The 55 dash and hurdles events was a "put up or shut up" battle between the best in the state. On the girls side, Britni Spruil of Bethel in the 55 dash (7.25) and Jelyn Quick of Menchville in the 55 hurdles (8.25) proved to be the class of the field with their victories. Spruil wasn't done with her win in the 55, she also went onto win the 300 in a state best time of 39.97, which also ranks her #9 in the nation.
The Bethel girls' dominance continued with Jessica Cassell as she ran a state best time of 1:17.62. To add onto her excellent time, it ranks her #2 in the nation.
Earning bragging rights were Michael Johnson of Heritage in the 55 dash (6.48) and Dwight Porter of Menchville in the 55 hurdles (7.46) as they were Virginia's best. However, Porter was actually second in the hurdles, but finished 2nd to a member of a track club from Detroit, Michigan. Nansemond River's Esteban Guzman clocked the fastest time in the state out of the prelims with his time of 7.44, but finished 4th in the finals (7.56). In the dash, Johnson recorded the fastest F.A.T. time in the state this season with a 6.41 clocking.
While although taking second place to Mike Loyd of Mt. Tabor (NC) in the 300 meter dash, Heritage senior Quentin Bowens' time of 34.52 was the fastest state time so far this season. While his 300 was impressive, it didn't top his performance in the 500. Going up against the best the state had to offer including two 1:05 500 runners in South Lakes' Richard Smith and Louisa County's Steve Carlson, Bowens reaffirmed his title as the best 500 meter runner in not only the state, but nation as he improved his national best time of 1:05.20 to 1:04.42.
Smith took 3rd in the 500 with the second fastest time in the state (1:05.85), but it was the 1000 earlier in the day where he found his performance of the day. In a hyped up duel with Thomas Dale junior Alex Tatu, it was bound to come down to the finish. In a very competitive field, Tatu and Smith hung back in the pack, but Tatu then made a strong move and opened up a gap on the field with 400 to go realizing he had to have breathing room to hold off Smith's punishing kick. Tatu did a good job of distancing himself from Smith, but not enough as Smith closed on Tatu on the final stretch to take the win in a national best time of 2:28.18 as Tatu ran the second fastest time in the nation with his clocking of 2:28.88.
In the girls' 1000, Megan Isaacs of Menchville put on a devastating last lap kick to win in a state best and #9 national best time of 3:00.04. However, she might not have those titles if Marion's Shelly Slemp was in the fast heat as Slemp ran solo in a slower heat to run a slightly slower time than Isaacs with her clocking of 3:00.41.
The girls' 1600 had two Foot Locker finalist from North Carolina participating with Laura Stanley, the regional champion, and Carly Matthews, a regional qualifier. Throw in Virginia's top distance runner, Keira Carlstrom, who finished one spot out of qualifying for Foot Locker nationals, you have one fast race. Well a battle for the lead never materialized as Stanley took the lead early and ran away with the win (4:56.35). Carlstrom finished ahead of the Foot Locker finalist Matthews to take second in a state best time of 5:03.29.
After clocking a 1:54 split on the 4x800, the night before, Oakton senior Phil Gaeta came back the next day to win the 1600 in a fast time of 4:19.33.
Shannon Saunders of Jefferson Forest had a sensational run in the 3200m run. Saunders set a blistering early pace to break away from the field and ran solo from then on as she clocked the fastest time in the state (10:56.84). The time also ranks her #4 in the entire nation.
The boys 3200 was simply jaw-dropping. Few thought Keally would improve that considerably from his 9:14 at CNU earlier in the month, but he dropped 8 seconds at Tech to run the nation's 3rd fastest time of 9:06.91. Even more impressive were the two times behind him with John Crews of Rockbridge (9:11.03) and John Piersol of Maggie Walker (9:14.02) both running huge PR's. Piersol was in second for the majority of the race, but Crews closed with an incredible 26 second last 200 to run the race of his life.
The sprint relays were a testing ground for some of the top teams in the state to showcase the backbone of their squads, their relays. Going into the meet, Bethel looked to be the top 4x200 and 4x400 on the girls side, but coming out of the meet, that is not the case. In the 4x200, the Gar-Field (1:42.91 - a state best) and Salem (1:43.21) squads both took it to the previous state leaders as Bethel took third (1:44.06). Gar-Field and Salem's times ranked #7 and #8 respectively in the nation. In the 4x400, it was Oakton out of the Northern Region who ruled supreme as they clocked a 3:59.93 to beat both Salem (4:02.07) and Bethel (4:04.33). Keira Carlstrom rounded out an impressive meet for Oakton as not only did she split 2:17 in the 4x800 and ran a state best time in the 1600, she also showed her great range by splitting 58 seconds for her 4x400 squad.
After all the dust settled in the boys' relays, it was well apparent who the leader of the pack was and that was Deep Creek. Deep Creek destroyed the field in the 4x200 with their state best time of 1:29.34. They finished 2nd in the 4x400, but that was to a track club from Michigan as they still ran the fastest time in the state with their 3:26.26 clocking.
No relay event at the meet was more exciting than the girls' 4x800. West Springfield opened up a large lead on the field early, only to see that lead vanish as the James Robinson anchor leg ran down their anchor leg to win in a photo finish time of 9:29.09 as West Springfield finished at 9:29.30. The times rank the squads #6 and #7 nationally.
Once again the Mumford track club from Michigan took another victory as they won the boys' 4x800, but it was the second place squad of Midlothian who had a breakthrough run. The team consisted of John Terrell (2:00), Ryan Witt (2:02), Andrew Baker (1:58), and Anthony D'Amato (2:00) ran a state best and school record time of 8:02.48. Their time also ranks them #5 in nation.
In the girls' high jump, Bonnie Meekins tied for a national best with an amazing leap of 5'10.00". Meekins came close to going over 5'10.00", but missed valiantly.
David Sullivan of Centreville went airborne as he vaulted to third best pole vault mark in the nation (15'09.00"). The versatile Sullivan was also a winner in the high jump as well (6'04.00").
Amy Seward was by far the showstopper in the vertical jumping events as she went an astonishing 18'11.00" in the long jump and 39'10.75" in the triple jump. Both marks were state bests and ranked her #2 (long jump) and #3 (triple jump) respectively in the nation.
Gar-Field's Derek Liggins won the long jump with a leap of 22'02.50" and Forest Park's Reynold Smith took the triple jump with a mark of 45'11.50".
The "Berg" was at it again, destroying records and her competition. Cox's Lindsay Neuberger threw for an incredible 48'04.75" as the marked made her the #1 thrower in the nation currently.
In the boys' shot, Steve Huntzinger continues to dominate as he threw for a 55'09.25" to win the event. If any word was overused in this article, it was the term "state best" and that is exactly what the Microtel Invitational is, the state's best.