Photo by Ryan Kelly
The Jamestown boys and Lafayette girls won Region I indoor track titles on Wednesday at Boo Williams. Jamestown senior Colin Mearns had the top performance of the meet as he outdueled Grafton's David Gunnerson (2:33) for a US #11 2:30.76 victory in the 1000 meter run. Mearns added another 10 points to his team total of 60 points in a second win later in the 3200 meter run.
A double by their top distance runner also paced the Lafayette girls (76 pts) to the Region I crown behind sophomore Heidi Peterson, who successfully defended her regional titles from a year ago in the 1600 (5:22.91) and 1000 (3:08.56) meter races. Teammate Becky Dobosy completed the sweep of the distance races for the Lady Rams with a time of 11:57.13 in a 3200 win for the Region I cross country champion.
Prince Edward's Alonzo Hurt threw his name into the hat as a state title contender next week in Lynchburg for the Group AA State Championships in the shot put with three foot personal best mark in the regional meet. Hurt had a previous best of 48'11" and ended up well exceeding that mark with his Region I best throw of 51'1.50". The Prince Edward County junior joins only 2 others in Group AA with season best marks this season in the shot put over 50 feet.
Caroline's Julian Jackson joined Mearns as the only other double champion in the boys events as Jackson clocked a personal best performance of 1:08.72 to take first place in the 500 meter dash and earlier in the meet reached out for for a winning mark of 41'7.50" in the triple jump.
Joseph Walton of King George had a strong meet on the track and on the runway. Walton leaped to his first mark over 22 feet in the long jump to move himself into a #3 ranking currently in Group AA, while just missed out on claiming a second regional title in the 55 meter dash in a photo finish with James Monroe's Jaquan Dickson with both clocked at 6.62.
The New Kent boys were only four points behind the 2009 Group AA state indoor runners-up from Jamestown with their team score of 56 points. Their team scored many points in the sprints including a individual win from Cory Dunn (36.72), who also ran a leg on New Kent's regional champion 4x200 meter relay.
Achieving two new personal best marks, Shearl Levere of King George also earned two regional titles in the horizontal jumps with top marks of 15'11.75" and 34'0.75" in the triple jump. Levere was top individual point contributor to the team runners-up from King George (70 pts) as she also placed third in the hurdles
The Brunswick High duo of Jealisa Seward and Shanice McRae dominated the hurdlers in Region I with the fastest two times in the prelims then going 1-2 in the finals as well with Seward breaking 9 seconds in a 8.96 win and McRae as the runner-up at 9.17.
Jamestown's Marissa Segala caught the fast section of the 300 meter dash off guard by dropping almost a full 2 seconds off her previous season best in the slower section with a first place overall time of 43.62.
Kiara Porter, the 2009 Group AA state outdoor runner-up in the 400 meter dash, will be focusing on the short sprints at the indoor state meet as the Tabb sprint star claimed the Region I title in the 55 meter dash with a 7.40 clocking, which currently ranks her #4 in Group AA. Teammates Julia Aymomin and Leigh Ann Soistmann worked together to work the field in the 500 meter dash with a sweep of the top two places as Aymomin won in a six second PR of 1:22.24.
Region I Championships Complete Results
Below are the performances entered for the meet that met the national silver standard.
52 National Elites
Photo by Ryan Kelly
The Jamestown boys and Lafayette girls won Region I indoor track titles on Wednesday at Boo Williams. Jamestown senior Colin Mearns had the top performance of the meet as he outdueled Grafton's David Gunnerson (2:33) for a US #11 2:30.76 victory in the 1000 meter run. Mearns added another 10 points to his team total of 60 points in a second win later in the 3200 meter run.