but didn’t feel as though the race would be a cake walk on Saturday.
The race itself, she said, was bumpy like usual.
“I hit hurdles 24/7,” Brown said. “Working on bringing my trail leg up, that’s my biggest problem. I almost fell coming over one of those. So, yeah, I was trying to compose myself and finish.”
But she found a way to win, scoring a 8.44 time to capture her first title of the day. She followed merely a half hour later with a win in the 55-meter dash, scoring a result of 7.09 to record the win.
It was just a hundredth of a second faster than Heritage senior Asonya Anderson, who was favored to win the race. Zakiya Batemen, the third ranked sprinter heading into the final on Saturday, ran a 7.26 to capture third.
“Normally when I do really well in the hurdles, I do well in the dash,” Brown said. “So I set myself up for that.”
But the process of running back-to-back races does take its toll on Brown, who felt a little bit of the pressure that comes with being highly ranked.
“My mentality is to push myself and win, then walk back slowly for the 55-dash and try to compose myself,” she said. “I was happy after I won. I was going to push myself to win again. I just focus on breathing and getting back to it.”
Fortunately enough for the senior, she was prepared for the races.
“I’m used to it,” she said.
Group 3A State Girls 1600 & 3200 Champion - Bonnie Angermeier (Blacksburg)
The goal was to get all four teammates under five minutes. That had been the goal all season for the Blacksburg High girls who were running the 1,600-meter race.
However, just one captured that goal on Saturday at the Group 3A Indoor State Track and Field Championships at Liberty University and that individual was junior Bonnie Angermeier.
Angermeier finished in a personal record 4:59.63 and later captured another win in the 3,200-meter run, finishing in 10:58.94. In each race, strategy played a difference.
“We knew we had to take it out,” Angermeier said of the mile. “But it helps to have those teammates. We wanted to work it up to a certain pace, because setting it up at a pace is important.”
Still, it’s not like the team wasn’t all trying to get to five.
Angermeier, who took the lead a little before halfway through the mile, upped the ante with junior teammate Jennifer Fleming and Western Albemarle junior Annie Taylor late in the race.
Fleming finished in second 5:00.95 while Taylor was third in 5:01.23. Blacksburg finished its final two runners, Emily Beatty (5:01.59) and Claire Ewing-Nelson (5:03.41), in fourth and fifth, respectively. Ewing-Nelson went out quick early, and on pace to break the tape before five, but came up slightly short in the end.
A day before Saturday’s events, the team had won the 3,200-meter relay in 9:44.48, clipping William Byrd by just four seconds. That result may have taken a little off of the mile performance, Angermeier said.
“I think we all kind of wanted a little more out of it, “ she said, “but we definitely ran 4 x 800 last night, and so we were all happy with that. All season, that’s been a goal for us.”
Throughout training over the indoor season, Angermeier said her Blacksburg teammates were all equally supportive of each other, which turned the lead-up to the state championships into more than just a competition.
“We are all best friends,” she said. “We all work really hard in practice. Without each other, we wouldn’t be as good as we are. “Definitely having teammates pushes you and it makes it possible. We all were hoping to do it today together.”
Breaking five minutes for the first time in her career, Angermeier wasn’t as happy as she thought she would be. But, she was happy with the result.
“It didn’t feel as cool as I thought it would,” she said. “I had an injury in my sophomore year that took me out for three months, so it was disappointing, that I didn’t get it then. But I came back junior year. It was tough, and I’m happy with where I’m running right now.”
Group 4A State Boys Discus Champion - Matthew Zajac (E.C. Glass)
Matthew Zajac knew he would be the first up. This fact was reinforced by an array of coaches who told him so.
E.C. Glass, they said, had a chance at winning the boys’ state title at the Group 4A Indoor State Track and Field Championships at Liberty University on Friday and Saturday. So it was up to Zajac to set the tone of the meet.
To say the E.C. Glass senior, a three-time state champion in the discus over the last three outdoor seasons, was excited up would be a little disingenuous. He was beyond stoked.
“I had to start it out right,” he said. “I had an adrenaline rush. So starting it up, doing what I know how to do, I went after the first throw.”
Zajac , a University of Tennessee recruit, claimed his best throw of the day on his first attempt on Friday, heaving a winning mark of 59 feet, 2.25 inches to claim the state title, his first in the event over his career.
“That was only the second time I’ve thrown over 59 before,” Zajac said, “so I was really pleased with it. “
Zajac, VA#1 with a previous best of 59-9.5 at the Durham Striders Invitational in early January, came ready to make a difference on Friday.
“It kind of started out, the teams had a good chance of winning the meet,” Zajac said, “so I had a lot of coaches coming up and telling me it was up to EC Glass to compete early on.”
His work certainly set a tone for E.C Glass, which went on to claim the boys’ state title with 93 points.
The 6-foot-5, nearly 220-pound Zajac credited much of his success to his technique, the spin, which he has been refining since his freshman year. Not as big as other throwers or as strong, he said, he uses exceptional quickness and velocity to create power on his throws.
“Since I don’t weigh as much as the other guys, I can accelerate a lot faster,” he said. “I can put a lot more force on the ball then if I was a glider.”
Again, Zajac reinforced how much he enjoyed competing on Friday.
“I’m really pleased with it,” he said.
Group 4A State Boys 1600 & 1000 Champion - Stanley Davis (Glen Allen)
Strategy played a difference in both of Stanley Davis’ races. The Glen Allen star, who won both the 1,000-meter and 1,600-meter runs at the Group 4A State Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturdayat Liberty University, said moxie was needed to take over the field in both events.
Davis began with a win in the 1,600, edging out Midlothian’s Collin Hahn with a final time of 4:24.83. Hahn came through the finish in second at 4:25.19, while Peter Seufer of E.C. Glass was third in 4:27.43.
Davis worked off Hahn early, waiting to make his move late in the race. He eventually did, capping off the mile race with a distinctive final push in the bell lap.
“I wanted to run off of Colin,” Davis said. “I didn’t want to tire myself out too much in the mile, which is what happened. He set the pace really early, which I was happy with.”
Shortly after, Davis readied for the 1,000, where he was faced with tired legs. The Glen Allen runner again used strategy to pick a Hahn of Midlothian, only this time it was Randy.
He claimed the win in 2:33.31, winning by just over a second over Hahn, who came in second at 2:34.30.
“That race, most people were trying to go off of me. And coming off the mile, I wasn’t trying to go out,” Davis said. “I was trying to go out hard, but not too hard. That first lap, I felt a little bit of the wear and tear on my legs. But I was trying to run a little conservatively.”
Davis didn’t want to show too much emotion after his win in the mile, but he said he couldn’t hold it in anymore after his success in the 1,000. He let out a big smile.
“I wasn’t trying to show it, because I was trying to keep my composure,” Davis said of his early win. “But after the 1,000, I was extremely satisfied.”
Winning his first state indoor title, it certainly made its mark on Davis. He didn’t run a personal record in the mile, he said, but it was coming off a hard race just a week earlier, when he won the same race in 4:22.70 at the Group 4A South Regional.
That meant his legs were a bit tired. Then again, Davis wasn’t too concerned with that fact, either.
“I was happy with that,” he said. “I wasn’t too tired. But I was satisfied with that race.”
Group 3A State Boys 500/300 Champion - Derek Holdsworth (Lafayette)
Derek Holdsworth is a versatile guy. No, really, he is.
If you ask him to run a 5K over the fall, he’ll do it in under 17 minutes. If you ask him to run the 1,600 in the spring, he’ll finish in a respectable 4:30. And if you ask him to sprint, well … he might even win a state championship.
That’s what happened on Saturday when Holdsworth captured two state titles. He claimed his first in the 500, his third career state championship in the event, and then added another in the 300, which he said “was an all out guts race.”
His win in the 300 was his third in his career.
Holdsworth claimed the 500 in 1:04.03, beating second-place Jacob McCoy of Blacksburg by just over two seconds. He later added a time of 35.02 in the 300, beating Jamik Alexander of Heritage.
The two results, plus another second-place performance in the 3,200-meter relay, aided in a third-place team finish by Lafayette. Christiansburg, which scored 97.50 points, edged out Blacksburg (95 points) and Lafayette (84 points) in the team standings.
Still, Holdsworth felt like he did his part. He left it all out on the track in the 500.
“When you’re trying to run fast, you can’t go out there and sit and kick,” he said. “My sophomore year when I won, I got up to the bell lap and it looked like a distance race. And it’s not a distance race; it’s a sprint. Last year I didn’t win until the last 100. It just, it was crazy.
“This year, I focused,” he added. “I said, ‘It’s just a 400 with a 100 at the end.’ I focused on that.”
Having picked up the sport as a freshman, Holdsworth saw a huge transformation into his sophomore year, when he began to take the sport a little more seriously.
“This year I dropped only a second [on the 500],” he said. “But I’ve seen the development. I can see it in myself. Last year when I raced, I couldn’t move after I was done. I locked up. This time, though, I felt great. I said, ‘time to go to the 300.’”
Looking toward the future, Holdsworth, US#5 in the 800, is hoping to spend two years at South Plains College in Texas before moving on to the University of Oregon, where he is planning to cut time in the 800.
“They were saying I need to drop a few seconds in the 800 to be actively recruited,” he said of his discussions with the Ducks. “But not many high school runners are doing 1:51 like they want. The fastest in the nation is [1:50.55]. And I run a 1:53.1, which I ran by myself. So I’m excited to run in nationals.”
Which just goes to show, if you ask Holdsworth to run a race … he’ll probably do it without much thought.
Group 3A State Girls Team Champions - Blacksburg
It was barely even a contest. Going into the Group 3A Indoor State Track and Field Championships, the Blacksburg girls’ team was heavily favored to win.
The team, bookended by strong distance and sprinting teams, had quality depth, but more importantly, strong team chemistry.
It all came together over the weekend as the team scored what they had hoped for. The Blacksburg girls secured a team title, scoring a whopping 113.5 points.
“All of our training and races at this point have been focused on the state meet and winning the team title and winning as many individual titles and having as many great performances as we could,” said Claire Ewing-Nelson, who scored second-place performances in the 1,600-meter and 3,2000-meter runs.
The team only scored overall wins in the 500, 1,600, 3,200, the 1,600 relay and the 3,200 relay, but many players throughout the meet scored auxiliary performances, netting points through the roof.
The team’s distance runners, for instance, scored four places in each the 1,600 and the 3,200 runs, netting a total of 55 points. It also tossed in 11 points in the 1,000.
“It’s really nice to contribute so much to the team,” Ewing-Nelson said. “And we know there’s definitely a little pressure on us, because we know we have to score a certain number of points in all of our events. But it’s really nice to be able to contribute that way.”
Meanwhile, Kendall Wiles scored a second-place performance in the 300 and the 500.
“And having Kendall scoring in the sprints, that’s great, too,” Ewing-Nelson added.
Distance standout Jennifer Fleming summarized it short and sweet.
“I think we did really well,” she said. “Our goal was to win. And we won. We’re really happy. Everyone gave it their all.”