The Lake Braddock girls took a narrow victory over Salem of Virginia Beach as the Bruins amounted a total of 112 points compared to Salem's 110 point total. In the distance events, Lake Braddock notched two victories with Kelsey Snowden in the 1600 meter run (5:26.46) and Erin Klein in the 3200 meter run (11:48.35) clocking strong early season opening times in their wins. Meg Seay in the 55 meter hurdles (9.02) and Ashley Haislip in the high jump also garnered individual wins for the Lady Bruins. Haislip's winning height of 5 feet 4 inches tied the Freeman Center facility high school record.
The Salem girls dominated the relay events as they won all three. On Friday night, the girls from Virginia Beach won the 4x800 meter relay race in a time of 10:08.45 over runner-up Lake Braddock (10:10.12). On Saturday, Salem won by even larger margins in the 4x200 meter relay (1:47.14) and 4x400 meter relay (4:13.12). Shamika Kentish (7.22) and Teinesha Mitchell (7.39) finished 1-2 for Salem in the 55 meter dash, while YaTandrea Burke in the 1000 meter run (3:09.14) and Shayla Jemmott in the triple jump (36-11.00) also came up with wins.
The Lake Braddock boys did not have to sweat out a win as much as their female counterparts as they won by a 13 point margin over J.R. Tucker (53 pts) with their 66 point total. Without an event winner in any event over the two day meet, the Bruins used their superior to key their win. The Bruins got runner-up performances from individuals Sean O'Neill in the 1000 meter run (2:44.26) and David Hodulich in the pole vault (12-06.00), while their 4x800 meter relay (8:25.43) finished second overall as well.
The Tucker boys continued their turnaround year from cross country with a strong runner-up team finish at CNU. Once the bottom dwellers of their own district, they have emerged as a power on the regional and stave level this year as was shown with their regional title win in cross country. The same looks to hold true in the indoor season. In the 4x800 meter relay on Friday night, the team of Thuom Mathaing, Mason McElroy, Jay Wyss, and Michael Chapa clocked a swift early season time of 8:17.39. The same group of four came back the next day to provide the Tigers with the rest of their 43 team points. Chapa took the win in the 1600 meter run after a slow early pace to win in a time of 4:32. Teammate McElroy was runner-up to Chapa in 4:38.06. Thuom Mathaing disproved the theory that East Africans are strictly distance runners as the Sudanese Mathaing won the 500 meter run in a time of 1:07.73. Mathaing also had an exciting come from behind anchor leg finish for Tucker in the 4x400 meter relay. In the third of four heats, Mathaing got the baton in fourth place and was able to run down three runners in the final 200 meters to win the heat for Tucker and help the squad place third overall in the event (3:39.04) with his 50 second split. Senior Jay Wyss though had the best performance out of the four Tucker distance runners with a state qualifying runner-up finish in the 3200 meter run in a time of 9:42.00.
The Colonial Forge twins of Jerome and Jason Miller put on a show for the crowd with their performances in the triple jump and high jump. In the triple jump, Jerome took the win in a leap of 45-05.00, while Jason took runner-up honors behind his brother with a mark of 44-05.50. In the high jump, Jason finished runner-up (6-08.00) once again to his brother as Jerome cleared a height of 6-10.00. Jerome made an unsuccessful attempt at the high school facility record of 7-02.25 held by Keith Moffatt, a 2002 graduate of Menchville high school.
Jerome Miller was not the only individual to pull off a double win at the meet. Thomas Dale's Dennis Boone, was a double event winner in the long jump (22-11.50) and 55 meter dash (6.55). Both events Boone will be considered one of the favorites in both events at the AAA State Meet this winter.
Woodside junior Derrick Robbins had an exceptional solo effort in the 3200 meter run as he lead from start to finish in a time of 9:29.68. Robbins closed hard with a 2:15 last 800 meters.