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Close team battles down to the very end at the Group AA State Indoor Championships, especially among the boys teams. The defending Group AA state indoor champions of Brookville boys led by Ethan Nixon, a state champion in the high jump and 55 meter hurdles, gave the favored Western Albemarle boys a fight all the way to the end, but a 4x400 meter relay (3:30.20) win to close for Western sealed the deal. A very close two point margin separated the top two finishing teams in Western Albemarle (57 pts) and Brookville (55 pts).
Western Albemarle had an individual state champion along with their relay win with Nick Ward posting the fastest time in one of the meet's most competitive events in the 500 meter dash with a 1:05.44 clocking. Ronquis Posey of Brunswick trailed close in second with a time of 1:05.87 and later came back to win his third state track title in the 300 meter dash at a 35.58 clocking.
Tyler Stutzman led Western Albemarle's distance crew with runner-up finishes in both the 1600 (4:18.03) and 3200 (9:29.57) races. Winning the 3200 meter run was Tim Smith of Cave Spring as the senior won his first state championship with a 9:25.02 performance.
The distance performance of the meet though came from Peter Dorrell (pictured right by Tom Hoerner) of Blacksburg with an incredible double in the distance races by setting two meet records in the 1600 (4:14.29) and 1000 (2:28.70) meter races. Dorrell actually tripled in the meet with a strong 4x400 leg to help his team to a third place finish in the event. The William & Mary recruit kicked his day off though with a personal best run of 4:14.29 in the 1600 meter run as he saved little for the 1000 by churning out a 60 second last 400 to break the 2001 state meet record of 4:15.57 to set by Bobby Lockhart.
Coming back in the 1000 meter and winning would be a daunting task for Dorrell despite being the current national leader in the event at 2:28.59. He would be facing a fresh Logan Collins, a defending state champion in the event and with a 2:29 season best. Collins set a hot early pace in the race and appeared to have the race won, but Dorrell pulled out a great kick similar to his 800 meter title win last outdoor season to push past Collins (2nd, 2:29.02) for a 2:28.70 victory and break the meet record set by Collins last year.
Ethan Nixon did his best to keep his team in striking distance of a repeat, but there were not enough events for the Clemson recruit to score in. Nixon won his third consecutive state title in the 55 meter hurdles in a close finish with Broadway's Brett Olinger (7.59) in a 7.58 clocking and survived an upset in the hurdles to score one in the high jump over top seed Justin Jackson of Charlottesville with a 6'6" best clearance by Nixon. The Brookville senior scored 43 points alone in his individual events as he was the runner-up in the triple jump to two-time AA state champion Garrick Piggott of Lafayette (45'6.75") with a mark of 44'9.50" and an All-State fourth place finisher in the long jump.
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Nixon (pictured left by Tom Hoerner) also ran on both of Brookville's scoring relays in the 4x200 and 4x400. Their 4x200 won the fast section in 1:33.69, but it was their crosstown Lynchburg rival from Heritage posting the fastest time from a slower section in 1:32.47. Heritage's time was possibly the spoiler of Brookville at least pulling in a share of the state title with Western Albemarle by bumping them down to second place with two less points. The team ran just out of gas in the 4x400 at the end with a fourth place finish in 3:32.77. A third place finish would have also tied them with Western Albemarle.
Another distance runner for Blacksburg played a key role in helping the girls' team win their second indoor title in three years as Laurel MacMillan was a state champion in the 1600 (5:07.10) and 3200 (11:12.38). The Blacksburg girls with 59 points finished 9 points ahead of the Courtland girls with 50 points.
The Lady Bruins also picked up big points in the 500 and 1000 with Avery Mattingly living up to her top seed and nearly matching her season best from a banked track with a 1:19.77 win in the 500 meter dash, while the Stevens twins both ran personal bests in the 1000 meter races to pull in top four finishes from the Blacksburg sophomores Kathleen Stevens (3rd, 3:01.73) and Joanna Stevens (4th, 3:03.95).
The Courtland girls were strong in the relays with first place finishes in the 4x200 (1:47.30) and 4x400 (4:12.40) as well as having 55 meter hurdles champion in Monae Waller (8.61). Jaime Lott also scored big points in the 300 meter dash as a runner-up in a 41.59 clocking.
Liberty junior Kenara Butts pulled out the win over Lott in the 300 with a time of 41.26, while also placing third in the 55 meter dash in 7.37. York's Sherelle White pulled away for the title in the finals of the sprint in 7.27.
It was a stellar meet for the Stuarts Draft high jumpers with a 1-2 finish from senior Christina Fenske (5'5") and sophomore Caitlynn Filla (5'4") to make a case for the state's best duo from any team regardless of classification in the event.
The Amherst County girls also had a meet to boast about in the jumps with state champions in both the long jump and triple jump with Lacear Hubbard (17'4.75") and Candace Davis (35'10.25"). Amherst County sophomore Shawna Kyle also placed high in the long jump with a mark of 17'3.50" to take second behind Hubbard. Their strong showing in the jumping events helped Amherst nearly pull in a top three finish with 31 points to finish fourth in the team scoring.
Finishing two points ahead of Amherst with 33 points as the third place squad were the Heritage girls led by Laura Rapp winning her first state track title in the 1000 meter run with a swift time of 2:57.98 to accompany her cross country state title. Rapp earlier in the meet was a close second to Blacksburg's MacMillan with a 5:08.88 effort.
Turner Ashby's Justin Smith joined Dorrell as the only other meet record breaker in 2008 with a 56'11.25" mark in the shot put. Meanwhile, Katie Cummings of Fort Defiance was one of only a few defending champions to repeat again as she did in the girls' shot with a best throw of 39'6.50".
Both pole vault competitions saw personal best heights reached by the winners in James Bell of Staunton River at 14'4" and Shelley Parker of Brookville at 11'0". Both vaulters are champions out of the Seminole District.