Blacksburg head coach James Demarco was in Portland, Oregon this weekend to support his top cross country runner Allison Homer as she competed in the Nike Cross Nationals. His team did pretty well in his absence at the Liberty Christmas Invitational by winning both team titles thanks to their depth in the distance races.
The Blacksburg girls finished 11 points ahead of Manchester (60 pts) for first place in the team standings. The team saw top three sweeps in the 1600 and 3200 meter races from the trio of Joanna Stevens, Trinity Foreman, and Kathleen Stevens. Joanna Stevens won both races with early state leading times of 5:11.97 and 11:37.05 respectively.
Nikki Nunn was the top performer for runner-up squad Manchester as the junior won the long jump with a state best mark of 17'6.25", while placing high in the triple jump (4th, 35'1") and 500 meter dash (2nd, 1:22.90).
Distance runners carried the Blacksburg boys also to a team title at Liberty University. Only one week removed from their last cross country race at the NXN Southeast Regional, the Blacksburg boys took advantage of their race sharpness by posting some swift early season track times. Brian Hencke and Matt Howard (pictured right by Ted Plunkett) both won individual races with Hencke taking the 1000 meter run in 2:36.66 and Howard outdueling 1600 meter winner Josh Morris of Jefferson Forest (4:27/9:34 double) in a photo finish for the 3200 meter win in 9:34.15. Blacksburg had three of the top four finishers in the 1600 meter run behind Morris with Howard (2nd, 4:30.79), George Carter (3rd, 4:32.51), and Brian Hencke (4th, 4:37.52).
All of the distance races produced state leading performances and four other events also had top marks and times. George Washington's DeVaughn Benion Jr. had only broken 6.60 in the 55 meter dash on one occassion last year, but begins this season knocking on the door of dipping under 6.50 after his 6.52 clocking in the 55 meter dash finals. Benion's teammate Javis Petty won the 300 meter dash from a slower section in 36.64.
Charlottesville's Melvin Carter hopes this weekend is the start of a season of marks over 50 feet in the shot put as he threw for a 50'5" mark. Carter was third in last March's Group AA State Indoor Championships in the shot and will be favorite to win the event this year.
Clover Hill, a state qualifier in the 4x400 meter relay last spring, might have a team capable of qualifying in the 4x200 this winter after winning the relay event at Liberty easily in a time of 1:36.04. Anchor leg Michael Haynes was an individual runner-up in two events with the 55 meter hurdles (8.09) and 300 meter dash (36.73).
The pole vault for Group AA boys is already heating up with two boys already over 14 feet as Jefferson Forest's Josh Drablos matched the same height of Jamestown's Nick Durante from the Boo Williams meet with a 14 clearance of his own at Liberty.
Cave Spring's Tatum Tyler kept Blacksburg from sweeping all of the girls' distance races with a state best performance of 3:10.52 in the 1000 meter run.