Two meet records were broken on the first day of events at the VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships including one event in the girls' high jump in which three athletes tied the meet record of 5'9" with surprise winner in sophomore Brianna Hudson of Deep Run, Brooke Point's April Sinkler, and defending champion Ashley Gatling of Deep Creek. It was the first time ever that three girls have cleared 5'9" in the same state meet. All three moved into US #3 rankings with their state meet clearances.
Another US #3 performance and state meet record came from the Midlothian girls in 9:07.27 as they broke the 8 year old meet record by five seconds. The Lady Trojans took the lead into the final exchange with a 2:19 opener from Kathleen Lautzenheiser and never looked back with a 2:16 second leg from Sammy Dow, 2:15 second leg from Paige Johnston, and 2:15 anchor leg from M.C. Miller.
The girls team championship still seems wide open, while pre-meet favorites Western Branch and Manchester established themselves as the teams to beat by sharing the lead after four scored events with 14 points.
Anthony Chesson had a great first day for Manchester as he came out of lower flight in the long jump to leap to a personal best by 1 foot and 3 inches to pick up an unexpected eight points in second place at 23'6". Chesson also posted the top time in the 55 meter dash preliminaries at 6.37 with Sean Holston second fastest at 6.38 to qualify for Saturday's finals.
The Central Region went 1-2 in the long jump with Chesson as the runner-up and top seed Rashaad Cannon of Highland Springs coming through in the finals with a personal best mark of 23'7.50", which is a US #7 mark in the jumping event. Western Branch did not lose much ground in the event, despite Chesson's surprise points as Western Branch sophomore Kelvin Griffin snagged third place with a jump of 22'10.25".
Both Western and Manchester picked up big points in Friday evening's shot put as well with a top three finisher in the event for each squad. Oscar Smith junior Frede Spellman was unable to become the seventh thrower in state meet history to throw over 60 feet, but still claimed his first state championship with a winning toss of 58'2.25". Meanwhile, Western Branch's Darien Kearney finished second at 55'5.50" and Manchester's Justin Simmons picked up third place honors at 52'2.75".
T.C. Williams leads the girls' team scoring with 18.50 points, but will be hard pressed to pick up many more points on the second day. Samella Koroma avenged a Northern Region loss to Lake Braddock's Allison Jones as she was the only thrower in the shot put competition to go over 40 feet with her top mark of 42'6.50". Along with Koroma's ten points in a shot put state title, Tynita Butts contributed 8 1/2 points in a tie for fourth place in the high jump at 5'4" and fifth place showing in the long jump at 18'8".
The long jump event was certainly deep for the girls as expected with a 19 foot jumper such as Butts taking fifth place. However, despite a field full of legit jumpers including three with better season best marks than defending champion and state record holder Brittni Finch of Centreville, Finch refused to be beat. The Centreville junior was only 2 inches off her 2006 state meet record performance, but more importantly was able to win her state title and come out on top from a strong challenge in Bethel's Shakia Forbes, who was a inch off at 19'6.25". The marks put up by Finch and Forbes are some of the country's best this year with Finch now ranked US #3 and Forbes at US #4.
Central Region team runners-up, Deep Run, have positioned themselves well in the team hunt in second place with 16 points after Friday's field events with Hudson's upset victory in the high jump and junior Ashley Orr placing third in the long jump with a best mark of 18'9.50".
However, all teams need to be wary of Bethel as the three-time state champions are not far behind in third place with 14 points from long jumpstate runner-up Forbes and thrower Kayla Campbell placing third in the shot put at 39'3.75". Bethel will also have two qualifiers in top finals section of two in the 55 meter dash after Shakia Forbes and Crystal Carrington won their preliminary heats on Friday with the second (7.15) and fifth (7.25) fastest times.
The 4x800 meter relay for the boys turned out to be quite interesting as Mountain View ran one of the faster times out of the slow section at 8:05.09 to place fourth and Midlothian somehow found themselves battling for the lead with top seed Forest Park into the final exchange, but the Bruins did not allow for anymore surprises in the event as Zack Williams anchored with a 1:57 split to bring home a state championship and a sub 8 clocking at 7:59.16 for Forest Park.
Swift times were posted in the qualifying preliminaries for the 55 meter hurdles and dash. Defending outdoor state champion for 100 meters, Shanneka Claiborne of Matoaca, let it be known that the 55 meter dash title will run through her after posting the fastest time at 7.11.
The 55 meter dash prelims for the boys showed Sean Holston's toughest test in trying to sweep all three sprint events may come in his first race on Saturday in the 55 meter dash finals as Manchester's Chesson was slightly faster at 6.37 than Holston's 6.38. Meanwhile, Eastern Region champ Isiah Gyasi of I.C. Norcom posted a 6.41 after having his preliminary heat re-run.
Tierra Brown of Hampton made a statement with her 8.01 clocking in the 55 meter hurdles preliminaries, while rival and defending state champion Kali Watkins did not roll as fast of a time on Friday in a 8.31 prelim win. Brown will get the center of the track for Saturday's finals, while Huguenot's Wanetta Kirby will be lined up next to her after dropping her best time down considerably in a 8.16. prelim time.
While Watkins, top seed coming into the meet, may not get the "preferred" lane for the finals, state leader Aramis Massenburg of Matoaca will not even be in the top fastest finals section on Saturday after finishing second in his preliminary heat of the 55 meter hurdles in 7.75. Massenburg still qualified for Saturday's finals, but will be compete in the slower finals of two and will not have a opportunity to race against Lakeland's Predist Walker, who ran the fastest prelim clocking at 7.52. Highland Springs senior Adams Abdulrazaaq ran a all-time best of 7.53 to make him a solid challenger for Walker in the finals.
Three vaulters cleared 14 feet, but only one could be declared as state champion as the title went to Daniel Inge of E.C. Glass with Atlee's Cameron Sovick and Denbigh's Rodrigues Johnson also clearing the same height for second and third place.