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Western Branch rising senior Ermeshia Fair (pictured right by John Herzog) became the fourth Virginian girl to leap over 40 feet this year in the triple jump at this weekend's Russell Blunt East Coast Invitational in North Carolina. Fair, competing in the young women's division, improved by six and a half inches from previous best at the MileStat.com Gala of 39'4" with a new best of 40'0.50". Of the four girls who went over 40 feet this past year in Matoaca's Mia Aghaji (40'11.75"), Lee-Davis' Rachel Butler (40'10.50"), and Brooke Point's April Sinkler (40'3.50"), Fair will be the only one returning in 2008 as all others have now graduated. The final day of competition wraps up on Sunday with two days completed on Friday and Saturday.
Other top Virginian performances so far include Huguenot's Wanetta Kirby winning the long jump in the young women's division with a strong mark of 19'5.25". Kirby is headed to Norfolk State University in the fall. 2007 AAA outdoor state long jump champion Wesley Smith, who is entering his senior year at Oscar Smith, picked up a first place in Durham with a mark of 22'6.50" in the long jump.
Both Sherrard Marrow of Bethel (48.97) and Javanti Sparrow of Western Branch (49.52) qualified for a hotly contested 400 meter dash finals on Sunday as a total of 12 athletes went under 50 seconds in Saturday's preliminary rounds. Meanwhile, Sparrow's teammate in Daniel Nix has the leading times out of the younger age division in the intermediate boys in both the 200 (21.91) and 400 (48.38) meter prelims on Saturday.
The Central Region pair of Henrico's Elaine Derriott and J.R. Tucker's Jasia Richardson split victories in the intermediate girls division of the jumps with Derricott as the long jump winner at 18'4.50" and Richardson as the triple jump champ at 39'1". Richardson, a rising junior at Tucker, is knocking on the door of her first 40 footer after finishing less than a inch off 40 feet earlier this summer.