Photo by Ted Plunkett
While the CNU Showcase was happening in Newport News this past weekend, just down the road on I-64 East was a competitive meet at the two year old Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. On the first day of Southeastern Invitational, two US #1's were produced by Joel Coleman of Oscar Smith in the 55 meter dash and Ricky Blake of Nansemond River in the triple jump. The second day followed up with some more impressive performances, especially on the track from two of the Eastern Region's top female sprinters in Shakeela Saunders of Great Bridge and Monica Williams of Green Run.
On Friday, Saunders had already recorded US top 5 performances in the 55 meter dash (7.06) and triple jump (39'0.50") and followed up on Saturday to complete a stellar triple by winning the 300 meter dash with the nation's fastest time on a flat track for the 300 meter dash with her 39.20 clocking. The nation's leading performance is 38.52 on the fast banked track found at the New York Armory. Expect the super sophomore Saunders to approach that time if she competes in the event at the Virginia Tech Invitational this month.
Meanwhile, Green Run junior Monica Williams had already ran under 40 seconds last month at Boo Williams and turned her focus this weekend to the 500 meter dash. Williams clocked the nation's fastest time in the event at the Southeastern Invite, which was short-lived for a few hours after two girls went under 1:16 at the Montgomery Invite. Nonetheless, Williams ran an impressive US #3 1:16.34 and will be in the hunt for a state title certainly for either the 500 or 300 meter dash this season. Also being pulled along to a fast time in the event was Grassfield junior Amanda Smith with a US #5 time of 1:17.12 for the 2008 Group AAA state outdoor champion at 800 meters.
Woodside senior Brandon Burton won the boys 500 meter dash in a US #7 time of 1:06.82 as finally another athlete in Virginia other than Taylor Sykes has ventured under 1:07 this season. Burton is a middle distance specialist with a 1:55 best in the open, so Burton might turn his attention to the 1000 meter run as well this season.
Western Branch and Phoebus girls battled it out in both sprint relays with the Phoebus girls coming out ontop in the 4x200 with a time of 1:45.99, while Western Branch just missed dipping under 4 minutes for the first time this season in the 4x400 with their US #10 time of 4:00.36.
The Western Branch hurdlers came out and established themselves as legitimate point scorers outside of their top star in Keilah Tyson. Coach Toukene got a first place in the 55 meter hurdles finals from Shamia Lassiter (8.38), while Camille Thomas posted the second fastest time of the meet in the prelims at 8.52.
Grassfield's Jazmen Townsend long jumped well for the second consecutive meet at Boo Williams, which is a good sign for the state meet since the championship meet is also held at the same venue. Defeating state leader Nikki Nunn in the event during the winter break, Townsend notched the top mark of the field again this weekend with a leap of 18'6".
After being upset in the 1600 meter run by Grassfield's Jeremy Greenwald (who also ran a leg on Grassfield's solid 8:17 4x800 meter relay), Group AAA state cross country champion Ted Richardson of James River bounced back to win the 3200 meter run easily with an automatic state qualifying time of 9:38.
Other winners from the Central Region down in Hamption included a pair in the field events with Thomas Fuson (53'3") of Deep Run in the shot put and Garrett Tyler (6'4") of Meadowbrook in the high jump. The Cosby boys caught the Eastern Region powers off guard in their 4x200 meter relay as well.
Warwick's Dythaniel Lewis had a strong double in finishing second to Lakeland's JaQuan Demiel (7.74) in the 55 meter hurdles on Friday with a 7.80 clocking then posting the fastest time in the 300 meter dash on Saturday with his personal best performance of 36.52.
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
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Photo by Ted Plunkett
While the CNU Showcase was happening in Newport News this past weekend, just down the road on I-64 East was a competitive meet at the two year old Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. On the first day of Southeastern Invitational, two US #1's were produced by Joel Coleman of Oscar Smith in the 55 meter dash and Ricky Blake of Nansemond River in the triple jump. The second day followed up with some more impressive performances, especially on the track from two of the Eastern Region's top female sprinters in Shakeela Saunders of Great Bridge and Monica Williams of Green Run.