Keels is an unknown no more...US #2 1:05.34 500!
Photo by David Fleenor
The St. Christopher's Mid-Atlantic Track Clash held at St. Christopher's School indoor track facility in Richmond, VA had event after event with fast times thrown down by the participating athletes.
Clash Photo Gallery by David Fleenor - Over 1,110 photos total.
Clash Video Interviews: Allante Keels - Jayna McGehee - Luke Lovelace
- Episcopal's Allante Keels was not even part of the original accepted entries as meet management had no verified times with results on him, but a scratch and proving himself in last weekend's St. Christopher's Invite allowed him into the meet. It was good thing his status in the meet was rectified as he came away as the boys 500 meter dash winner in a US #2 performance of 1:05.35. On a side note, Grassfield's Curtis Campbell pulled up with a injury on the final stretch to make his status for the remainder of this season questionable. Watch Boys 500 Race Video!
- Luke Lovelace came all the way up from South Carolina for a race and he got one in the 3200 meter run as Lovelace battled with Midlothian's Jason Witt and others with Lukelace pulling away in the final 600 meters for a US #4 time of 9:14.64. It was a 22 second PR for the two-time Foot Locker finalist from Chapin High School in South Carolina. Witt finished second in a US #5 time of 9:19.18 with three others right behind him with US top 10 times in Midlothian's Michael Hammond (US #7 9:19.88), Cave Spring's Tim Smith (US #8 9:20.24), and West Johnston NC's Dakota Peachee (US #9 9:24.44). Watch Boys 3200 Race Video!
- TJ Graham of Wakefield NC was just off his US #2 time of 34.43 last week in the 300 meter dash with a 34.63 clocking at the Clash, but the 55 meter dash winner Graham (6.41) as well helped pull along Taylor Sykes of Great Bridge to his first sub 35 clocking in a US #8 time of 34.92 and the fastest flat track performance in the state of Virginia this winter. Watch Boys 300 Race Video!
- The Grassfield girls dominated the sprints and hurdles with winners in the 55 meter hurdles (Chantal Luedeke, 8.38), 500 meter dash (Keshia Rudolph, 1:16.88), 300 meter dash (41.08, Jazmen Townsend), and 4x400 meter relay (4:02.30), but their most impressive performance came in the 4x200 meter relay as they posted the fastest flat track time in the country this season and the state's fastest time regardless of being on a banked or flat track at a US #6 1:42.55. Watch Girls 4x200 Race Video!
- The state's fastest two 1000 meter times and US top 10 performances came in the girls 1000 at the Clash as Great Bridge's Jayna McGehee put on a blazing last lap to record a five second PR and US #6 time of 2:56.91, while earlier leader Laura Rapp of Heritage held on for second and a new PR for US #9 performance of 2:57.95. Watch Girls 1000 Race Video!
- Midlothian had a 1-2 finish in the girls 1000 meter run at last year's AAA State Meet, but it could be the 1600 meter run which the Lady Trojans put up another sweep of the top two spots of the state meet as Paige Johnston followed up teammate Kathleen Lautzenheiser's 5:04 mile win at Virginia Tech last weekend with a 5:03.49 1600 meter win to give the team now the fastest two times in Virginia in the event. Trinity's Barbara Strehler pressed Johnston to the line with second place and personal best effort at 5:04.74. Watch Girls 1600 Race Video!
- Davis Barry of Patrick Henry has had a great two weekends of races at St. Christopher's as he followed up his 9:28 PR win in the 3200 at last weekend's St. Chris Invite with another first place finish and personal best as he outkicked Central Region rivals Ben Dejarnette of Atlee (4:20) and Lewis McPherson of Douglas Freeman (4:21) for a 4:18.94 victory in the 1600 meter run.
- With a 3:11 1200 split on the front end by Stephen Serene and a great 4:22 anchor leg by Johns Ross, The Potomac School boys ran an impressive DMR time of 10:38.59 to qualify them for Nike Indoor Nationals in the event. Watch Boys 1600 Race Video!
- The boys 4x800 had a cluster of teams pushing for automatic state qualifying times as Mountain View clocked in 8:08.66 to earn their auto qualifier, while Maggie Walker (8:11), Albemarle (8:12), St. Christopher's (8:13), and Douglas Freeman (8:15) giving a good chance and making it a competitive relay race.