The Deep Creek boys came through as expected with strong performances from their relays and sprinters. The 4x200 relay squad set a meet record time of 1:29.70. Their 4x400 squad was also impressive as they won seeded section in a time of 3:24.19, but took second overall to Landstown, who won the previous section in a smoking time of 3:23.75. Deandre Hyman and Derron Flood came up big for the team as well. Hyman won an incredible race over Heritage's Quentin Bowens in a photo finish as the two both ran a time of 34.54. Flood took runner-up honors in the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:06.60. Along with good production out of their relays and sprinters, Gary Freeman took third in the shot put with a mark of 55-08. In all, Deep Creek scored 44 points which put them comfortably ahead of Centreville in second with 32 points.
While all the talk heading into the meet concerning the girls' team title centered around Salem, Bethel, and Oakton, none of the three teams came out of the meet with the title as it was the Lady Bruins of Lake Braddock who surprised the field. While Lake Braddock had no event winner, they got key contributions from many members of the squad, especially from the versatile Alexandra Van Heuven. Van Heuven could be found all over the indoor track facility at George Mason as she participated and scored in a handful of events. Van Heuven took fifth in the 55 meter hurdles (8.56) and long jump (17-10.00). Her best performance was in the triple jump as she took second with a leap of 39-10.50. Van Heuven wasn't the only individual contributing points to the team. Freshmen Ashley Haislip took third in the high jump (5-4), junior Catherine Muehleib fourth in the shot put (37-8), junior Cristina Zuniga third in the pole vault (10-0), junior Kelly Swain eighth in the 1600 (5:19.98) and fourth in the 3200 (11:17.01), freshmen Kelsey Snowden sixth in the 1000 (3:03.21). With these many small contributions by many along with strong relay performances (3rd in the 4x200 and 4x400), led to a team title for the underdogs from Lake Braddock as they won with 51 points. Trailing close behind was Salem in second with 46 points and Oakton in third with 42.
While the team battles were exciting as always, it was the individual performances that highlighted the two days of action. The first day kicked things off with some outstanding field event performances.
James Robinson junior Steve Huntzinger used his pure power and roaring yell to power his way to throw a personal best of 59-9 to move up to #5 in the nation. On the girls' side, national leader Lindsay Neuberger of Cox did just enough to defend her state title with a mark of 46-0.
David Sullivan of Centreville, who was questionable heading into the state meet because of an injury he suffered at his regional meet, left no question Friday night who is the top pole vaulter in the state of Virginia as he went over a remarkable height of 15-6. Sullivan is ranked currently #5 in the nation.
George Wythe's Reshad Nobles definitely got some hang time as he won the long jump with an astonishing leap of 23-8 as it ranks him currently #3 in the entire nation.
One of the nation's best in the long jump and triple jump, Amy Seward of Salem won both events which turned out to be highly competitive. In the long jump on Friday night, Seward went 18-07.25 as Western Branch's Lauren Taylor wasn't far off her mark at 18-06.75. Then on Saturday, Seward was able to top Van Heuven as she went a sensational best mark of 40-01.50. The mark moves her into being ranked #2 in the nation.
Along with Seward's triple jump on Saturday, there were other jaw-dropping performances out of the field events.
The best of those performances had to Menchville's Keith Moffatt setting the new state meet record in the high jump with a leap of 7-00.25. Moffatt got a standing ovation from the crowd as he cleared the bar, breaking the record, and got an even bigger one as made a near miss in an attempt for the national lead at 7-02.25. Moffatt currently is tied for the lead at 7-02.
In the girls' high jump, co-national leader Bonnie Meekins of Oakton, simply jumped as high as it took win as she took the title at 5-6.
The girls' pole vault saw a battle between Centreville's Alicia LaRoche and Westfield's Kathryn Pettine. The two girls seemed to be stuck at 11 feet, until LaRoche broke through and vaulted over 11-03.00 for the win.
Forest Park's Reynold Smith was able to outdo 46+ feet jumpers such as Landstown's Melvin Woodhouse and Thomas Dale's Thomas McFadden to take that event in a personal best mark of 46-01.
Just through the field events, there was already a countless number of marks that place high on the national leader board. This set the stage for some exciting racing in the field events.
The girls' 4x800 was a repeat of the Microtel Invitational where the distance juggernaut programs of James Robinson and West Springfield clashed. West Springfield held the early lead there, only to lose the lead on the final leg on the final lap to James Robinson. On Saturday, the story was the same. West Springfield's Maureen Hagan got her squad out in the lead by a good margin with a 2:17 opening leg. That leg gradually slimmed down to where on the last exchange, West Springfield only held a small lead. That lead was soon enough gone as James Robinson took the lead on the last leg and kept it onto victory with a time of 9:25.29 as West Springfield finished in at 9:27.24.
In the boys' race, top seed Midlothian was in the lead or in the lead pack through all the laps with legs John Terrell, Ryan Witt, Andrew Baker, and Anthony D'Amato all running approximately 2:00 splits. While D'Amato was already starting on the backstretch of his flap as Midlothian's anchor leg, Richard Smith of South Lakes was just getting the baton. However, Smith quickly made up that ground with a scorching 51 second first 400 and was drafting off of D'Amato and Colonial Forge junior Mike Porter rounding the curve on the final stretch. Smith swung to the outside to pass ahead of D'Amato and Porter and pushed it for the win for South Lakes with a 1:52 split to give South Lakes the fastest non-banked indoor track time in the nation with a time of 8:00.48. Colonial Forge, originally not even in seeded in the fast heat, until they combined the two, surprised many as they took second with a time of 8:00.73.
In the hurdles, Jelyn Quick crushed the girls' field. Quick posted the second fastest time in the nation with her 8.05 clocking in the 55 meter hurdles. Like the boys' 300, the boys' hurdles was decided by thousandths of a second as both Nansemond River's Esteban Guzman and Lakeland's Deandre White were clocked at a time of 7.35. When the officials looked at the tape, it showed that Guzman was the winner in the close finish. Both times rank third in the nation.
Oddly enough, the same situation occurred in the girls' 55 meter dash as Fatima Shuler of Wakefield just edged out Western Branch's Modupeola Oluwole at 7.21. Their was no close finish in the boys' race though as Heritage's Michael Johnson motored his way to the title with a time of 6.33. The time ranks him fifth in the nation.
While the Bethel girls didn't finish as well as they had hoped in the team scoring, they can take a lot of pride in how their relays performed. The 4x200 and 4x400 won in incredible times of 1:43.48 and 3:58.22 respectively.
After having to sit out a couple of weeks because hip pains, argue ably Virginia's best female distance runner, Keira Carlstrom of Oakton, suffered a defeat at the hands of Centreville's Dacia Barr in the 1600 at the Northern Region Meet. A week later on the same track, the two faced off again. Barr set a quickly early pace which included a 32 second first 200 as she built a lead on the field midway through the race. However, Carlstrom lurked behind and unleashed a strong kick over the last 400 meters to overtake the fading Barr to win in an excellent time of 5:02.54. Carlstrom was able to hold off hard charging Jemissa Hess of C.D. Hylton (2nd, 5:03.97) and Megan Isaacs of Menchville (3rd, 5:04.68). Barr finished fourth in a time of 5:07.14.
An obviously disappointed Barr after her race, came back determined in the 1000 as she broke away to win in a quick time of 2:58.18.
The boys' 1600 meter race saw a match up between two of the nation's finest middle distance runners in Thomas Dale junior Alex Tatu and Oakton senior Phil Gaeta. Tatu lead through the first 1000 meters as Gaeta trailed as they hit the 400 in 65 and 800 in 2:15. At 3:17 at 1200 meters, Gaeta had taken over the lead from Tatu. It was apparent that the real race had begun as the slow tactical first portion of the race had only set up a kicker's battle between the two speedsters. Gaeta maintained his lead heading into the bell lap, but Tatu made on move on the backstretch that Gaeta was unable to match as Tatu held on for the win in a time of 4:13.46. Tatu last 400 was clocked at 57 and obviously Gaeta closed quickly as well to finish with a time of 4:15.33. Definitely the fastest ever, this year's 1600 meter race saw three other individuals other than Tatu and Gaeta break 4:20 as Matt Wolak of Mills Godwin (3rd, 4:17.35), Graham Kearney of Douglas Freeman (4th, 4:19.66), and Abdikadir Dubed of Wakefield (5th, 4:19.75).
Unnoticed with all of the attention put on the Tatu and Gaeta battle was Denbigh freshmen Derrick Robbins, as he took sixth in a national record breaking time of 4:20.97. Anyone that breaks a national record deserves immediate attention and especially with the record of the likes that Robbins broke. To put it in better perspective, great state runners in recent past and current such as Senecca Lassiter, Alan Webb, and Bobby Lockhart, never ran that fast as freshmen during their indoor seasons.
Not long after his juggernaut showdown with Gaeta in the 1600, Tatu had another showdown in store with South Lakes's Smith. The first portion of the race was very tactical for Tatu and Smith, while Woodbridge's Tim Stark tried to set a quick pace for the rest of field early on. By the bell lap, Tatu had made a strong move to take the lead, while Smith got boxed in between Stark and Matt Wolak of Mills Godwin. Smith then made a controversial move as pushed himself through Stark and Wolak at the start of the bell lap and yellow flag went in the air. The crowd was roaring as Tatu and Smith sped on the backstretch. Smith had begun to come up on Tatu as they reached the final straightaway and it appeared it would be a similar ending as the one at Virginia Tech last month, where Tatu's form broke down at the end, while Smith maintained his fluid form to speed past Tatu. However, Tatu maintained his form and looked to have a stride on Smith right before the finish line, but Smith had a lunge to the line and appeared to have just nipped Tatu, but it was too close to call. Along with the ruling on whether or not a disqualification was necessary in Smith's push at the bell lap and how actually won the race. After a prolonged wait, the top eight results of the race were announced with Tatu at 2:30.42 for second and Smith at 2:30.42 for first. Smith's last 200 was clocked in 25 seconds and Tatu's at 26.
In winning the girls' 500 meter dash in a time of 1:16.68, Tallwood sophomore Faraign Giles ran the seventh fastest time in the nation. In the boys' 500 meter dash, Quentin Bowens of Heritage, already the national leader in the 500, was a man on a mission to better national best time as he ran a very strong and gutsy race from the start to win in a dominating time of 1:03.84.
After winning the 55 meter dash earlier in the meet, Fatima Shuler came back to win the 300 as well in a very fast clocking of 40.83.
If people still didn't know or realize how good Hickory's Jennifer Boyd is, now they know. Boyd was victorious in the girls' 3200 meter run with a time of 10:58.39. She put on a devastating kick at the end to break away from a group of talented runners that included the likes of Kelly Swain, Kristyn Shiring, and Tiffany Cross. Cross, an Atlee senior, ran a very solid race as she picked up second with a personal best time of 11:07.43.
The crowd was never louder than when they were cheering on Ocean Lakes senior Matt Keally as he methodically scorched the track and the record books in the boys' 3200 meter run. From the gun, Keally was all alone as he only one person but himself and the crowd to push him along. He amazed the crowd as he seemed to be running as hard as he possibly could push his body. He ran the first 1600 in 4:27, 7 seconds shy of his personal best. During his second mile, he was lapping most of the competitors in the field who were still running sub 10 pace. It became very apparent to everyone that he could break the record and as well as nine minutes for the first time when he was on pace with 400 left. All he needed to do was gut up those last 2 laps and he could have a chance. Not known for his kick nor speed, Keally mustered something within that last lap to just get the record by a couple tenths of the second with a time of 8:59.57. The record was previously held by Alan Webb who set the record two years ago. The time ranks him first in the nation. The crowd immediately rose to their feet and gave the gutsy Keally a well deserved standing ovation as he took a victory lap in celebration of his thrilling accomplishment as it capped off a weekend full of exciting action showcasing Virginia's best.