All photos by John Herzog
Four girls were over 19 feet in the long jump and local favorite Nikki Nunn of Manchester was the one who popped the biggest jump as she got all board in her personal best leap of 19'7" to defeat a field which included virtually all of the top jumpers in the state with the exception of Penn Relays champ Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams. Nunn, who had her indoor season end prematurely due to a hamstring injury which has lingered into the outdoor season, does not seem to be affected by the injury as of late in the long jump with a 19'3" mark last week at Lee-Davis and then winning the Southern Track Classic and just missing the meet record mark of 19'8" held by Brittni Finch.
Grassfield's Karimah Shepherd had one of the best female doubles of the meet as a runner-up to Nunn in the long jump at 19 feet and 5 inches then picking up a victory against two-time AAA state indoor triple jump champ Jasia Richardson of J.R. Tucker in the triple jump. Shepherd had been a national leader in the triple jump for much of the winter, but was defeated at the state meet by the defending champ Richardson. Shepherd popped a big mark early of 40'5.75" and then passed on her later attempts with no one in the field able to come close to her US #7 mark. Richardson was a runner-up at 39'4".
With the wind and sharing space with the pole vaulters, the girls high jump did not see many of the competitors match or exceed their season best heights. State leader Pearl Bickersteth was able to secure the win at 5'7", but not before Deep Run's Briana Hudson challenged her by clearing 5'7" as well. Hudson, a Group AAA state indoor champion in 2007, cleared a season best height and the highest clearance since her 5'9" state title in 2007. Bickersteth and Hudson will see each other often in the next few years in ACC competition with Bickersteth recently signing with UVA and Hudson had already committed to UNC.
No big marks in the event, but Christianna Moss of Patrick Henry maintained her dominance in the discus throw and still has to be considered the strong favorite for Group AAA state title with her winning mark of 120'5" at Southern Track.
The shot put on the other hand had many great marks starting early in the competition with Robert E. Lee sophomore Daquaa Scott challenging the rest of the field as she made a considerable improvement on her previous personal best with a mark of 41'2.50". Defending event champion and state leader Kayla Lewis of William Fleming responded though with a personal best throw herself at 43'0.75". Lewis is hungry to claim the Group AAA state title this spring after not claiming first at the indoor state meet.
Lizzie Powell of Patrick Henry won the competition with less earlier misses than Emma Dejarnette of Atlee, but nothing much is settled between the state's top two pole vaulters as strong winds may have kept them from vaulting at their highest as the 12'6" seeds ended both only clearing 11'3". Patrick Henry could have two potential state champions in Powell and Moss.
West Potomac girls may not have a promiment star runner on their 4x800 meter relay, but they have four solid legs with little separation between them as their splits ranged from 2:19 to 2:23 on Friday. The first three legs gradually built up a lead for anchor Julianna Bigler as West Potomac ended up finishing 12 seconds ahead of Northern Region rival West Springfield to easily secure an automatic state qualifier in their 9:27.60 victory.
Bethel girls almost had a 1-2 finish in the 100 meter hurdles, but familar Peninsula District foe Chaneka Perry of Menchville was able to break event winner Samantha Scarlett (14.80) and third place finisher Courtni Pannell (15.16) from Bethel. It was a role versal for Scarlett and Pannell as Pannell has been the team's top hurdler for most of the year. Scarlett was the only hurdler in the field to run a personal best as the competitors were running into a strong headwind (-3.0 wind).
The Elizabeth Seton girls of Maryland ruled the individual and relay sprint events with individual champions in the 100 and 200 meter dash as well as scoring first place finishes in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay. Both relay wins were narrow margins of victory with a photo finish between Elizabeth Seton (47.04) and Virginia state leaders from Grassfield (47.05), while Bethel (3:53.34) and anchor leg Emmy Fraenk made a late run after Seton (3:53.25). Jameica DeCoster in the 200 meter dash in a 25.00 clocking and Dionna Hayes in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.41 both claimed individual wins for the team from Bladensburg, Maryland.
James Robinson freshmen Genamarie McCant made sure that Elizabeth Seton did not make it a complete sweep of the sprints as McCant ran the state's second fastest time at 400 meters in a personal best time of 55.13. Robinson's time is also the second fastest in the country by a ninth grader as only Miami Jackson (FL) phenom Robin Reynolds at 54.21 has ran faster. It was also a great race of the runner-up Ashontae Jackson of Orange County, who now has to be considered the Group AA state title favorite with her time of 56.29 at Sports Backers Stadium.
Stacey Nobles of Ocean Lakes has been on a tear as of late knocking down barriers as she followed up her first sub 11 3200 in a 10:57 win at the Landstown Invite last Saturday with a 5:00.52 victory in the mile run at Southern Track Classic to dip under 5 minutes for 1600 meters (converted). Nobles, the Group AAA state cross country champion in the fall and headed to JMU next fall, is looking strong to get another state title and her first in track this spring.
The girls two mile run had a large pack of eight together late in the race, but Glenvar junior Megan Marsico was able to put six seconds between herself and the rest of the field in the final 400 meters to come away with a personal best 11:01.27 win.
Yvonne Amegashie has followed in her brother Ebenezer Amegashie's footsteps, who hurdles at Virginia Tech, and made a very smooth transition from the sprints to the hurdles. Amegashie is looking to be state leader Taylor Wheaton's biggest threat at the Group AAA State Championships as she scored a major win at Southern Track Classic in the 300 meter hurdles in a 44.66 effort.
Frances Dowd of Fairfax took out the 800 meter field aggressively in the first 400 meters, but the field started to reel her in and former 800 state champion Paige Johnston of Midlothian looked to be the one who had the kick at the end to take the win at the start of the homestretch, but instead it was Myah Hicks from Thomas Edison from the outside lane who pulled off the surprise victory in a personal best time of 2:14.59. Thomas Edison made it a clean sweep of the 800 meter races as Tihut Degfae from Edison also won the boys' race.