Boys Summary
The boys' team from Albemarle this weekend continued their hot season crushing their opponents by nearly tripling the point total of 2nd place Mountain View. Pulling down 123 points to Mountain View's 46 points, the Patriots from Albemarle looks to be ready for their toughest competition of the year next week as they will attempt to win the overall AAA state title.
Led by seniors Zachary Vrhovac, Garrett Bradley, and Luke Noble with strong help by juniors Anthony Kostelac and Jordan Hill, the Patriots seemed invincible. They started off the competition by winning the 4x800 in dramatic fashion with a come from behind victory. A tough matchup, Zachary Vrhovac got the baton nearly 4 seconds behind Foot Locker Nationals 3rd place finisher Thomas Porter. The 2008 outdoor 800 meter state runner-up eventually caught Porter on the last lap and passed him to win 1st place for Albemarle (8:08.84) while Mountain View pulled down second with 8:10.84.
Other highlights of the day on the boys' side included Anthony Koselac and Luke Noble’s triumphant 1-2 in the 1600 meter run. Breaking 4:20 for the first time, Anthony Kostelac led his teammate through the finish line in 4:17.81 while Noble crossed in 4:19.49. Kostelac then later came back to win his second regional title of the day narrowly over teammate Garret Bradley. The two came off the last corner side by side and finished even closer seperated by only a .04 second gap. Kostelac took the gold in 2:35.90 while Bradley was inches behind at 2:35.94.
If Albemarle is to win the state title next week at the Boo Williams Sports Complex in Hampton, then they will need another stellar performance from their top jumper, Jordan Hill. The junior from Albemarle hit his farthest mark this season in the long jump registering an impressive 24 feet 1 and a half inches. He continued his day by winning also the high jump (6’2’’) and the triple jump (44 feet 8 inches).
One of the most exciting races of the day came during the 500 meter dash as both David Verburg of E.C. Glass (1:04.85, 2nd) and Zachary Vrhovac (1:04.28, 1st) were able to smash the previous meet record of 1:05.83. Thomas Porter was able to come back and win the 3200 meter run by over 40 seconds as he was the only one in the field to break 10 minutes with a time of 9:23.02.
Damien Thigpen of Stonewall Jackson won two events on Friday as he pulled away from the field with a 6.33 in the 55 meter dash, and a 35.13 in the 300 meter dash. Reynaldo Radlin, who finished 3rd in the 300 meter dash, won the 55 meter hurdles in a swift time of 7.49. Isaiah Simmons of Woodbridge was the sole champion for his school as he threw the shot put 54 feet 3 inches to beat Philip Mesadieu of Patrick Henry (53 feet 8 inches).
Girls Summary
The Osbourn Park girls' team made it one step closer to winning all three of the running regional titles this year as they added a regional indoor title to their cross country title from the fall. Much closer than the boys' competition, the girls' competition was decided by only 12 points as Osbourn Park (65) was followed by Colonial Forge (53). The team was helped out tremendously by two first place finishes in the relays. Osbourn Park took 1st in the 4x400 meter relay as well as the 4x200 meter relay, both of these along with a 3rd place finish and state qualifier in the 4x800 relay.
Scoring big individually for the girls' team from Osbourn Park were junior Ariel Karabinkus and sophomore Kayla Tyrrell. Ariel Karabinus, a former All-State performer, pulled off an upset in the 1600 meter run beating the North Carolina transfer from Mountain View, Kaitlyn Davis. Ariel Karabinus came on fast at the end pulling away from Davis to break the tape in 5:09.96, while Davis came in second at 5:11.62. The two juniors met again later in the meet in the 3200 meter, however Davis’s stamina proved to much for the 1600 meter champion as she was able to outlast Karabinus (11:27.47, 2nd) with a state qualifying time of 11:11.32.
Kayla Tyrrell, on top of being a strong member of both the champion relays for Osbourn Park, ran the fastest time of the day in the 500 meter dash. The swift sophomore led from the gun clocking a fast 1:16.68.
Senior Liz Barclay from Albemarle continued her good form again this weekend, playing an integral part in the champion 4x800 meter relay and also winning the 1000 meter run in a time of 3:01.59. She was able to pull away from Patrick Henry’s Natalie Woodford (3:03.41, 2nd) who was taking a rare step up from her normal event the 500 meter.
Senior Pearl Bickersteth from Potomac High School will have to wait one more week to take on current state leader Tynita Butts in the high jump, as she just missed Butts state leading height of 5 feet 9 inches, as she cleared a meet record 5 feet 8 and one quarter inches.
Yvonne Amegashie just missed out on winning two regional championships on the same day as she took the 300 meter dash in convincing fashion. The senior gapped second place by more than a second finishing at the line in a time of 40.58. Earlier Amegashie clocked a 7.29 to finish in second place behind Genevieve Johnson (7.26, 1st) of Battlefield.
Northwest Region Indoor Championships Complete Results
Videos from Northwest Region Meet found on meet page
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
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