At the Group AAA State Meet at Great Meadows in The Plains, the roles were reserved as Keally was the one fading and Tatu was the on victorious. Keally got off to a slow start the first 200 meters of the race but then made a huge surge up to the front to take the lead well before the mile marker. Keally kept this lead and continued to push the pace througout the race for 3 miles. However, while Keally was setting the pace, Tatu was lingering quietly not too far behind as he held back for the right time to make his move. Well he did just that as on the final straightaway which is over 400 meters long, Tatu made a move past the tiring Keally which Keally was unable to counter as Tatu went onto to winning in a time of 15:42.7. Keally finished in shortly afterward in a time of 15:46.4. Tatu showed a lot in winning his first ever state title. For one thing, it showed the great range he has as a runner. Running a 4:14 1600 as a sophomore last year, some thought he was purely a miler. He proved this idea wrong as he now is a state champion at the 5K distance. Expect many great things from this young man on down the road.
THE PLAINS, VA -- Just three weeks ago, Thomas Dale junior Alex Tatu was dealt a demoralizing loss at the Georgetown Prep Classic by Ocean Lakes senior Matt Keally. Tatu went out with Keally for the first mile of that race setting a blistering pace to only see Keally surge ahead of him to go ahead and win the race as he set a new course recourd, while Tatu horribly faded to finish so far back that he was too ashamed to even turn in his race card. What a difference three weeks and some smarter pacing makes.