Midlothian junior Amanda Patterson is back ontop of her throne as the queen of Virginia high school distance running. Patterson, who dominated the state scene in cross country for much of this past fall, faltered at the end after collapsing shortly after winning her regional meet and she was never able to fully recover from the event as she had subpar performances at the AAA State Meet and Foot Locker South. However, after her performances at the CNU Showcase, Patterson appears to be back to her virtually unstoppable form again. In the 4x800 meter relay on Friday night, Patterson anchored Midlothian to a third place finish with a 2:18 split. Her 4x800 split showed plenty of promise, but did not give any indication that Patterson was capable of running what she did in the 3200 meter run the next day. Racing against two of the state's best in Foot Locker Finalist Beth Fahey of Forest Park and Ritchie Vaughan of Maggie Walker, who ran a 11:26 at the Ashe Center last weekend, the three runners went through the 1600 meter mark in a brisk pace of 5:37. However, Patterson found the pace too easy for her, so she decided to drop Fahey and Vaughan with a scorching 5:18 last mile to dip under 11 minutes for the first time with her 10:57.82 clocking.
The indoor track state scene seems to be dramatically altered now with the emergence of the Eastern District's rising stars. If there was a lack of star power among the state's sprinters that is gone now with the show put on by Woodrow Wilson's Lashawn Merritt at CNU. Merritt (6.45) and teammate Jamel Deans (6.46) posted the state's two fastest times in the 55 meter dash with their 1-2 finish. Their times rank four and sixth respectively in the nation for the season. Merritt came back later in the day to break the Freeman Center's high school facility record in the 300 meter dash (formerly held by Atlee's Brian Ford at 34.95, set in 2001) with his swift 34.60 clocking. The time gives Merritt the nation's second fastest 300 meter dash time on the season.
Granby's Chris Bell was another Eastern District athlete making noise at the meet as like Merritt, Bell was also a double winner at CNU. Bell fell a mere foot short of tying Thomas Dale's Dennis Boone for the state lead in the long jump with his 22-10.50 winning mark. Bell posted the state's leading time in the 55 meter hurdles with his 7.68 clocking, which also is the nation's seventh fastest time. Granby teammate Deion McClain also had a great day at CNU as he won the triple jump with the state's second best and nation's fourth best mark of 45-10. Merritt, Deans, Bell, and McClain will all be a force to be reckoned with come state meet time.
The Bethel girls and Westfield boys made it known that both will be two teams that will be hard to beat this season when at full force as the two teams walked with team titles at CNU with ease.
The Lady Bruins with their 65 point total far outdistanced runner-up Hermitage (45 pts). The backbone of Bethel's assault on the competition was their record breaking relay teams. The girls' 4x200 meter relay team of Francena McCorory, Essence Robberts, Shakirra Pinnock, and Britni Spruill broke the Freeman Center facility record they set last year of 1:42.27 with their new and improved time of 1:41.59. The record goes without mentioning that Bethel's time at CNU now ranks them first in the nation currently. The Bethel girls were not finished there and decided to take home another record in the 4x400 meter relay with a 3:58.68 clocking as 4x200 meter relay members Pinnock, McCorory, and Spruill joined with Megann Lawrence to form the team that posted the nation's fourth fastest time.
The squad nearly swept all of the sprint events as well as sophomore Francena McCorory nearly broke her own record of 40.02 with her 40.09 winning clocking in the 300 meter dash. The time is a state best performance for the season.
The girls' 500 meter run saw an amazing battle between Bethel's Shakirra Pinnock and Manchester's Kelly Keener. Keener led Pinnock from the start and all the way into the final curve, but Pinnock was able to pass from the inside down the final stretch and nip Keener (1:17.56) for the win in a state best clocking of 1:17.08.
The Bethel girls could have made it three sprint event victories for the day, but defending AAA state champion in the 55 meter dash, Western Branch's Tosin Oluwole, would see that would not happen with her 7.23 winning clocking as Bethel's Britni Spruill finished runner-up to Oluwole at 7.32.
However, Spruill would not leave CNU on Saturday winless. Spruill leaped to the nation's third best mark of 18-9.50 in winning the girls' long jump. It was a competitive event as Hermitage's Tanique Carter (18-7.75) finished second to Spruill with the nation's fourth best jump.
James River junior Rebecca Ward did it again in completing a successful distance double with another 1600 meter win and 1000 meter runner-up finish for the second consecutive week. In a much hyped 1600 meter race with AAA state cross country champion Natalie Sherbak of Kellam and Foot Locker finalist Beth Fahey of Forest Park as the race favorites and doing much of the race leading and pacework, it was Ward who came out ontop as she passed Fahey in the final 100 meters and overtook Sherbak only a couple strides before the finish line in a time of 5:10.81. Sherbak (2nd, 5:11.61) and Fahey (3rd, 5:13) still finished with strong opening times in one of the state's most exciting distance races thus far this season. Ward nearly pulled off double win at the meet as she took the lead in the final lap of the 1000 meter run, but a fresh Danielle Light of Oakton kicked pass Ward at the end for a final time of 3:05.25 as Ward settled for second at 3:06.98.
Speaking of which, Ward, Sherbak, and Light were all anchor legs in an exciting girls' 4x800 meter relay on Friday night that saw three teams dip under 10 minutes. Light took the baton in the lead and several seconds ahead of Sherbak, who found herself in second place when she started her anchor leg. Light did her best to hold off Sherbak, but Sherbak and her 2:16 split were just too much for Light to handle as Sherbak gapped Light on the final lap to give Kellam a winning time of 9:43.23. With Light's strong anchor leg, Oakton finished second overall in 9:46.23. Midlothian with Amanda Patterson's 2:18 anchor leg, finished third in 9:51.41. Ward was able to move up James River considerably with her 2:24 anchor as the Lady Rapids finished fourth overall (10:01.32) and just off a sub 10 clocking.
While there is no hurdler in the state putting up the times of last year's Menchville duo of Yvette Lewis and Jelyn Quick, Kecoughtan's Keshia Ashe looks to be the next best thing to that as she posted the state's leading time in the 55 meter hurdles with her winning time of 8.54. Ashe notched a second win for the meet in taking the triple jump with a 36-11.75 mark.
The Westfield boys saw point contributions for their 63 point total score from all event areas as athletes in the sprints, distance races, relays, and field events all scored points for the Bulldogs. In the sprints, Westfield's Chris Black won the 500 meter run (1:07.71), while Alvin Tondereau was fourth in the 55 meter hurdles (7.94).
Distance stud David Groff, whose training has been limited since cross country due to injury, looked pretty impressive despite the race rust in winning the 1600 meter run in a time of 4:24.98. Teammate James Scheiner finished sixth in the 1600 meter run (4:29.39), while fellow Bulldog Jason Weiskopf was fifth in the 1000 meter run (2:41.61).
Westfield saw the most points from their relay squads as 20 team points came from the three relay races. While their 4x200 meter relay team finished a modest fifth place (1:37.12), their 4x800 meter relay team took runner-up honors (8:10.62) and with a state best time of 3:27.76, the Westfield 4x400 meter relay team was victorious.
The top individual performance on the day from the Bulldogs was found in David Lewis breaking the Freeman Center high school facility record in the pole vault as he cleared a height of 14-1 en route to his win.
The boys' 1000 meter race saw a down to the wire finish between Oakton's Kris Cruz and Maggie Walker's Brandon Herzog. The two runners set a hot early pace among one another and left the field in the dust in a two man foot race. Even as they crossed the line, it appeared to be a too close to call for the unaided eye. However, with the aid of the timing system's cameras, the winner was decided as Cruz at 2:34.31 took the win over Herzog at 2:34.35. As a result, the state's two fastest times came out of the race.
Midlothian's Ryan Witt won a competitive 3200 meter race with a state qualifying time of 9:44.80. Forest Park's Bryce Iverson (9:48.07), Western Branch's Adam Hutton, and Midlothian's Billy Berlin (9:53.45) helped make for a strong 3200 meter field.
On Friday night, the Maggie Walker 4x800 meter relay team of Andrew Stegmaier, Brandon Herzog, Rohan Patel, and Daniel Howard won the race in a state best time of 8:04.53. Herzog put the Green Dragons in the lead for good with his 1:57 second leg split.