Photo by Brandon Miles
The 3200 meter run concluded the first day of events at the 2009 St. Christopher's Invitational and those who left prior made a poor decision as the missed out on witnessing two sensational national caliber times posted by two athletes in impressive solo efforts. Trinity senior Barbara Strehler started things off in the girls' 3200 by running away from the field to a state leading and US #5 performance to 10:58.42. Strehler was 31 seconds ahead of the next finisher inher first sub 11 minute race ever.
Photo by John Herzog
Atlee senior Ben Dejarnette refused to let Strehler be the only national standout performer of the night as the defending Virginia 3A state champion motored his way around the 200 meter indoor track found within the St. Christopher's School Field House for 16 laps en route to a US #4 time of 9:12.83. Dejarnette went for it as he checked in through 1600 meters at 4:31 and likely could have ran faster with competition to pull him along. The state of Virginia currently has four of the nation's fastest five 2-milers this indoor season with Dejarnette joining Millrose Mile selections Tyler Stutzman, Bobby Peavey, and Leoule Degfae in the top five. Both performances by Strehler and Dejarnette broke meet and facility records at St. Christopher's.
The first day of events were filled with meet and facility records as a total of 10 of the 14 events saw new records set. Many of the record breaking performances were just outside of US top 10 rankings as shown below.
Girls 55 - Brittney McCants (Kempsville) 7.14 US #12
Girls 4x800 - Midlothian 9:35.29 US #13
Girls Pole Vault - Emma Dejarnette (Atlee) 12'0" US #10
Girls Long Jump - Elaine Derricott (Henrico) 18'5" US #12
Boys 55 Meter Dash - Mitchell Shiflett (Cosby) 6.40 US #13
Boys Long Jump - Ryan Beaver (Princess Anne) 23'1" US #11
Plenty of photos and video coverage from the two day meet on the way!
