If one individual stood out the most during the meet it was James River junior Rebecca Ward. Ward, who started off the cross country season this fall strong with a big win at the Newport News Invitational, but was never able to return to that form after hitting a bump in the road when she came down with mono during the season, looks to be back to that level after her distance triple performance at East Coast. Ward kicked off the meet by anchoring the James River girls' winning 4x800 meter relay team (10:10.10) before she unleashed two more surprising successes for the day. After finishing fourth at the Ashe Center in the 1600 meter run a few weeks ago at the Green Dragon Relays with a time of 5:22, Ward showed considerable improvements since then this time around at the Ashe. Doing the pacesetting duty for much of the race was Norfolk Academy junior Ginna Ellis, but Ward stayed right on her and then broke away late in the race to post the state's fastest time with a 5:13.86 clocking. Ward did not stop there as she then finished a close second to Fauquier junior Sarah Bowman in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:03.02 to give the defending indoor national mile champion plenty of push. If it was not for Bowman's appearance in the 1000, Ward could have had two state best times.
The nation's top returning runner in both the 1600 and 1000 meter races, Bowman showed no signs of race rust in a strong comeback from her cross country back injury as her 3:01.89 clocking was a meet record and is currently the state's fastest time. Bowman also cleared a height of 5-5 in the high jump to finish second overall in the event, showing that the back is good and limber enough to elevate Bowman for a personal best clearance.
Prince Edward's Octavia Best had the top time in preliminaries of the girls' 55 meter hurdles with a 8.99 clocking, but faltered in the finals and allowed Heritage's Octavia James to take the win in a time of 9.05.
Similarly in the girls' 55 meter dash, Shoshana Pettes of Highland Springs had the top prelims time (7.67), but finished fifth in the finals as Potomac Senior's Kharya Brown (7.50) and Charlottesville's Angela Johnson (7.52) went down to the wire to decide the winner.
Brown was a double winner on the day as she also posted the top time in the 300 meter dash with her 43.58 clocking as she appears to be returning to her top form that brought her much success in her sophomore season.
The most exciting finish of the meet belonged to the girls' 500 meter run as Manchester junior Kelly Keener set a brisk early pace as James Monroe junior Shylan Bumbrey and Atlee senior Anna Bushkar gave chase. Keener appeared she was going to hold off a hard charging Bumbrey for the win down the final stretch, but Bumbrey closed fast and dipped right at the line to just edge out Keener (1:19.77) for the win in a time of 1:19.72. Bumbrey from James Monroe, a Single A school, will look to be a dominate force at Nelson County hosted Group A Invitational later in the season, while Keener is favored to defend her Central Region title and expected for a high finish at the AAA State Meet.
Little notice was given to Ritchie Vaughan's performance in the 3200 meter run at East Coast, but what the Maggie Walker junior did in the 24 lap event at the Ashe Center was simply amazing. Few 3200 meter runners can come close to duplicate their outdoor bests on the 145.45 meter indoor track surface as many male runners who dip well under the 10 minute barrier outdoors still find a hard time doing such indoors at the Ashe. However, looking at Vaughan's time of 11:26.62 at East Coast, it was not too far off to where she left off last outdoor track season at Sports Backers Stadium just down the street from the Ashe Center for the Central Region Meet (11:10) and AAA State Meet (11:22). Winning by over 30 seconds, Vaughan just missed the meet record of 11:23.84.
Octavia Best redeemed herself from her disappointing finish in the 55 meter hurdles by winning the girls' long jump with a leap of 17-9.50 as she held of a stiff challenge from Shoshana Pettes of Highland Springs (17-6.25).
Pettes did not walk out of the Ashe Center though without a victory as he garnered a win in the high jump as she defeated Fauquier's Bowman in a jump off at 5-5.
The girls' shot put was an expected battle between two of the Central Region's best in Kathy Howard of Lee-Davis and Whitney Gordon of Highland Springs and the two did not disappoint. Howard took the win in this encounter with her throw of 39-0.50, while Gordon had to settle with a runner-up finish with her 38-2.75 toss.
The boys' 55 meter hurdles pitted against one another many of the Central Region's top hurdlers. The end result was Douglas Freeman's B.J. Revis coming out on top with the win as well as the state's leading time with his 7.72 clocking. Hermitage's Melvin Edison also dipped under 8 seconds for the state's second best time behind Revis with his 7.85 second place finishing time.
The best in AA and AAA faced off in the boys' 55 meter dash as Charlottesville's Reuben Jones, last year's AA state champion in the 55 meter dash, went up against Thomas Dale's Dennis Boone, the current state leader in the event (6.50). Boone proved to be a step ahead of Jones as he clocked a swift winning time of 6.54, while Jones was a tenth of a second behind at 6.64 for second place.
Boone was not done for the day as he notched another victory in the long jump with a state best mark of 22-11.75. With Boone now holding the state bests in the 55 meter dash and long jump, it appears he has the opportunity to win two state titles this indoor season.
Petersburg's Tyrone Redd has emerged as one of the Central Region's best in the 300 meter dash after winning the event at East Coast in a 38.89 clocking.
The winner in the boys' 500 meter run was decided in the very end as Monacan's Tyler Hock (1:11.00) was able to hold off Warwick's Tona Amatu (1:11.18) enough for the victory.
The boys' 1000 meter run in the Virginia Invitational division saw several lead changes between J.R. Tucker's Thuom Mathaing and Atlee's Daniel Williams. Mathaing set the pace early, while Williams was the only runner in the field willing to give Mathaing a run for his money. In the final 400 meters, Williams took the lead from Mathaing and was looking to pull away from the Sudanese import. However Mathaing stormed back in the final lap to pass Williams for an exciting win in a time of 2:41.90 as Williams finished an admirable second in a time of 2:43.33. However, much like the 1600 meter races, the top 1000 meter time of day was found in the Richmond Metro Invitational division as another Maggie Walker runner, Rohan Patel won his race in a meet best time of 2:40.21.
Midlothian's Ryan Witt took the lead midway through the boys' 1600 meter run of the Virginia Invitational division and held off a strong late challenge from Hermitage sophomore Alex Bowman (2nd, 4:36.78) to win the race in a time of 4:35.82. However, Witt did not have the fastest time of the meet as Maggie Walker junior Brandon Herzog set a hard pace early on his own in the Richmond Metro Invitational division's 1600 meter race and it paid off as his winning time of 4:35.79 put him just ahead of Witt for the day.
The battle between the three All-State caliber distance studs in the 3200 meter run with J.R. Tucker's Michael Chapa, Maggie Walker's Daniel Howard, and Midlothian's Billy Berlin never materialized as Howard and Berlin were both coming off of winter break sicknesses and fell off the pace set by a healthy Chapa. Berlin fell off early, but Howard was able to stick with Chapa until late in the race, as Chapa closed strong to win in a time of 9:53.90 with Howard taking runner-up honors in 10:02.24.
Year in and year out, Atlee seems to always find four strong legs to make for one great 4x400 meter relay team and this year appears to be no different as the Raiders won the event at East Coast in a time of 3:44.86.
The J.R. Tucker boys' 4x800 team proved their legitimacy once again as a relay team to be reckoned with this year as they won by over a twenty second margin with their time of 8:26.79. The talented team of Jay Wyss, Mason McElroy, Michael Chapa, and Thuom Mathaing makes a formidable group that should perform well at the state meet in March.
Josh Williams of Colonial Heights won a tight three-way contest in the high jump as he won the event with a 6-2 clearance as two other athletes cleared the height as well in Petersburg's Brett Jones and Norfolk Academy's Will Byrd.
The boys' pole vault saw an exciting clash between two of Tidewater Virginia's best in Norfolk Academy's Will Byrd and Great Bridge's Dominic Hunter. Both Byrd and Hunter tied the meet record height of 14 feet, but Byrd would eventually win in the vault off.
The boys' shot put saw two 50 plus feet performances from Great Bridge's Joseph Jones and Dinwiddie's Deonte Winfield as Jones won the event with a throw of 52-5.50 and Winfield took second overall with a 51-7 toss.