The state of Virginia took the New York Armory by storm with two of the best high school performances this past weekend in the Big Apple (including Friday night\'s Millrose Mile, which included no Virginians). Robert E. Lee senior Sean Holston just missed breaking the incredible high school 300 meter record of 33.19 held by William Reed (set in 1986) with a US #2 all-time victory of 33.21 in the elite high school field at the New Balance Collegiate Games. Meanwhile, Axel Mostrag of Fork Union was a close second for performance of the weekend in blowing out the 1000 meter field in the final 180 meters with a US #9 all-time performance of 2:26.11. Catherine White of Northside and Dania Sanford of Fauquier also competed in New York with White coming away with a big personal best run for 1000 meters in a third place finish.
Sean Holston could have settled last week with his performance at the Virginia Tech Invitational in winning the 300 meter dash with a US #9 all-time clocking of 33.68 and shut it down to prepare for the district, regional, and state championships. However, Holston knew he could go faster and so he made the trek to New York this weekend to compete in a strong 300 meter high school field assembled at the fast and banked 200 meter track found at the New York Armory. Holston felt he could definitely become the fastest Virginian ever at 300 meters and beat Lashawn Merritt\'s 2004 US #5 all-time performance of 33.51 in New York, but did not give up belief that he could after the 21 year old national record of 33.19.
He was not mistaken in his beliefs as shown by rolling out a time of 33.21 in his Armory debut and finishing two hundredths of a second off William Reed\'s national record. Even more impressive was the way that Holston simply dominated a strong field of some of the nation\'s top sprinters as he was over a second faster than second place Trenton Guy Jr. of North Carolina at 34.43.
While Holston still went into this weekend as a heavy favorite, Fork Union senior Axel Mostrag had to prove himself this weekend as the best in the 1000 meter field at the Collegiate Games. Lionel Williams from New York had run under 1:20 for 600 meters this year and Lamar Davis from North Carolina had the fastest returning 800 meter time in the country of 1:50.58. Along with other quality runners in the race, no win would come easy for Mostrag, but it certainly looked that way in the way he finished the race.
Mostrag started off the race near the back of the field of ten. By the time the bell lap rolled around, the Polish native found himself tucked behind Lionel Williams, who had led throughout. As they entered the backstretch of the final lap with under 180 meters, Williams left room for Mostrag to pass and the Fork Union senior took full advantaged as he trucked it around the track to win convincingly in 2:26.11. Mostrag\'s time is US #9 all-time and is the second fastest ever by a Virginian with only national record holder Alan Webb with a faster time at 2:23.68.
In more of an impressive show of Fork Union\'s depth in the middle distance events as well as a stronger indication of what their 4x800 meter relay is capable, Fork Union\'s Szymon Rola also competed in the 1000 meter with the state\'s second fastest time of 2:30.54 to finish eighth in the race. Both Mostrag and Rola knocked off teammate Jamie Reichlen, who had held the state\'s fastest time of 2:32.14 from St. Christopher\'s last weekend. Fork Union now has the top three 1000 meter runners in the state.
In a 1000 meter race against runners consided to have more leg speed than her, Catherine White showed she has some wheels as two miler in finishing third at the Collegiate Games with a personal best time of 2:52.25. Her time is a five second improvement from last year\'s race at the Collegiate Games, which was a personal best and also is the state\'s fastest time for 1000 meters by six seconds. It is pretty safe to say that Catherine White has erased away the disappointment of failing to qualify for Footlocker Nationals in cross country and is running her best ever as of late after two straight weekends of personal best races up in the Northeast (Boston Indoor Games mile and Collegiate Games 1000).
Fauquier senior Dania Sanford had a solid showing in one of her first big races outside of the state of Virginia. Sanford finished third in the 300 meter dash at the Collegiate Games with a time of 39.65. Slightly off her 39.52 win last weekend at Virginia Tech, but still a strong time nonetheless.
More to come from New York including photos by David Fleenor
The state of Virginia took the New York Armory by storm with two of the best high school performances this past weekend in the Big Apple (including Friday night\'s Millrose Mile, which included no Virginians). Robert E. Lee senior Sean Holston just missed breaking the incredible high school 300 meter record of 33.19 held by William Reed (set in 1986) with a US #2 all-time victory of 33.21 in the elite high school field at the New Balance Collegiate Games. Meanwhile, Axel Mostrag of Fork Union was a close second for performance of the weekend in blowing out the 1000 meter field in the final 180 meters with a US #9 all-time performance of 2:26.11. Catherine White of Northside and Dania Sanford of Fauquier also competed in New York with White coming away with a big personal best run for 1000 meters in a third place finish.
Sean Holston could have settled last week with his performance at the Virginia Tech Invitational in winning the 300 meter dash with a US #9 all-time clocking of 33.68 and shut it down to prepare for the district, regional, and state championships. However, Holston knew he could go faster and so he made the trek to New York this weekend to compete in a strong 300 meter high school field assembled at the fast and banked 200 meter track found at the New York Armory. Holston felt he could definitely become the fastest Virginian ever at 300 meters and beat Lashawn Merritt\'s 2004 US #5 all-time performance of 33.51 in New York, but did not give up belief that he could after the 21 year old national record of 33.19.
He was not mistaken in his beliefs as shown by rolling out a time of 33.21 in his Armory debut and finishing two hundredths of a second off William Reed\'s national record. Even more impressive was the way that Holston simply dominated a strong field of some of the nation\'s top sprinters as he was over a second faster than second place Trenton Guy Jr. of North Carolina at 34.43.