Landstown girls & Western Branch boys are the champions

MileSplit Staff

Two team champions were crowned. One was expected, while one was a mild upset. Two state meet records were set. A US #1 was recorded in the 500. A state record of 22 years was taken down. A trio of individuals won a pair of individual state titles, while a pair of twins won brought a state title each home for dinner. Two days jam-packed with drama, controversy, and close finishes, yet another great VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships has been completed.

Boys Summary

The Western Branch boys came in as the defending state indoor champions and the prohibitive favorite. Their performance this weekend at the George Mason University Fieldhouse was just as dominant as one year ago. The team did not have their sprint aces in Javanti Sparrow or Daniel Nix at full strength or make any serious dents to the team scoring, but it did not stop the Bruins by winning the team title outright by a 28 point margin over Southeastern District rival Nansemond River.


The hurdles was an event which the defending state champions from Western Branch really racked up the points and built a big lead on the rest of the AAA teams with a 1-2 finish by Kevin Newsome and Jeffrey Artis. Artis was a individual runner-up in three events including the long jump and triple jump.



The finals of the 55 meter hurdles and 55 meter dash treated the defending champs well on Saturday with two winners in Kevin Newsome (7.35) pulling in a 1-2 finish with teammate Jeffrey Artis (7.41) in the hurdles finals, while Tory Womack ran a seasonal best clocking of 6.35 to take the title in the 55 meter dash.

Artis contributed a great deal on his own to the team effort as a runner-up in three events for the weekend including the hurdles, long jump (23’5.25”), and triple jump (48’4.75”). Womack came back in the 300 meter dash to pick up eight points for his team winning his section of the 300 meter dash and placing second overall with a 34.76.





James Taylor nearly carried Nansemond River to second place in the team standings by himself with a win on Friday in the long jump and bringing his 4x200 meter relay from way behind on anchor for a thrilling win. Taylor also scored in the 55 and 300 meter dash.







Nansemond River had a great meet from James Taylor to help them to a second place team showing with 33 points. Taylor was a surprise winner in the long jump on Friday with a personal best of 23’8.25”. He came through in his final attempt to win the event and had the same clutchness in a time of urgency to pull his team from behind in the 4x200 meter relay to win by a narrow hundredth of a second margin in 1:31.15. Taylor also scored in the 55 and 300 meter dashes with third and fifth place All-State finishes in times of 6.48 and 34.93 respectively.

Bethel’s decision to pull Javell Bullard out of the 4x200 to attempt the 500 and 300 double along with a 4x400 meter relay would have gone perfectly to plan and likely vaulted them into a state runner-up finish. However, a disqualification in the 4x200 and running a man short on the 4x400 with one of their “A” team legs in Austin Cuffee going down in injury in the 300 meter dash forced them to settle with a third place team showing with 33 points.


Bethel senior Bullard went from last to the first fast in the fast section of the boys 500 to edge out Great Bridge sophomore Taylor Sykes (1:04.11) by one hundredth of a second in a US #1 time of 1:04.10.



Bullard did his part in two ultra competitive races in the 500 and 300 meter dash. Bullard, the nation’s fastest at 300 meter races, was making only his second race appearance this season in the 500 meter dash. 300 meters into the fast section of the 500, Bullard was dead last and appeared out of the race. However, the Bethel senior shifted into another gear on the final lap and summoned a last surge coming down the homestretch to overtake Great Bridge sophomore Taylor Sykes in one of the meet’s thrilling and closest races for a US #1 victory of 1:04.10. Sykes ran an incredible time only as a sophomore finishing only a hundredth of a second off Bullard in a US #2 1:04.11.


Joe Lorusso of Oakton had one of the best doubles in the distance races of the meet as scored his first state title with a 4:15.53 performance in the 1600 meter and nearly came back not too long thereafter in the 1000 meter run with a second win, but settled with a solid follow up performance of 2:31.63 as a state runner-up to Westfield's Matthew Anderson.


Oakton distance runner Joe Lorusso nearly joined Bullard as a state champion in two events as Lorusso had too much speed at the end for Central Region harriers Jason Witt of Midlothian (2nd, 4:16.96) and Ben Dejarnette of Atlee (3rd, 4:17.42) for a swift 4:15.53 win in the 1600 meter run. Later in the 1000 meter run, Lorusso summoned his kick a little to late to score a second title with a fresh Matthew Anderson of Westfield not to be denied a second state title after winning his first in the 800 meter run last spring as a sophomore. Anderson crossed the line first in 2:31.15, while Lorusso (2:31.63)outleaned Thomas Edison’s Leoule Degfae (2:31.70) for second to give the Northern Region a top three sweep in the event.

Atlee junior Ben Dejarnette erased his bad memories of being in a fall at the state indoor meet last March and dealing with illness at the end of the cross country season with a tough win in the 3200 meter run doubling back from the 1600 in 9:22.65. Thomas Jefferson’s Brian Landry made Dejarnette work for his first state championship in the final 400 meters as they broke away from a field which included three Foot Locker finalists in Thomas Porter, Jason Witt, and Michael Hammond.


David Wilson outdueled Western Branch's Artis for a state title in the triple jump.



It was not his best jump of the season, but David Wilson will take it as the George Washington junior won his first state crown in the triple jump after trading possession of the leading mark with Western Branch’s Jeffrey Artis. His consistency of the event has helped as he has yet to jump under 47 feet since going over 49 feet at Virginia Tech. It took his final attempt with a mark of 48’9.25” to secure a win and finish ahead of three-time state runner-up Artis.

The same feelings were held by Lakeland’s Chris Copeland in the high jump. Copeland competed while under the weather, but still was the class of the field in the event to win his third state championship at a height of 6’10”. Copeland made several good tries at a new meet record over 7’1.50”.

The pole vault had figured to be a down event in the state this season, but that thought was turned on its head Friday night with three clearing over 15 feet. E.C. Glass senior and Clemson-bound Daniel Inge successfully defended his state title with a 15’6” clearance, but not after having to fight off competition over 15 feet with big personal height days from Eastern Region vaulters Allen Kelly of King’s Fork (2nd, 15’3) and Lee Oxenford of Great Bridge (15’0”).

Coming out of the slowest section in the 4x400 meter relay, the Potomac Senior boys smoked a great time of 3:23.82 to end up winning the event by nearly four full seconds and pick up ten monumental points to push them into fourth place in the final team standings with 25 points. Relay legs Brice Mathews and Wesley Jones gave the Northwest Region champions a late push in the meet in the 300 meter dash with Mathews and Jones earning All-State finishes with third and sixth places respectively in the event.

Rounding out the top five team scoring was the Oscar Smith boys as a large reason for their team’s finishes was a result of two large men in their two shot put throwers in Frede Spellman and Nathaniel Dent finishing 1-2 in the event with Spellman winning his third shot put state title with a top mark of 59’5.50”.

Girls Summary

When everything goes right, a state team title can become a much more realistic possibility. The Landstown girls were the team this weekend where everything went right from them. From Jessica Williams picking unexpected points in the shot put with a fourth place finish on Friday to a fitting state record 4x400 close to their state championship on Saturday, there were virtually no low points for the Lady Eagles.


The Landstown team of Kelneisha Hinnant, Cierra McGee, Taylor Wheaton, and Cierra McGee (pictured above in order from left to right) etched their names in history by running the fastest 4x400 meter relay indoors in Virginia high school history.

Marlena Wesh solidified herself as the state's most dominant sprinter this season by winning the 55 meter dash and 300 meter dash. Her win in the 300 was expected as a top seed and left no doubt to her competitors she was the best in the state in the 300 with a US #3 39.41 clocking on a flat track. The Landstown junior's win in the 55 meter dash though was even more impressive as she did from the slow section of a two section finals of the event. Despite winning her preliminary heat on Friday in 7.25, Wesh's time was seventh fastest overall to put her just out of making it into the fast section of six. She not only won the 55 meter dash in the 7.11 to beat the fastest time from the top section by Western Branch's Jessie Gaines (7.13), but teammate Leah Brown snuck into third place with a 7.14 clocking finishing right behind Gaines in the fastest section final. The 16 points out of the event seemed to take the momentum away from the Western Branch girls from Friday's events and transfer it over to Landstown for the remainder of the meet.

The Landstown girls had opted not to compete at the Eastern Region Meet held outdoors at Todd Stadium. "We were training, while they were running. We were getting prepared and ready (for the state meet)," stated Wesh. Landstown also made another bold move at state meet by pulling Wesh off of their 4x200 meter relay to free her up for another individual running event. It was another genius move made by the Landstown coaches as the relay won out of a slower section in 1:41.87. The top seed in the relay event, Grassfield, had a dropped baton in the fast section, while Osbourn Park's top time from fast section of 1:43.31 was not enough to beat the time ran in the previous section by the Landstown girls.


Landstown girls added an indoor title to their co-outdoor crown in 2006.

The relay consisted of all seniors stepped it up huge with the 4x200 win and two of them then joined Wesh on the 4x400 meter relay to make history as well as cement their state team championship. The team of Kelneisha Hinnant, Wesh, Taylor Wheaton, and Cierra McGee ran the fastest time ever in Virginia high school indoor track and field history in the event with their 3:50.68 victory to also set a new state meet record. Landstown seniors Hinnant and McGee also scored huge points earlier in the 500 meter dash as Hinnant finished third overall by winning her slower section in 1:15.08, while McGee took fourth overall in 1:15.21 as the UNC recruit competed in the fastest section of four.

Over the two days, Landstown tallied 64 points to put them seven points ahead of Western Branch with 57 points. The Western Branch girls certainly did not have a subpar meet with many solid performances throughout the meet, but did not have the over-the-top performances in which Landstown seemed to be having throughout the meet as the Eastern Region champions were shut out from having any event champions.


Western Branch senior Ermesha Fair contributed 28 of her team's 57 points in her four individuals events including a state runner-up showing in the 55 meter hurdles and triple jump.

Second place finishes were the story of the meet for Western Branch senior Ermesha Fair. Not only was Fair on the state runner-up squad, but placed second in the 55 meter hurdles (8.26) and triple jump (39'3.50"). Fair was the top point scorer for her team as she also earned All-State honors in the high jump (4th, 5'4") and long jump (4th, 18'2) as well as ran on their fifth place 4x200 meter relay (1:45.87).

Jessie Gaines joined teammate Fair as a state runner-up in the 55 meter dash as she won the fast section in 7.13 and placed 7th in the long jump (17'11"), while also scoring for Western Branch were Amber Mitchell in the 55 meter dash (7th, 7.28), Callen Powers (7th, 3:03.55) and Blake Andrews (8th, 3:03.69) in the 1000 meter run. Their 4x800 meter relay pulling in a third place finish helped push them into the lead after the first day events.

Marlena Wesh was not the only athlete in the meet pulling off an incredible triple. In all 17 laps that she raced at George Mason this weekend, Westfield senior Tasia Potasinski was kicking it into high gear. Potasinski fought off a challenge from Midlothian's Paige Johnston on anchor leg with a 2:16 split in the 4x800 meter relay to give the Westfield girls their second state title in the event and first win indoors. Their final time of 9:12.18 also ranks #9 in the nation and is the third fastest all-time indoors in state history.

Potasinski continued her perfect weekend with two more victories on Saturday. The recent UVA signee battled with another Midlothian runner in Foot Locker finalist Kathleen Lautzenheiser in the 1600 meter run. The lead pack became a pack of two with a lap to go and Potasinski made a move for the lead at the bell and kept it for her first sub 5 minute performance and first individual state title with a final time of 4:59.04. Lautzenheiser kept up with Potasinski's kick on the final lap, but was never able to get back the lead and had to settle for second at 5:00.13.


Westfield's Tasia Potasinski surprised herself to find one last kick left in the tank in the final race of her 4x800-1600-1000 triple to upset defending champ Paige Johnston in the 1000.

In attempting a double which historically at the state indoor meet has panned out well for runners trying to come back for a strong effort in the 1000 meter run, the odds were against Potasinski for a second victory with energy used from a 4x800 anchor leg and 1600 win. She would also be racing on tired legs against the defending 1000 meter state champion Paige Johnston of Midlothian, who ran one of the nation's fastest times for 1000 meters last month in a 2:51 performance at the New York Armory. Four laps into the race at 2:24 for 800 meters, it appeared it would be a second straight title for the Midlothian junior as she began to kick it in for the final 200 meters. Not so fast though. Somehow and someway, Potasinski summoned one final burst of energy to reel Johnston in on the final straightaway to record her second personal best time of the meet in a 2:57.89 performance.

With her triple, Potasinski also helped the Westfield girls into the top three of the team scoring and secure a trophy with 42 points for third place. The Westfield girls also received points from Kaylin Newman in the shot put (6th, 36'4.25"), Brittany Sevachko in the 1000 meter run (3rd, 3:00.51), and Kerry Hartman in the 1600 meter run (6th, 5:09.87).

The 2007 state champions from Midlothian finished just outside of being one of the top three teams as their meet was a repeating story of close finishes and coming up short. Except for one race in the 3200 meter run with Kathleen Lautzenheiser. In her third race of the meet after running opening leg on Midlothian's runner-up 4x800 (9:16) and finishing second to Potasinski in the 1600 earlier on Saturday, Lautzenheiser seemed content to run behind a pack of three sub 11 3200 meter girls in Lia DiValentin of Chantilly, Hiruni Wijayaratne of Herndon, and Octavia Rinehardt of Tallwood. Lautzenheiser had yet to break 11 minutes in the event, despite coming close with two 11:00 minute performances before.


A great finish in the 3200 with Kathleen Lautzenheiser and Lia DiValentin

The lead pack insured an honest opening pace which strung out the field behind them. Rinehardt first fell off the leaders and with one lap to go, the two Northern Region runners in DiValentin and Wijayaratne shared the lead with Lautzenheiser closely following. DiValentin then started to gain an advantage of distance on Wijayaratne and power her way to what would be her first state title after three previous state runner-up finishes in cross country and track. The final straightaway had not been too kind to the Midlothian runners prior to the girls' 3200, but Lautzenheiser made sure the Trojans did not leave without a state title as she nipped an unsuspecting DiValentin from an outside lane by six hundredths of a second in a 10:48.80 win.


Tynita Butts now ranks #1 all-time in VA high school indoor track history in the girls long jump as the first to reach 20 feet.

Wesh and Potasinski earned votes for top female performers of the state meet by completing their difficult triples with first place finishes in all three finishes, but T.C. Williams junior Tynita Butts deserves just as much consideration as her performance in the long jump was without a doubt the greatest individual performance of the meet. Butts became the first girl in Virginia state high school history in indoor track to leap over 20 feet as her US #2 mark of 20'0" broke the state meet record previously held by Centreville's Brittni Finch and more importantly, the 22 year old state indoor record of 19'11" set by Dana Boone of Lake Braddock in 1986. When the official running off the long jump announced to the coaches, spectators, and athletes who remained to watch the long jump competition that they had just witnessed Virginia's first girl ever to leap over 20 feet indoors in the long jump, the crowd went wild and Butts was filled with joy in her celebration. She stayed in disbelief during her next passed attempts as there were certainly not going to be any other competitors who were going to come close to the mark put up by Butts, who had just uncorked the furthest jump ever by any Virginian prep girl in the past or present.

A week ago at the Central Region Meet, J.R. Tucker coach Keith WItherspoon and J.R. Tucker junior Jasia Richardson were not so certain if Richardson would be healthy enough to compete at the state meet. In the top flight of the triple jump, Richardson appeared to be healthy enough to spring a season best and US #5 mark of 39'5.25" on second attempt. Western Branch's Ermesha Fair came close to nearly forcing Richardson to put out a better mark with a leap of 39'3.50", but was not able to match her season best and US #4 mark of 39'6" earlier in the season to press Richardson more.

The Dejarnette family had a big day as the parents of two twins saw their children win state titles each as Ben Dejarnette won the boys' 3200 meter run and Emma Dejarnette won the girls' pole vault. The pole vault competition had three competitors remaining after 11 feet with Franklin County's Erin Patterson and Patrick Henry's Lizzie Powell both clearing the height along with Dejarnette. Powell had a remarkable comeback from a serious ankle injury suffered in a January invite, which had her kept out of competing since and her status heading into the state meet was up in the air until she made the decision to compete at the state meet only a few days prior to this weekend.

Emma Dejarnette was the lone vaulter of the three to clear a next height as she went over the bar at 11'6". She then raised the bar to a new meet record height of 12'1", but was unable to get a good attempt off at a height which she had cleared last week in her regional meet.

Her first state title was not pretty or decisive in the high jump as earlier misses by returning state champion Briana Hudson of Deep Run and long jump state champion Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams gave Booker T. Washington senior DeShana Briggs the state title as all three athletes successfully cleared 5'6", but Briggs will gladly take it as first win in a state meet as she looks ahead to Nike Indoor Nationals.

Bethany Hyter of Osbourn Park has been part of a state champion relay team, but finally got to experience an individual title as held off challenges from Landstown's Cierra McGee and Grassfield's Keshia Rudolph in the 500 meter dash to clock a personal best time of 1:14.64. Hyter's time this weekend is a US #7 performance.

The shot put saw a 1-2 finish by the Kayla's with Kayla Lewis of William Fleming as the event winner with a throw of 39'2" and Kayla Campbell of Bethel as the runner-up at 38'6.25".


AAA State Meet Complete Results