Dogwood & other meets shortened due to storms
Bethel boys 3:14.71 4x400 in prelims, 3:16 & 2nd place (46.7 anchor split by Ja-Vell Bullard) in Championships of America finals at Penn as top US team!
James Taylor wins long jump (23-10.75) at Penn
Photos by Don Rich of PennTrackXC.com
Dogwood Photo Galleries: Hoerner Gallery (1514 photos) - Plunkett Gallery (1408 photos) - Miles Gallery
Dogwood Race Videos - More videos being added.
Penn Relays Coverage: Boys Complete Results / Girls Complete Results / Live Results / MileSplit US Coverage / Natalie Baird Video Interview
Friday Highlights at Penn Relays:
Baird becomes 3-time Penn Relays discus champion (154'8")!
Landstown girls are US best in 4th (46.07) in Championship of America 4x100 finals!
Westfield girls (9:06.12) miss VA 4x800 state record by .12 of a second in Championships of America 4x800 finals!
Albemarle boys 7:51.25 4x800 (4th fastest-Championships of America qualifier)!
Landstown girls 7th in COA 4x400 finals at 3:44
Bradshaw Kenimer 3rd in boys 3K at 8:35
Mountain View boys 7th in boys DMR at 10:21
Joe Lorusso 7th in boys mile at 4:18
Natalie Baird accomplished a rare feat on Friday at the Penn Relays in becoming a three-time girls' discus throw champion at one of our country's most prestigous high school track events. The Park View senior threw a meet best of 154'8", which is the first time she has thrown over 150 feet in her three trips to the Penn Relays.
The Landstown girls followed up their state 4x400 record performance on Thursday with another great relay showing in Friday's Championships of America finals for the 4x100 meter relay as Virginia's best sprint relay was the first finishing US squad behind the Jamaicans in 46.07. Their time placed them fourth overall and ahead of traditional powerhouses Long Beach Poly of California and Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland. Their performance is one of the fastest all-time in state history with the state record at 45.79 (Bayside, 1997) and nearly a half second better than the fastest time in the past decade by a girls 4x100 in Virginia.
The Albemarle boys continue to overachieve this season on relays without a star runner, but collectively as a group seem to be capable of some great things as shown by their state leading performance of 7:51.25 in Friday's qualifying heats of the 4x800 meter relay. The team of Zach Vrhovac, Luke Noble, Anthony Kostelac, and Gattett Bradley were eight seconds better than the AAA state indoor champions from Thomas Edison, who also broke eight minutes, and will move onto the Championships of America finals as the fourth fastest qualifier. Another Virginian squad who definitely overachieved at Penn Relays were the St. Christopher's boys who moved closer to eight minutes with a time of 8:04.48 from the Richmond private school in the small schools section.
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Landstown girls competing in relays at the 2007 Penn Relays (Photo by Don Rich of https://pa.milesplit.com)
Landstown girls 3:42.77 4x400 state record (Championships of America qualifier)!
Tynita Butts wins LJ with another 20+ footer!
Westfield girls 9:08.81 4x800 (2nd fastest US team)!
Landstown 47.10 4x100 (fastest US team)!
Hiruni Wijayaratne 9:52 3K (10:35 3200 equivalent)
The Landstown girls shattered the state indoor record in the 4x400 meter relay at the state meet and lowered it by two more seconds at the Nike Indoor Nationals with a 3:48 runner-up performance to Eleanor Roosevelt. The girls from Virginia Beach took it to another level in their qualifying heat of the 4x400 meter relay on Thursday at the Penn Relays with an outdoor state record of 3:42.77. The Landstown girls broke a 10 year old record of 3:43.46 set by the Menchville girls (Janine Jones, Amy Henry, Nicole Van, Tia Tabb) in the 1998 AAA State Meet at Norfolk State University. The irony is despite their state record performance, the Landstown girls finished third in their heat and were the fourth fastest American school in Thursday's prelims behind Eleanor Roosevelt MD (3:38.40), Long Beach Poly CA (3:39.72), and Boys & Girls NY (3:40.17) and nearly missed the Championships of America finals with the eighth fastest time overall to secure the final spot. The relay order for Landstown went Kelnesha Hinnant, Cierre McGee, Taylor Wheaton, and Marlena Wesh.
Landstown will be in two Championships of America finals on Friday as their 4x100 meter relay clocked in with the fourth fastest overall time of 47.10 to win their section. Their time was just a hundredth of a second faster than the next best American team in Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland at 47.11. The leading time was by a Jamaican school Edwin Allen at 45.28. 4x400 meter relay legs Cierra McGee and Marlena Wesh ran the last two legs for Landstown with Leah Brown and Olivia Hutchins opening it up on the first two legs.
Tasia Potasinski anchored Westfield's 4x800 with a 2:14.0 split (Photo by Don Rich)
The Westfield girls, Arcadia Invite champions in the 4x800 meter relay while missing Kerry Hartman, showed what they are capable of at full strength finishing second in their section with one of the state's fastest performances all-time at 9:08.81. The team consisted of Brittany Sevachko, Emani Ban, Kerry Hartman, and Tasia Potasinski. Also in their section and under 9:30 were fellow Northern Region squads Lake Braddock (9:23.51) and Herndon (9:28.22). The Westfield girls will get another crack at the 2005 state outdoor record of 9:06.00 by Oakton in the Championships of America finals as the second fastest US school behind Eleanor Roosevelt (9:07.92) with three other Jamaican schools running faster as well just over nine minutes.
Tynita Butts is making 20 feet a regular occurence after 20'3.50" win at Penn. (Photo by Tim Fulton of ArmoryTrack.com)
Already a state indoor record holder in the long jump, it is only due time for T.C. Williams junior Tynita Butts to get the outdoor record as well as she had another 20+ foot leap at the Penn Relays to win the long jump quite convincingly with a mark of 20'3.25". Butts has a US #3 mark of 20'4.50" under her belt already this season and a victory at Franklin Field only more legitimizes her as one of the country's top jumpers currently.
Penn Relays gets underway on Thursday with the high school girls events and Friday with the high school boys events. The big question will be if the Landstown girls will make the Jamaicans sweat out wins in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays. Dogwood will be the state's deepest meet of the season as has annually been the case, while other meets should pull in some solid fields including the Apple Blossom Invitational at James Wood, Cassel's XBC Track Experience at Chantilly, and Cosmpolitan Invitational at Salem.
- Apple Blossom Invitational (James Wood HS - Winchester, VA) - Natalie Baird (Park View) MR 43'2.50" G-Shot & MR 150'9" G-Discus - John Lewis (Loudoun County) 14.74 B-110H, Broad Run 8:13.04 B-4x800, Shehzaib Usman (Park View) 149'7" B-Discus, Team Champions: Broad Run boys-48 pts & Loudoun Valley girls-68 pts
- Buffalo Invitational(Floyd County HS - Floyd, VA) - Manny Alfred (Covington) 152'10" B-Discus & 52'5" B-Shot, Desiree Simmons (Radford) 38'2" G-Shot, Kent Moles (Floyd County) 152'11" B-Discus
- Cassel's XBC Track Experience (Chantilly HS - Chantilly, VA) - Grace Loba (Fauquier) 5:07.65 G-1600, Megan Bumgarner (Lake Braddock) 46.24 G-300H, Stephanie Paradis (Stone Bridge) 2:17.32 G-800, Emma Dejarnette (Atlee) 11'6" G-PV, Tyler Ruhland (Westfield) 153'10" B-Discus, Jessie Echard (James Robinson) 117'6" G-Discus, Joe Lorusso (Oakton) 1:58.93 B-800, Cameron Morse (Liberty) 14.85 B-110H & 39.97 B-300H, Stone Bridge 42.92 B-4x100, Team Champions: Stone Bridge boys-77 pts & Stone Bridge girls-76 pts
- Cosmopolitan Invitational (Salem HS - Salem, VA) - Kayla Lewis (William Fleming) 41'2" G-Shot, William Byrd 8:08.96 B-4x800, Peter Dorrell (Blacksburg) 1:54.89 B-800, Brian Hencke (Blacksburg) 1:55.09 B-800, Aimee Veatch (Cave Spring) 126'7" G-Discus, Megan Marsico (Glenvar) 5:13.81 G-1600, Sarah Witt (Staunton River) 45.82 G-300H, Jasmine Hariston (Franklin County) 37'2" G-TJ, Peter Dorrell (Blacksburg) 4:18.76 B-1600, Antonio Medley (Salem) 39.74 B-300H, Senior Division Team Champions: Blacksburg boys-71 pts & Franklin County-116 pts
- Dogwood Track Classic (UVA's Lannigan Field - Charlottesville, VA)*
- Freedom Invitational (Freedom HS - Woodbridge, VA) - Lindsi Arrington (Gar-Field) 5:08.75 G-1600, Monae Waller (Courtland) 46.50, Team Champions: Riverbend boys-114 pts & Colonial Forge girls-132.75 pts
- King William Invitational (King William HS - King William, VA) - Nick Acree (King William) 150'10" B-Discus
- Penn Relays (Franklin Field - Philadelphia, PA)
4/26 Virginia HS Boys State Leaderboard
Click on the event name for full list in that event.
4/26 Virginia HS Girls State Leaderboard
Dogwood & other meets shortened due to storms
Bethel boys 3:14.71 4x400 in prelims, 3:16 & 2nd place (46.7 anchor split by Ja-Vell Bullard) in Championships of America finals at Penn as top US team!
James Taylor wins long jump (23-10.75) at Penn
Photos by Don Rich of PennTrackXC.com