Girls 4x800 Meter Relay - This will be an interesting race with the potential for fast times as some teams loading up for the first time this season. Blacksburg will certainly have a strong relay if including the Stevens twins, who both went under 3 minutes last weekend in the 1000 meter. Blacksburg has ran the fastest time this season among all Virginia schools at 9:44. Also going under 10 minutes this season has been West Springfield at 9:52 and Western Branch at 9:59. West Johnston from North Carolina recently ran a time of 9:55 last weekend at UNC and should be competitive with the Virginia schools.
Girls 55 Meter Hurdles - The hurdles will include 8 of the fastest 11 in Virginia this season led by Bethel junior Courtni Pannell at 8.22 with Deep Creek's Chantal Luedeke not far behind at 8.31. Pannell and others will have their hands full though with Kristin Brown of McDonogh School (MD) who clocked a 8.15 performance to win the Montgomery Invitational two weeks ago.
Girls 55 Meter Dash - Tanay Chandler of Nansemond River at a 7.21 season best is the top Virginian in the field. Next best in the 55 meter dash is Bethel's Olicia Sharp at 7.28 and Edison's Shekyira Mann and Grassfield's Myesha Barr both at 7.31. Chandler and the Virginians will be underdogs though against Olivia Ekpone of Thomas Wootton (MD) with her US #10 best clocking of 7.15.
Girls 4x200 Meter Relay - The six fastest relays in Virginia will all be at Tech led by three sub 1:45 squads Bethel (1:44.31), Grassfield (1:44.43), and James Robinson (1:44.93). It will be a great preview of the AAA state meet with many teams clashing for the first time. They all will be chasing Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland though as the national powerhouse squad despite losing their head coach and several graduated runners, is still a formidable squad as shown with a US #7 performance of 1:42.96.
Girls 1600 Meter Run - The invitational mile takes away most of the sub 5:10 and sub 5:20 milers present at the meet, but this event should could see a handful of runners dipping under 5:20 led by Blacksburg's Allison Homer. Homer is way ahead of the next fastest this season in the event with her 5:12 best. The next fastest are a trio of girls who have ran 5:24 this season in West Potomac's Kelsey Rosenberg, Deep Run's Erica Dobbs, and Edison's Betel Yosef. Abby Badura of Clover Hill should also be competitive in this race after running a 11:33 3200 last week at Liberty.
Girls 500 Meter Dash - A US #1 performance is likely in this event with a race which will feature the current national leader Natalie Woodford of Patrick Henry and previous national leader Genamarie McCant. McCant had been the previous national leader with her 1:16.13 performance in December prior to last weekend when the freshmen's time was bettered by a 1:15.49 clocking from Woodford at Liberty University. Others to look out for in this event include Afia Charles from Eleanor Roosevelt, Myesha Barr from Grassfield, and Yvonne Amegashie from Potomac Senior. Barr and Amegashie have yet to run a 500 this season, but certainly have swift 400 personal bests to indicate great potential in this event.
Girls 1000 Meter Run - Paige Johnston of Midlothian will be looking to lower her current US #5 time of 2:58.68 at Tech this weekend. The Arkansas bound senior has rolled a fast 1000 before on a banked track as she clocked in at 2:51 last year at the New York Armory. Johnston is one of two past 3A state 1000 meter champions in the race as Yorktown's Andrea Oaxaca is working herself back into top form with a 3:04 performance under her belt this season. Liana Epstein of Lake Braddock and Tatum Tyler of Cave Spring have also ran 3:04 this season, but Johnson's top competition could come from the out-of-state competition such as Eleanor Roosevelt's Amirah Johnson, who has split under 2:10 on 4x800 meter relay legs.
Girls 300 Meter Dash - Tania Minkins of Menchville has ran the fastest this season among all entrants at 40.65, but this should be a wide open race with plenty of runners anxious to get on the banked track to roll out some big drops in their times. Monica Mason from Bishop McNamara (MD) is the quickest this season among the out-of-state competitors at 40.85. Yvonne Amegashie of Potomac Senior has to be considered a threat to win after running 40.31 at Virginia Tech last year as she will be looking forward to getting a chance to race on her future home track after committing to the Hokies recent.
Girls 3200 Meter Run - Top two runners in this race figure to be Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View with a 11:17 season best and Allison Homer of Blacksburg at 11:22. A slew of girls will be pushing for the state auto qualifying standard including the likes of Maggie Walker's Clarissa Schick and Western Branch's Natalie Wynn, who have both ran under 11:30 this season.
Girls 4x400 Meter Relay - A handful of teams should be running under 4 minutes and a potential winner pressing towards 3:50. Menchville (3:58.88) and Bethel (3:59.52) are the only two squads from Virginia to dip under 4 minutes this season, but they could be joined by others this weekend including James Robinson (4:01) and Western Branch (4:02).
Girls Invitational Mile - A solid field with all girls mostly capable of running 5:15 or faster currently in the mile. The Stevens twins of Blacksburg, Joanna and Kathleen, may be ready for a run at sub 5 after their recent performances at Liberty when the posted 1600 meter times of 5:02 and 5:05 respectively. Two girls from Maryland are in the race that have ran under 5:10 this season with Stephen Bryan of Thomas Johnson and Amirah Johnson of Eleanor Roosevelt both at 5:09 season bests.
