RICHMOND, VA -- While in recent years the Central Region has been looked down upon in high school track and field in comparison to other competitive regions such as the Northern and Eastern Region, things look be changing this year as a vast amount of the state\'s best will be gathering to compete at the Central Region Meet at the Arthur Ashe Center this weekend. The action should be intense and very close.
This type of action that will be seen this weekend can be seen very obviously in the team battles. On the boys side, there are several teams that have good chances, yet can win in much different styles with district champions Atlee (Capital), Thomas Dale (Central), and Maggie Walker (Colonial) all in contention. On the girls side of the coin, it looks to be a two way battle between Dominion district co-champion Manchester and Capital District champs Atlee with others clipping at their heels.
If any team comes into the meet with the best all-around depth, it has to be Coach Jim Triemplar\'s Atlee Raiders on both the boys and girls side. Whether it is field events, running events, or relay events, Atlee has at least someone in contention to win or place.
The Atlee boys will be depending heavily on performances from their field events. The versatile Nick Robinson will look to contribute heavy amounts of points to the squad as he is seeded fourth in the long jump (21-10 1/4), second in the triple jump (44-9), second in the high jump (6-4), and third in the 55 meter hurdles (7.73). Robinson can\'t do it all for his squad, so he will also look to get help from Len Terry who will be one of the favorites to win the long jump as he is seeded second (22-4 1/2). Tim Papenfuse will be looking to shake off his recent woes with a good performance in the pole vault for the Raiders as he is seeded second (13-0). Anthony Easter looks to be the man to beat in the 500 as he is seeded first with an area best time of 1:06.46. Easter is also part of the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays who are seeded first (1:32.01) and second respectively (3:32.95). Jackie DeShazio, seeded sixth in the 300 (37.97), and Chris Clarke, seeded second in the 3200 (10:03.83), add even more to the extremely deep Atlee squad that looks to be the favorite in the boys\' team race.
While the cards are stacked in favor for Atlee, Thomas Dale, Maggie Walker, and Midlothian will have something to say before the succumb to the Raiders.
Thomas Dale looks to have the best shot to knock off Atlee as they possess one of the nation\'s best rising distance star in junior Alex Tatu. Tatu has been near the top of the state and national leaderboard for much of the season in the 1600 and 1000 and heads into this weekend\'s meet as the top seed in both of those races. Along with most likely getting twenty points out of Tatu in those two events, the Knights will help hope Tatu can help the 4x400 squad place well. However, Tatu is not the only member of the Thomas Dale squad that will be looking to rack up some points for the squad. Taylor McFadden is the top seed in the triple jump (46-3) and will look to add ten points there to the Knight\'s team score. Jonathan Chapman and Dennis Boone are also high seeds, but in two events with Chapman in the 55 meter hurdles (second, 7.68) and 300 meter run (third, 36.61) and the freshman Boone in the long jump (21-11 1/4) and 55 meter dash (fifth). If Atlee should happen to not compete up to par, Thomas Dale will be looking to take title as will Maggie Walker and Midlothian as they will be depending on their distance squads.
Maggie Walker comes into regions with some momentum after their distance runners performed exceptionally well at the district meet. The 3200 meter run is where they will be looking to gather their most points with four runners in the top six. Leading the Green Dragon charge is senior John Piersol, who should win the race with ease as he comes in with a best time of 9:14.02. Joining Piersol in the 3200 are teammates Daniel Howard (#3 seed, 10:04.49), Andrew Stegmaier (#4 seed, 10:08.64), and Jonathan Charlesworth (#5 seed, 10:10.73). While it\'s still up in the air whether or not Maggie Walker will put together a strong 4x800 relay at the regional meet as they are already state qualified (8:10.54), it will not include Piersol as he will be competing in the 1600 meter run as the third seed (4:21.88). Helping Piersol contributing more team points will be J.D. Ridgeway as he is seeded fourth in the 1600 (4:26.88) and second in the 1000 (2:32.12). Alex Tuck, a member of the 4x800 squad, also looks to score points for the Green Dragons as he is seeded third in the 500 (1:08.11). Helping ease the pressure off the distance squad to score points will be pole vaulter Brian Edmondson as he is the top seed in the event (13-3), coming off of his personal best at last week\'s district meet. Coach Holdren has his distance group in place to help his squad make a serious challenge at the regional title.
Coach Triemplar has to be liking his chances of having two regional crowns at once as his girls\' squad also has the weapons to outduel the competition for the title. The squad has five number one seeds coming into the meet as only Manchester looks to have a reasonable shot at challenging the Lady Raiders. Tiffany Cross has proven to be unstoppable in the distance events in the area as she enters with the best times in the 1600 meter run (5:20.19) and 3200 meter run (11:16.53). She looks to be a lock to win both events Saturday. Having that same dominance as Cross in the distance events are teammates Kira Barcus in the pole vault and Anna Bushkar in the 500 meter run. Barcus heads into this weekend as the top seed at 11\'00.00\" with Bushkar as well the top in her event with a time of 1:18.94. The Atlee girls\' 4x400 comes in with the top time (4:09.59), but will be in a dogfight with other squads like Thomas Dale (4:09.61) and Varina (4:10.43).
While the Manchester girls don\'t have anywhere near the depth as the Atlee team does, they do have two talented individuals who could possibly win the regional title by themselves. Briana Smith and Kwadena Caple will look to bring their \"A\" game this weekend, if Manchester has any hopes of challenging Atlee. Smith enters as the top seed in the long jump (18-0), triple jump (35-9 1/2), and 55 meter hurdles (8.31). Caple is seeded first in the 55 meter dash (7.30), second in the 300 meter dash (41.09), and fourth in the triple jump. While it is to Manchester\'s advantage that they have two individuals who can score as many points as Smith and Caple, it is also to their disadvantage as they are walking a thin line if one of the two gets injured or doesn\'t not perform up to par.
Whatever the outcome of this weekend\'s meet shall be, it will certainly sum up the performances from the Central Regions teams and individuals this past indoor season...incredible.
RICHMOND, VA -- While in recent years the Central Region has been looked down upon in high school track and field in comparison to other competitive regions such as the Northern and Eastern Region, things look be changing this year as a vast amount of the state\'s best will be gathering to compete at the Central Region Meet at the Arthur Ashe Center this weekend. The action should be intense and very close.
This type of action that will be seen this weekend can be seen very obviously in the team battles. On the boys side, there are several teams that have good chances, yet can win in much different styles with district champions Atlee (Capital), Thomas Dale (Central), and Maggie Walker (Colonial) all in contention. On the girls side of the coin, it looks to be a two way battle between Dominion district co-champion Manchester and Capital District champs Atlee with others clipping at their heels.
If any team comes into the meet with the best all-around depth, it has to be Coach Jim Triemplar\'s Atlee Raiders on both the boys and girls side. Whether it is field events, running events, or relay events, Atlee has at least someone in contention to win or place.
The Atlee boys will be depending heavily on performances from their field events. The versatile Nick Robinson will look to contribute heavy amounts of points to the squad as he is seeded fourth in the long jump (21-10 1/4), second in the triple jump (44-9), second in the high jump (6-4), and third in the 55 meter hurdles (7.73). Robinson can\'t do it all for his squad, so he will also look to get help from Len Terry who will be one of the favorites to win the long jump as he is seeded second (22-4 1/2). Tim Papenfuse will be looking to shake off his recent woes with a good performance in the pole vault for the Raiders as he is seeded second (13-0). Anthony Easter looks to be the man to beat in the 500 as he is seeded first with an area best time of 1:06.46. Easter is also part of the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays who are seeded first (1:32.01) and second respectively (3:32.95). Jackie DeShazio, seeded sixth in the 300 (37.97), and Chris Clarke, seeded second in the 3200 (10:03.83), add even more to the extremely deep Atlee squad that looks to be the favorite in the boys\' team race.