Central Region Meet Summary

All photos by John Herzog

RICHMOND, VA -- A distance team is not suppose to win regional track titles. Its a matter of simple math. There are more non-distance events to score in than distance events. However, when you have one of the state's most dominant distance programs ever found with this year's Midlothian girls team, anything is possible.

The Midlothian girls with 86 points were able to defeat a more well rounded Deep Run track squad with 70 1/3 points for the team title at the Central Region Indoor Championships held at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond this past weekend. The race in which the Lady Trojans mentally and physically started to beat the Deep Run girls was in the 1600 meter run when the Midlothian tandem of senior M.C. Miller (5:18.22) and freshmen Kathleen Lautzenheiser (5:19.02) were able to pull ahead of Deep Run's distance ace Courtlin LaReau (3rd, 5:20.58) to finish 1-2 in the 1600 meter run.

The 1000 meter run was even more impressive for the Midlothian distance girls as they put three in front of one of the top seeds in next weekend's state meet in the 1600 and 3200 meter races in LaReau (4th, 3:06.65) with junior Samantha Dow winning in 3:04.33 and Midlothian teammates Paige Johnston (2nd, 3:04.57) and Kathleen Lautzenheiser (3rd, 3:05.52) close behind in second and third place. Only LaReau and Douglas Freeman's Katherine Selko (5th, 3:08.74) kept Coach Stan Morgan's girls from completely dominating the event with five of the top seven finishers with Midlothian freshmen Leia Lautzenheiser in sixth at 3:09.59 and 1600 meter winner Miller in seventh at 3:12.08.

Dow and Leia Lautzenheiser had a tough double back with limited rest for the 3200 meter run, but Dow nearly won her second regional title of the day taking second in 11:24.30 as Maggie Walker freshmen Clarissa Schick stopped a complete sweep of the distance races by the Lady Trojans with a personal best time of 11:20.18 to take the Central Region crown.

Midlothian ran a mixed "A" and "B" squad in Friday's 4x800 meter relay to win the event by ten seconds in 9:48.24 with the squad of Danielle Murray, Erin Stehle, Paige Johston, and Kathleen Lautzenheiser. They started the meet with a momentum building relay win and closed the meet out on a high note as well in another relay victory with a five second victory in the 4x400 meter relay at 4:15.02.

While the regional team championship was attributed to individuals stepping it up with great races for Midlothian, pre-meet favorites Deep Run also left the window of opportunity from some off performances by their athletes.

Deep Run junior Ashley Orr did her part in the long jump with a best jump of  18'4.50" to win the fiercly contested competition, but her outcome was not as pleasant in the triple jump as she fouled all of her attempts. Orr was expected to pick up at least eight points in the event as the second seed with a season best mark of 38'5.75" coming in.

Courtlin LaReau did not necessarily have a bad meet as it be unrealistic to think that one runner could match the entire depth of the Midlothian distance crew, but she certainly would have liked to finished higher than third and fourth respectively in the 1600 and 1000 meter races. She should bounce back next week at the state meet in the 1600 and 3200 meter races as Deep Run should still be in the team hunt as the Deep Run senior will be racing in her first 3200 meter race since running a US #3 performance in January of 10:46 at Liberty University.

LaReau helped her 4x800 meter relay advance onto the state meet on day one of the Central Region as she ran an exceptional anchor leg to pull Deep Run into the final auto qualifying spot for the state meet in a third place finish of 10:02.31.

With Orr in the jumps (including scoring in the triple jump and not a rare foul out day) and LaReau in the distance races, high jumper Briana Hudson can be an "X factor" at the state meet if she can place high enough in what should be a very competitive event. Hudson cleared 5'4" to win the Central Region title in the event to defeat a 5'7" jumper in Mia Aghaji of Matoaca (2nd, 5'4") and 5'5.50" jumper in Rachel Butler of Lee-Davis (3rd, 5'3").

Multi-event star Butler had a so-so meet as she won the triple jump in 38'5", but finished fourth in the long jump (17'9.50") and suffered two close losses on the track in the 55 meter hurdles and 300 meter dash in completely different fashions. 

 It was expected to be a close race between Butler and Huguenot's Wanetta Kirby in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles as the last time that the Central Region's top two hurdlers faced off at the St. Christopher's Mid-Atlantic Track Clash, Kirby was a winner by only a small margin. The margin was even smaller for the Central Region title as Kirby dipped under 8.40 for the first time in 8.39 with Butler right behind her at 8.42.

Butler thought she had the 300 meter dash title won after taking the top section in 42.37, but two of the region's most talented sprinters found themselves stuck in the previous slower section in Colonial Heights junior Shae Wilbon and Matoaca senior Shanneka Claiborne. The result was the two Capital District sprint stars pushing each other to first and second overall finishes with Wilbon posting the fast time of the meet in 42.15 with Claiborne right off of her at 42.22 for second.

Earlier in the meet, Claiborne became the first athlete in Central Region history to repeat as regional champion for four consecutive years as the state leader in the 55 meter dash smoked a time of 7.09 in the finals of the 55 meter dash on the spikeless Ashe Center. Claiborne will be the favorite on Saturday for the AAA state title in the short sprint event.

Claiborne in reality was the second to win an event four years in a row at the Central Region Indoor Championships as Anne Marie Gordon beat her to the punch in Friday's pole vault competition as the Mills Godwin senior won her fourth straight regional title in the pole vault indoors. It may have been her toughest regional championship as Patrick Henry's Annie Powell had her on her heels with both vaulters clearing 11'6", but earlier misses by Powell gave Gordon the regional title. With the improved depth in the state this season in the pole vaulter, there is little room for the state leader Gordon to have any off day. The state meet record of 11'4" will be one of the more likely records to be broken next weekend with 2005 state champion Gordon leading the assault with a 12'1" season best.

Several of the region's top jumpers struggled this past weekend with Orr fouling out in the triple jump, Matoaca's Aghaji fouling out of the long jump, and Atlee's Mansfield Murph failing to crack the top six in either long jump (6th, 16'8") or triple jump (14th, 33'4.25"). Luckily for Murph that she already has automatic state qualifying marks in both events. While she will get a chance to redeem herself in the state meet in the jumps, she took out her frustrations in her jumping performances out on the track in the 500 meter dash with a 1:20.94 win.

J.R. Tucker senior K'Lynne Robinson was one of the few top seeds among the girls int he field events to come out of the meet with a regional title as she was an easy winner by over five feet with a top throw of 39'10.50" in the shot put. 

The Armstrong girls 4x200 meter relay team of Cecily Young, Ayana Baylor, Kiara Branch, and Shebondy Carrington should be competitive with some of the state's best relays in the event at the state meet as their winning time at the Central Region Meet of 1:50.72 is certainly not indicative of what they are capable of running on the slow Ashe track. 

It was not too much of a surprise that the Manchester boys claimed the regional team title for the boys with 75 points as they will be expected to contend for the AAA state team championship this upcoming weekend. The only possible challenger for the Lancers in Capital District champs Highland Springs had a disqualification in the 4x200 meter relay and from their top sprinter Adams Abdulrazaaq in the 500 meter dash to make an upset unlikely from occurring.

Virginia State recruit Anthony Chesson led Manchester by successfully defending his regional championships in the 55 meter dash (6.51) and 300 meter dash (36.42). Chesson dipped under 6.50 for the first time at the spikeless Ashe Center in a 6.49 clocking in the prelims. Chesson put Manchester out in the lead as opening leg in the 4x200 meter relay, which they went onto win in 1:37.66. The Manchester senior also came through with a personal best leap of 22'3.50" to place third in the long jump. 

Another Manchester senior in Andrew Duty also claimed an individual regional title as Duty held off Hermitage's Kieran Lee (2nd, 2:40.68) for a 2:40.53 victory in the 1000 meter run.

Manchester junior Antonio Miller was the next highest individual finisher for Manchester in the meet with a second place finish in the triple jump at 46'0") as the state leader was upset by J.R. Tucker senior Marcus Robinson, who nearly knocked Miller off the state leaderboard with a personal best jump of 47'10.50". Robinson was less than three inches off of improving a full two feet off his previous season best of 45'1".

Robinson nearly knocked off a second state leader for another regional championship in the long jump as both Robinson and Highland Springs senior Rashaad Cannon had best marks of 22'6", but Cannon had the superior second best mark to win on the tiebreaker over Robinson.

Kirk Fischer matched his personal best of 6'6" in the high jump as he was the only competitor left in the event after 6 feet. It was an all-time best for the Deep Run junior in the Ashe Center. 

The Capital District swept the top three places in the shot put competition as Atlee's Shawn Allen reversed the outcome of the entire season with Lee-Davis throwers Cody Mohn (2nd, 51'7.75") and Adam Taylor (3rd, 50'8.25") having the edge over him as Allen won his first regional title with a personal best throw of 53'1.75".

The boys' pole vault in the Central Region should only get better in years to come as the top three finishers in the event were all sophomores with regional champion Matthew Armentrout, a sophomore from Deep Run, clearing 13 feet. Taking second and third in the pole vault were Lee-Davis sophomore Eric Spott (2nd, 12'6") and Douglas Freeman sophomore Jack Smith (3rd, 12'0").

While the Midlothian boys had Hermitage's number in cross country, the 4x800 meter relay is a whole new ballgame and new setting during the indoor season. Midlothian gave Hermitage a fight with one of their top runners in Mark Merritt sitting out the indoor season as the front loaded with top legs Jason Witt and Michael Hammond to lead, but Hermitage had too much at the end to pull away with John Vial on third leg and Kieran Lee on anchor for a winning time of 8:27. Midlothian ended up second in 8:31.61.

Vial was part of an exciting 1600 meter race on Saturday with Atlee's Ben Dejarnette as the two district champions for 1600 meters threw surges at each other, but Dejarnette made the final decisive move for a 4:29.16 win. Midlothian's Michael Hammond (2nd, 4:32.13) was able to catch Vial (3rd, 4:33.90) at the line for second place.  

Another great finish was seen in the 500 meter dash between seniors Donnie Seward of Huguenot and Jake O'Connor of Douglas Freeman. O'Connor had been coming off a three win meet at the Capital District Meet, while Seward had posted one of the faster flat track times in the country earlier in the season in the 500 meter dash. Seward was able to come out on top in the end at 1:09.98 with O'Connor not far behind in second at 1:10.18.

O'Connor helped Douglas Freeman to a second place team finish with 52 points as he also ran on their second place 4x400 meter relay as Varina took the event in a time of 3:42.59. 

Midlothian junior Jason Witt is looking sharp heading into a showdown with Mike Spooner at the state meet in the 3200 meter run. While Spooner is likely to compete in the 4x800 meter relay and 1600 meter run, Witt is looking to go into the race fresh. At the Central Region Meet, Witt ran a solid Ashe time of 9:47.01 as he also helped to bring in his teammate Jonathan Mellis to his first sub 10 clocking of 9:55.55 to give this past fall's NTN squad finally their second sub 10 minute two miler as they went 1-2 in the event.

State leader in the 55 meter hurdles and one of the favorites for the AAA State Meet, Matoaca senior Aramis Massenburg withstood a challenge from Adams Abdularazaaq in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles (2nd, 7.62) for a 7.54 victory without spikes.