NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- The Western Branch boys could have won prettier and more dominant, but they will take it as any regional team championship in the state's toughest track region at the Eastern Region Meet is what it is in a team championship against some of the state's best. Meanwhile, the Bethel girls continued their streak of dominance in the region under the helm of Coach Eddie Williams at CNU's Freeman Center on Monday with their fourth straight region indoor team championship. Kali Watkins of Menchville and Domique Jordan of Woodside had the top individual performances of the day with US top five times.
A false start to their top hurdler and injury to their top sprinter could not stop Coach Claude Toukene's powerful Western Branch squad from the Eastern Region title. Western Branch sophomore Kevin Newsome false started in his preliminary heat of the 55 meter hurdles to fail to advance onto the finals, while Coach Toukene pulled 300 meter top seed Daniel Nix (34.77) from the event as a precautionary measure from shin pains.
Despite the points loss by both misfortunes for the Bruins, Western Branch still finished 18 points ahead of regional runner-up Hickory (49 pts) with a team score of 67 points. They never seemed to be seriously challenged by any of the Eastern Region squads and especially after the high finishes they received from sophomore Kelvin Griffin in the jumping events. Griffin won a great long jump competition over Lakeland senior Predist Walker as he bettered Walker's top mark of the day of 22'9" by half of an inch at 22'9.50". Griffin and fellow Western Branch sophomore Jeffrey Artis teamed up in the triple jump to pick up 18 points for their team with Artis leaping to a winning mark of 46'8" and Griffin in second at 46'6".
Griffin also took fourth in a deep high jump competition with four competitors still in and attempting clearances at 6'7". Indian River senior Dennis James won a jumpoff over Hickory senior Kevin Nichols with both high jumpers clearing 6'7", while Griffin was fourth at 6'5".
Western Branch senior Darien Kearney also came through big with a big throw of 56'3", which was a personal best mark to help him finish third overall in the shot put. Oscar Smith junior Frede Spellman was four inches away from throwing over 60 feet for the third time this season with a top mark of 59'8", but faced a tough challenge for the win from Denbigh senior Jaymes Brooks as the Peninsula District champ threw for a personal best of 59'5.50" to take a close second.
The regional team champs did have the services of Daniel Nix for at least one event as Nix ran on the 4x200 meter relay, which posted the second fastest time in the state and third fastest flat track time in the nation with a 1:30.67. Only Manchester at 1:30.60 has ran faster in the state this season and the matchup between the two teams in the 4x200 and overall team battle will be quite intense and close at the state meet.
Javanti Sparrow picked up the slack with Nix's scratch from the 300 by winning the 500 meter dash title as the Western Branch sophomore ran a personal best time of 1:06.04 to keep Deep Creek from going 1-2 in the event with sophomore Curtis Campbell (2nd, 1:06.23) and senior Keonta Coleman (3rd, 1:06.69).
Triple jumper winner Jeffrey Artis also contributed six more points with a third place finish in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles with a 7.68 clocking. Norview's Amin Garcia had the fastest time of the day with a 7.55 clocking in the prelims, but top seed Predist Walker of Lakeland came out on top in the finals with a 7.59 win and Garcia in second at 7.63.
Hickory was a mild surprise in finishing third as they are considered to be a more distance oriented team as the defending Eastern Region cross country team champions, but it turned out their dependable strength in the distance and points elsewhere were able to put them ahead of the sprint and field event teams that used their energy beating up on each other.
Hickory kicked off the meet with a win in the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 8:16.66 as they led from the first baton exchange to finish. Later in the meet, Hickory had two of the top three finishers in the race as Andrew Zohorsky pulled away in the final 1600 meters of the race after a slow first half 4:55 to win in 9:51.49, while teammate Andrew Earehart took third in 9:55.43. The distance crew also produced a second place finisher in the 1000 meter run with Johnny Hume in a time of 2:39.68.
The top individual distance performer was Cox senior Eddie Judge as he did not show little signs of laboring in easy wins in the 1600 (4:30.68) and 1000 (2:37.51) meter races. Some of his top competition in the state will be harder pressed at their regional meets with the fields that they will be facing at the regional level.
Indian River senior Thomas Speller had another false start in the 55 meter dash in a championship meet this year as he followed up his false start at the Southeastern District Meet with another in the finals of the event at the Eastern Region Meet. However, Speller was able to redeem himself and earn himself a spot in the state meet by winning the 300 meter dash with a season best time of 35.31, which is third fastest in the state.
If anyone is going to stop Sean Holston from winning all three sprint events at the AAA State Meet on March 3rd in Fairfax, I.C. Norcom's Isaiah Gyasi might be the guy to do it. While Holston seems to be on another atmospheric level than the state competition as well as national competition in the 300 and 500 meter dash including US #2 all-time 300 meter clocking of 33.21, Gyasi has a slightly faster 55 meter time this season than Holston's season best of 6.41. Gyasi has posted a time of 6.40 this winter and on Monday was not far off his best with a 6.41 regional championship time in the 55 meter dash finals at the Freeman Center.
There was an exciting close to the meet in the boys' 4x400 meter relay as the Deep Creek and Bethel boys battled it out on all four legs. Bethel had the lead going into the final exchange, but Deep Creek's anchor took the lead with 200 meters left. The Bethel anchor swung wide and appeared to ready to make the pass, but Deep Creek was able to hold on for the 3:23.80 win with Bethel in second at 3:24.06.
The Bethel girls showed just why they are historically speaking the best team in the Eastern Region. Not only was Monday's regional team championship Bethel's fourth straight indoors, but it was their ninth overall, which puts them five championships ahead of the next teams in the region's history. Bethel tallied 70 points for the win with Southeastern District champs Western Branch as the regional runners-up at 58 points.
Seton Hall bound senior Shakia Forbes jump started things for Bethel as it only took one jump and one attempt for Forbes to win the long jump competition with a mark of 19'4.50". Saving her legs for the remaining events in the day as well as the state meet, Forbes dipped out after her first jump and won by nearly a foot and a half. It will be exciting to see what the US #2 long jumper will uncork two weekends from now with more attempts and some great competition including reigning state champ and record holder Brittni Finch of Centreville.
Forbes later finished as regional runner-up in the finals of the 55 meter dash with a 7.28 clocking as Bethel had a 1-2 finish in the event as senior Crystal Carrington posted a great personal best time of 7.15. With Carrington looking sharp at the regional meet, Bethel could have two potential individual state champions with Forbes in the long jump and Carrington in the 55 meter dash.
Carrington and Forbes ran the first two legs on Bethel's winning 4x200 meter relay (1:45.11) in what turned out to be a crazy and controversial event. In the previous section, Deep Creek's second leg was lined up in the wrong lane to receive the baton from the opening leg, who has to run in their designated lane throughout their leg. Deep Creek's opening was forced to cut over to lane one to hand off to the second leg, but was not disqualified due to failure by the officials to line the second legs up in their proper lanes.
The final and "fast" section turned out to be crazier as the oncoming second legs including Bethel's Forbes. Bethel's third leg was positioned to receive the baton from the farthest inside lane one, while Landstown's third leg was three runners over from the inside. The big problem is the second legs for Bethel, Landstown, and Menchville were all coming in together at the same time, but Bethel was on the outside instead of the inside, while Landstown and Menchville were to the inside instead of the outside. Contact insued before the second legs reached the relay exchange zone and Menchville went down, while Landstown ended up being disqualified.
The only one to escape clean somewhat was Forbes and Bethel as they went onto win the race in 1:45.11. Landstown actually "won" the race, but were determined by officials to be the guilty party of the contact in a controversial call. The call had huge impact on the team scoring as Bethel could have been disqualified and lost ten points, while Landstown could have gained ten points. Ten more points would have moved Landstown into second place as they ended up fourth overall with 48 points.
Bethel still would have won the team title regardless even if there was a double disqualification with them and Landstown to give Western Branch (2nd, 1:45.69) two more points and move them into first in the relay, which would have tied them with Bethel at 60 points in the team scoring.
Bethel sophomore Kayla Campbell's win in the shot put was very crucial for her team to win a fourth regional championship to not only contribute ten points to the team cause, but try to negate the points that the Deep Creek girls would end up putting up in the event with three throwers in the top five with Tiphani Harris (3rd, 37'3.75"), Brittany Brunson (4th, 36'2.75"), and Jasmine Walton (5th, 35'8"). Campbell had the best throw in the field at 37'8.75" for her first regional title.
Scoring places from Kamilah Barnette in the 500 meter dash (5th, 1:18.95) and Shakia Forbes in the 300 meter dash (3rd, 40.66) were also clutch team performances by individuals as Barnette placed out of a slower section, while Forbes held her on in a stacked field.
Winning both of those stacked sprint races was Woodside junior Domique Jordan who showed the great promise she previewed as a sophomore last year including breaking 55 seconds in the 400 meter dash and break Francena McCorory's regional meet record. In the 500 meter dash, Jordan ran a state leading and personal best time of 1:15.45, which is also sixth fastest in the country this season in the event.
Jordan, who suffered a season ending hamstring injury heading into last June's AAA State Outdoor Meet, was just as impressive in the 300 meter dash with the fastest time in the country on a flat track and nearly become the first high school girl in the nation to break 40 seconds for 300 meters on an unbanked track with a 40.01 clocking.
The competition forced her to run fast as the 300 meter dash had three competitiors under 41 seconds with Jordan, Landstown's Marlene Wesh (2nd, 40.25), and Forbes. There were three under 1:17 in the 500 meter dash with Jordan, Landstown's Cierra McGee (2nd, 1:16.27), and Deep Creek's Keshia Rudolph (3rd, 1:16.88). A strong sign of a loaded region in the sprints is when one of the nation's top returning 400 meter hurdles in Nicole Saunders of Menchville finishes fourth in the 500 meter dash and eighth in the 300 meter dash respectively.
Despite the disappoint in the disqualification in the 4x200 meter relay, the Landstown girls continued to fight through the remainder of the meet with strong individual races from McGee in the 500 meter dash and Wesh in the 300 meter dash as well as closing the meet out with the second fastest flat track time in the country in the 4x400 meter relay with a 3:57.16 victory. Only national leader Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland has ran faster on a flat track in the country this season at 3:52.89, while they own the fastest overall US #1 time from a banked track at 3:44.89.
The Bethel girls were able to seal the team title in the same race by finishing second in 4:02.84.
Western Branch was actually a slight surprise in second place with 58 points as Deep Creek looked to be stronger on paper coming in despite finishing second to Western Branch at the Southeastern District Meet. Both Deep Creek and Landstown, last year's AAA outdoor co-state teams champions both looked to have their set their lineups right to challenge Bethel and at least snag second place over Western Branch.
However, the Western Branch girls showed their district championship was no fluke by racking up 58 points for second place. The Lady Bruins had only one event winner on the day with junior Callen Powers able to slightly distance herself from Beach District 3200 meter champ Octavia Rinehardt (11:35.25) for a 11:34.93 win in the 3200 meter run, but several second and third place finishes including a runner-up showing in the 1600 meter run earlier from Powers at 5:14.46 helped their total team score grow throughout the day.
Western Branch junior Ermesha Fair was also a regional runner-up for her team with a mark of 37'2.75" in the triple jump as Kellam's Jenn Healey won her first regional championship with a best leap of 37'5". Jessie Gaines also placed in the event for Western Branch with a fourth place mark of 35'6.75". Fair scored in two jumping events with a fifth place jump of 16'11" in the long jump. Meanwhile, Gaines took sixth in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles.
In the finals of the 55 meter hurdles came arguably the race of the day as two Virginian girls broke eight seconds in the event, which historically is very rare in the state of Virginia. Defending 55 meter hurdles state champion Kali Watkins of Menchville picked up her first victory over defending 100 meter hurdles state champion Tierra Brown of Hampton after suffering two previous losses to Brown at the Freeman Center. It took her fastest time ever to do it as Watkins ran a US #5 clocking of 7.95 with Brown right behind her with a US #7 performance of 7.99. Expect another close battle between the two district rivals at George Mason on March 3rd with little separation between the two to possibly push them further under eight seconds. Sheena Johnson's 2001 state meet record of 7.75 may be out of reach, but few Virginia state meets in history will have as a fast of a state runner-up as there possibly will be with either Brown or Watkins.
Western Branch had two finalists in the 55 meter dash with Gaines (3rd, 7.29) and Brittney Smalls (6th, 7.36), while also finishing second in the 4x200 and 4x800 (9:59.78) meter relays. Anne Reiner had a strong anchor leg to put Ocean Lakes into the lead and give them a 9:57.47 victory in the 4x800 meter relay.
Despite being under the weather and going just under 2:30 through the first 800 meters with Western Branch's Callen Powers, defending 1600 meter state champion Kristy Tobin of Great Bridge was able to shut it down and cruise in for a 5:06.89 win. However, the effects of illness showed in her attempt to double back in the 1000 meter run with a disappointing sixth place showing as she faded on the final lap to lose several places.
However, Tobin was never in the race as it was a battle from the gun between Kellam's Ashley Kukura and Great Bridge teammate Jayna McGehee. Kukura led into 400 meters, while McGehee trailed and the position would stay the same until the final lap as Kukura was able to distance herself slightly from McGehee in a 3:04.32 win. McGehee took second in 3:06.01.
The Deep Creek girls finished third as a team as they were led by one of the nation's best in Ashley Gatling as the senior cleared 5'8" in the high jump to tie her state leading and US #4 season best clearance. Gatling had some solid attempts at the current US #1 height of 5'10". Gatling is the returning state champion in the event and also is current state meet record holder after clearing 5'9" in last year's AAA State Indoor Meet. She will definitely be looking to improve the 5'9" state meet record height two weekends from now.
The Eastern Region had two female vaulters clear 10'6" with Princess Anne's Katie Wright and Oscar Smith's Ashleigh Joseph as the Beach District champ Wright claimed the regional title in a great competition with Southeastern District champ Joseph.
After clearing a personal best of 14 feet at the Peninsula District Meet, Denbigh's Rodrigues Johnson won his first regional championship in the pole vault with a clearance of 13 feet.