FORK UNION, VA -- Long-time Western Albemarle coach Lindy Bain had never won an indoor district team title before this year and despite having the Group AA state indoor champion squad in 2001, the Warriors had not won the Region II Indoor Championship either under Bain. However, the 2007 season has changed all of that as the Western Albemarle boys followed up their Jefferson District title last week with the Region II title on Wednesday at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center.
Western Albemarle had one of the best cross country programs in the state this fall with a second place finish in the AA race at VHSL State Cross Country Meet and will continue to have a strong program for years to come with a talented bunch of underclassmen. Their strength in the distance events helped carry them to a regional track championship with first place finishes in all distance races except for the 1000 meter run.
The Warriors used a lineup of four that will not even be used at next Saturday's Group AA State Indoor Meet in Lynchburg for the 4x800 meter relay, yet still won the race at the Region II Meet with their "B" team in 8:38.67. Their depth was even more apparent in the later distance races.
The 1600 meter run had one of the greatest finishes of the meet as a strategic first half of the race set it up. The leaders went through the first 800 meters roughly in 2:18 with Western Albemarle sophomore James Howard-Smith and the Brentsville senior duo of Henry Melius and Adam Henken included in a pack up front. Turner Ashby sophomore Alex Ott held the lead as they entered the bell lap and as they entered the final stretch, but Howard-Smith and the Brentsville seniors swung wide to pass Ott and did with Howard-Smith closing the hardest for a 4:33.72 win barely ahead of Melius (2nd, 4:33.82), Henken (3rd, 4:33.98), and Ott (4th, 4:34.07).
The 3200 meter run would also be won by a Western Albemarle sophomore in Kyle Satterwhite as he led four runners under ten minutes including sophomore teammate Tyler Stutzman (4th, 9:58.24) with a 9:50.16 victory.
Howard-Smith would later run on the 4x400 meter relay as the third leg for the Warriors. Western Albemarle and Harrisonburg were battling for the lead on Howard-Smith's leg and Howard-Smith was attempting to make a pass on the curve, Harrisonburg's baton struck against Howard-Smith and was knocked out of the hands of the Harrisonburg third leg. Western Albemarle would then go on to win the race in a meet record time of 3:39.48. The win helped put them over the top against Jefferson District rival Charlottesville as the added ten points gave them a final score of 59 points with Charlottesville not competing in the event and staying idle at 56 points.
Charlottesville came up just short to Western Albemarle despite some great individual performances from Coach Elder's crew. Charlottesville senior Allen Dooms led the Black Knights as he picked up 38 points on his own individually. Dooms won Region II titles in the 55 meter dash (6.55) and long jump (21'6.50"), while placing second in the 300 meter dash (38.00) and third in the triple jump (42'4.25"). Dooms will be favored in the 55 meter dash at the Group AA State Meet at Liberty University as he will have the top time coming in at 6.55.
Photo by Rick Lilly
A huge scare for Charlottesville's John Intollube-Chmil may spooked heavy favorite in the pole vault, Tim Beierle of Harrisonburg, to have his first no height of the year and allow Intollube-Chmil to pick up the regional title. At his next height of 14 feet after clearing 13'6", Intollube-Chmil's pole literally snapped in half to give himself, his coaches, and everyone in attendance that he may have hurt himself. Luckily, he was okay, but state leader Beierle did not look okay as he failed to clear any of his three attempts at his opening height of 14 feet to allow the pole-less Intolubbe-Chmil to win.
Intolubbe-Chmil also placed second in the shot put (46'10") in another bizarre field event in which the top seed failed to get a clean mark in as Turner Ashby's Justin Smith fouled on all of his throws to not even place, much less win the event as Spotswood junior Justin Printz was the surprise winner at 47'7".
Orange County junior Logan Collins denied Western Albemarle a perfect sweep of the distance races as it would have been tough for any Region II runner to take Collins down as he posted a strong time of 2:36.45 on the 160 meter track found at the Estes Center. Collins will be in strong contention to win the 1000 meter state title two Saturdays from now in Lynchburg.
Orange County finished third as a team with 50 points thanks to individual wins from the likes of Collins and junior Jeff Carey in the 55 meter hurdles. Carey looked sharp in a 7.70 win in the hurdle event and will look to give defending AA state champion Ethan Nixon of Brookville a challenge at the Tolsma Track Center for the AA State Championships.
The underclassmen phenoms is not limited to the distance runners in the Jefferson District and Region II as Louisa County freshmen Kurt Fleming did not race like a ninth grader in clocking a swift time of 37.84 to claim his first of what could many Region II individual track titles.
In one of several close finishes on the evening, Fluvanna senior Matt Winkler was able to pass Harrisonburg senior Adam Shroades from the outside in the final steps for a 1:08.37 win in the 500 meter dash with Shroades in a close second a 1:08.51. Winkler would later help Fluvanna take second in the 4x400 meter relay out of the slowest section of three in 3:41.46.
Three ladies were the Region II Meet with Louisa County's Tanisha Jenkins, Charlottesville's Rashawnda James, and Brentsville District's Danyelle Kent-Robinson. The three talented track athletes were all over the place racking up points for their teams all evening long and it is to no surprise that Louisa County, Charlottesville, and Brentsville ended up as the top three finishing teams in the regional meet.
After the Louisa County boys won the regional championship in 2006, it was Region II meet director and Louisa County head coach Jerry Cutright's girls who were declared the regional indoor team winners in 2007. The Louisa County senior Jenkins had a big role in making it happen.
Jenkins won two individual regional titles on Wednesday, while finishing second in three other events. She broke the year old meet record in the 55 meter hurdles with a personal best 8.59 clocking to win the event in a competitive race between herself and Brentsville's Kent-Robinson (2nd, 8.67). Jenkins also posted the top mark in the triple jump with a leap of 35'10.50". She amassed 42 of Louisa's 87 total points by also finishing second in the long jump (16'2.25"), high jump (5'0"), and 55 meter dash (7.46).
Louisa County needed points though from more than just Jenkins to seize the Region II championship. The relays for the Lady Lions came through with victories in both the 4x200 (1:52.44) and 4x400 (4:19.33) meter relays. Other top individual scores for Louisa included Hannah Best in the 1600 meter run (3rd, 5:39.93), Imani Dugger (4th, 1:23.68) and Jasmyne Johnson (5th, 1:24.81) in the 500 meter dash, and Shawanda Jackson in the 55 meter dash (4th, 7.70).
Charlottesville finished eight points off of Louisa with 79 points as Rashawna James contributed nearly half with 38 points tallied from three wins and a runner-up finish. The Charlottesville senior claimed two titles in the sprints with solid clockings of 7.39 and 43.03 in the 55 and 300 meter dashes. James also performed well in the horizontal jumps with a victory of Jenkins in the long jump at 16'8", while settling for second behind her district rival in the triple jump at 35'2.75".
Brentsville sophomore Danyelle Kent-Robinson had two regional meet record breaking performances, but unfortunately only one she will be able to keep as Jenkins beat her in the hurdles with both going under the old 55 meter hurdle record of 8.68. Kent-Robinson has sole possession of the high jump record though after clearing 5'4" and appearing to be the AA state favorite in the event. She also placed fourth in the 300 meter dash at 43.98.
Coach Rob Dulin's girls set two meet records on the day as their 4x800 meter relay team of Sarah Earman, Amelia Emerson, Maggie Gentry, and Becky Stewart broke the old meet record by 14 seconds with a final time of 9:53.32. Previous record holder Charlottesville (10:07.84, 2004) also went under their former regional meet record time in second at 10:05.84.
Harrisonburg senior Catherine McGowan was in the pack of many great distance runners found in Region II during the cross country season, but now has found herself moving to the front of the pack as shown with her 5:29.21 win in the 1600 meter run for her first regional championship.
After a fantastic close to her junior year of outdoor season, John Handley's Anna Cote had a slightly up and down fall in cross country, but looks to be back on track now racing on the oval as shown by her 11:37.03 win in the 3200 meter run as she was able to break away from Brentsville's Becky Stewart (2nd, 11:39.74) in the 3200 meter run.
Spotswood junior Karla Slater also had a strong finish to overtake Western Albemarle's Valerie Wilder (2nd, 3:10.47) in the final portion of the 1000 meter run to the cross the line first in 3:07.79.
The defending AA outdoor state champion for 400 meters, Latasha Watson of Sherando, has her eyes set on another state title for indoors in the 500 meter dash after clocking a classy time of 1:21.44 in the Estes Center for the regional title.
Fort Defiance sophomore Katie Cummings is hoping she can win her first of several state titles to come in two weeks in the shot put as she had a winning toss of 36'1" on Wednesday and is the top ranked thrower in AA currently.
Monticello junior Emma Pelton and Western Albemarle senior Ashley Atwood both cleared ten feet in the pole vault, but Pelton took the regional championship in the tiebreaker.