The Bethel girls dominated the sprint relays to win the A division team title with some state bests in winning the 4x200 (1:45.4), sprint medley (4:12.3), and 4x400 (3:59.1). Expect to see those state best times to stay around for a while.
The Deep Creek boys\' sprinters were once again amazing the crowd with their lightning speed as the crushed the competition in the 4x200 (1:26.8), sprint medley (3:31.3), 4x100 (41.9), and 4x400 (3:20.5). The 4x200 and 4x100 were meet record performances. After winning the indoor state title, and with their outstanding performances at Conn Madden to win the A division title, Deep Creek appears to be once again in the driver seat for another state title.
Just a year ago, the Jamestown girls were the bottom feeders of the AA Bay Rivers District, but now appear to be the front runners now after winning the B division at Conn Madden which consisted of AA, A, and private schools in the area. Despite, only winning one event, finishing high in most of the events, secured the Lady Eagles the win. The most noteworthy performance from the team was Ashley Gore\'s 57 second split on the 4x400. Gore was a 500 meter champion in indoors with a best time of 1:15.
The Jamestown boys fed off their two star athletes in hurdler Devin Canady and distance runner Bryce Ruiz to win the boys title in B division. Canady broke his own meet record in winning the 400 meter hurdles in a sensational time of 55.3. The time was better the A division winner, all-state hurdler Dwight Porter of Menchville, who won in a time of 56.3.
Ruiz had a remarkable weekend of racing as he truly went the distance. On Thursday, he ran a personal best 800 time with a 1:57 split in the 4x800 at the Raleigh Relays as he came up short in holding off Mount Tabor\'s (NC) Matt Debole, who split a 1:55 leg. Then after traveling back to Virginia Thursday night with little sleep, ran a personal best 1600 time with a 4:17 split in Jamestown\'s 4x1600 win at Conn Madden Relays on Friday (18:28.7, new meet record). Completing his sensational three days of racing, Ruiz on Saturday, gave his team two great opening legs with split a 3:08 1200 leg on the DMR (10:59.4) and a 2:00 split on the 4x800 (8:20).
The Menchville girls performed very well thanks to Jelyn Quick\'s incredible meet in the hurdles. Along with helping her team, win the 4x100 shuttle hurdle relays and 300 meter hurdle relays, Quick clocked a stellar time of 1:02.3 to win the 400 meter hurdles.
The girls\' distance relays belonged to Kellam in the A division and Norfolk Academy in the B division. Kellam won the 4x1600 (22:47), distance medley (12:41.2), and 4x800 (9:49.4) in their division, and Norfolk Academy won the exact same events in their division with times of 22:28.4, 13:12.6, and 10:23.6 respectively. It didn\'t hurt Kellam and Norfolk Academy having great runners like sophomore Natalie Sherbak and Ginna Ellis on their relays. After running a 2:23 800 leg on the sprint medley, Sherbak gave her team the lead for good on the distance medley with a 3:48 1200 opening leg and sealed the deal in the 4x800 with a 2:24 anchor leg. Ellis, one of the top freshmen distance runners in the state, stretched the lead out considerably with her strong legs for Norfolk Academy.