He's baaaaaaaaack! Anthony Kostelac (pictured above by Ted Plunkett), who ran sensational anchor legs last year for Albemarle's national record breaking 4x800 meter relays, appears back to his top level of fitness. After suffering a season ending stress fracture to his femur in the outdoor season and battling mono for the tail end of the cross country season, the Albemarle senior was back to his old tricks on Friday in the 4x800 meter relay at the Suffolk Stars Invitational: running down the anchor legs of other teams. Grassfield's 4x800 relay had a 13 second advantage on Kostelac (6:09 to 6:22) when he took the baton as his team's anchor leg. In an even split race which got the entire crowd at Boo Williams Sportsplex up on their feet and going wild, Kostelac was able to bring back his team from behind for the victory with his 1:53.3 split over Grassfield. Kostelac runs the 3200 meter run tomorrow in a duel with one of the Eastern Region's best distance runners in Drew Paisley.
Watch Video of Kostelac's anchor leg
Not to be overlooked with the excitement and crowd pleasing performance by Kostelac in his anchor leg duties, there were several US top 10 performances by athletes in the straightaway races and runway jumps on Friday in Hampton as well.
Current Virginia 55 meter hurdles state leader Daniel McFadden, a junior from Heritage High School in Newport News, lowered his US top 10 performance last week with a US #5 7.48 clocking on Friday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. It is just another stepping stone for McFadden as he approaches his stated goal of a 7.3 this season in the 55 meter hurdles.
Also joining McFadden among the US top 10 in day one action included Western Branch sophomore Tiffany Ellick taking the girls 55 meter dash finals in a US #7 clocking of 7.07. Western Branch girls have a remarkable total of 3 girls currently ranked among the top 15 in the nation including Keilah Tyson at US #4 7.04, Ellick at US #7 7.07, and Taranisha Taylor at US #15 7.15.
Ellick had two US top 10 performances in the meet including a runner-up US #8 mark of 38'6" in the triple jump. Thomas Dale junior Siobhan Ford-Holland won the event with a season best leap of 38'9.50", which ranks her 5th in the nation entering this weekend's meets.
Suffolk Stars Invitational - Day 1 Results
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
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He's baaaaaaaaack! Anthony Kostelac (pictured above by Ted Plunkett), who ran sensational anchor legs last year for Albemarle's national record breaking 4x800 meter relays, appears back to his top level of fitness. After suffering a season ending stress fracture to his femur in the outdoor season and battling mono for the tail end of the cross country season, the Albemarle senior was back to his old tricks on Friday in the 4x800 meter relay at the Suffolk Stars Invitational: running down the anchor legs of other teams. Grassfield's 4x800 relay had a 13 second advantage on Kostelac (6:09 to 6:22) when he took the baton as his team's anchor leg. In an even split race which got the entire crowd at Boo Williams Sportsplex up on their feet and going wild, Kostelac was able to bring back his team from behind for the victory with his 1:53.3 split over Grassfield. Kostelac runs the 3200 meter run tomorrow in a duel with one of the Eastern Region's best distance runners in Drew Paisley.