Friday Updates for VA Athletes @ NSIC: Hunter US #1 7-0.25 HJ + adds LJ title, Nunn 2nd G-LJ

MileStat.com will be providing updates of performances by Virginians on Friday at National Scholastic Indoor Championships throughout the day. A quick preview below of who are the top competitors from Virginia in Friday's events at NSIC.

Link to Live Webcast (starting Friday at 11 am to meet's conclusion)

Friday Schedule & Highlights

Photo by Don Rich

Boys Long Jump - Add another national title for Justin Hunter as his second place showing in the long jump makes him the national champion in that event as well since first place was an high school athlete from Canada. His mark of 24'7" ranks him #8 all-time in state history, while ranks him #2 in the US this season. Not a bad start in his indoor nationals debut with a triple jump competition to go on Sunday.

Boys High Jump - Representing Virginia very well in his first meet on the national stage was Justin Hunter of Ocean Lakes as he notched the state's first national title of the weekened by clearing a US #1 height of 7'0.25" in the high jump, which ranks him also #4 all-time in state indoor history. Hunter also made the finals of the long jump competition on Friday

Girls Long Jump - Manchester senior Nikki Nunn (pictured above by Don Rich) on her final jump in the finals, uncorked a 19'9.75" to move herself into second place and finish as a national runner-up in the girls long jump. Nunn was in fourth place prior to her last attempt. Her performances ranks her now #6 all-time in VA high school indoor history.

Girls DMR - The Lake Braddock relay of Kelly Hagan, Kelly Ball, Casey Lardner, and Sophie Chase finished as national runners-up in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:06.46, which is a remarkable accomplishment considering Braddock lost their top leg Liana Epstein to a stress fracture injury prior to the regional meet. AAA 3200 state champion and freshmen Sophie Chase anchored their DMR and will be coming back this weekend to attempt to win the freshmen mile title at NSIC.

Girls SMR - With a swift 2:12 800 meter anchor leg split from Cydney Robinson, the Churchland girls won their heat and were able to place fifth overall from a slower section with a state leading SMR time of 4:05.89. Robinson will be coming back on Sunday to individually compete in the open 800 meter run. Another 2:12 performance would more than likely earn her a second All-American honor for the weekend at the Armory.

Boys 5000 Meter Run - Atlee junior Andrew Catanese had a very strong race from section 2 of 3 to place third in his section and 8th overall with a personal best time of 15:32.63. Catanese had a previous 5K PR from cross country of 15:56, so he ended up knocking off 24 seconds off from his previous best. The Atlee junior was only two places and four seconds away from All-American honors. Also running well and under 16 minutes in the same section was Catanese's teammates Andy Hesse (17th, 15:52.47) and Wes Steenburgh (19th, 15:53.39).

Boys 60 Meter Hurdles Trials - DreQuan Hoskey of Henrico leads four Virginians who will be advancing onto the semifinals of the hurdles as the AAA 55 meter hurdles state champion clocked the fifth fastest time overall among all compettitors with his time of 8.09. Hoskey placed second in his heat and is only seven hundredths of a second slower than the fastest qualifier.

Joining Hoskey in the next round will be Christiansburg's Chris Dobbins (7th fastest, 8.19), Ocean Lakes' Rachad Davis (13th fastest, 8.31), and First Colonial's Nick Dew (16th, 8.35). Potomac's Devin Brewer (17th fastest, 8.36) and Manchester's Devron Harris (18th, 8.37) just missed the cut-off among the 16 qualifiers moving onto Saturday's semi-finals.

Both state champion hurdlers Hoskey and Dobbins are in great position to make it into Sunday's finals and the opportunity to become All-Americans if they can at least maintain their current position of fifth and seventh fastest in tomorrow's semi-finals.

Girls 60 Meter Hurdles Trials - There were will be no semi-finals qualifiers from the state as Hampton senior Renay Ransaw's preliminary time of 9.21 placed her 20th overall. Ransay was the only competitor from Virginia in the event.

Boys 60 Meter Dash Trials - With his fastest 55 meter dash entering this season at 6.73, Grassfield senior Alex Pennecke has made some great strides in improvement for one year. After just missing qualifying for the finals at the AAA State Championships in the 55 meter dash, Pennecke finds himself moving onto the next round of the 60 meter dash at NSIC with a 7.00 clocking on Friday at the Armory. His time will seed him as the 7th fastest entering tomorrow's semi-finals and will need another strong race to move onto the finals with quite a few qualifiers around him with identical or close to 7 flat.

Private school state 55 meter dash champion Demitri Knowles of Liberty Christian is the second qualifier from Virgina and stands an equal chance of cracking into the finals after his 7.02 clocking in the prelims.

Girls 60 Meter Dash Trials - Christal Peterson of Phoebus was a no show for the trials, so she must be competing only at NIke Indoor Nationals this weekend which she was also entered in the 60 meter dash at. In Peterson's absence, Tania Minkins of Menchville carries the state banner into the semi-finals as the lone qualifier with her 7.80 clocking. Minkins will need to step it up in the next round though to move onto the finals as she is ranked 22nd out of 24 qualifiers after Friday.

Updates to be posted throughout the day!

Friday Schedule

Friday, March 12, 2010
Field
12:00 Noon	Long Jump Final	Girls
1:00 pm	Pole Vault Trial (Section #1)	Girls
4:00 pm	Pole Vault Trial (Section #2)	Girls
2:00 pm	Shot Put Final	Girls
2:00 pm	High Jump Final	Girls
2:00 pm	High Jump Final	Boys
2:30 pm	Long Jump Final	Boys
Track
11:00 am	Shuttle Hurdle Relay Final	Girls
11:20 am	Shuttle Hurdle Relay Final	Boys
11:40 am	60m Hurdle Trial	Boys
12:00 noon	60m Hurdle Trial	Girls
12:20 pm	60m Trial	Boys
12:40 pm	60m Trial	Girls
1:00 pm	5000m Final	Boys
2:00 pm	5000m Final	Girls
2:40 pm	Sprint Medley Relay Final	Boys
3:15 pm	Sprint Medley Relay Final	Girls
3:55 pm	Distance Medley Relay Final	Boys
4:25 pm	Distance Medley Relay Final	Girls
5:00 pm	4x200m Final	Boys
5:40 pm	4x200m Final	Girls

Friday Meet Preview

Justin Hunter (pictured right by Nicoll Knudsen) of Ocean Lakes will the state's top competitor on day one as one of the top seeds in both the high jump and long jump, which Hunter was a state champion in both events two weeks ago in Hampton. Hunter is tied with three others in the high jump field with a season best at 6'10", but bests the field with his all-time top clearance of 7'2".

In his first track national meet, Hunter has the potential to garner two national titles on Friday at the New York Armory as he is less than an inch behind the top seed in the long jump with a season best of 23'11". Hunter is ranked among the top five in both events and will also be competing in the triple jump on Saturday.

Also competing in the high jump with Hunter are the next two top ranked high jumpers from the state of Virginia with AA state champion Travis Hudson of Christiansburg (6'9") and Elbert Maxwell of Hayfield (6'8"). The Christiansburg junior Hudson is certainly capable of joining Hunter on the All-American podium as he is coming off his season best 6'9" clearance at the AA State Meet.

The girls high jump will be run off simultaneously as the boys starting at 2 PM on Friday with Group AA state runner-up Dominique Graham as the top entrant from the state and certainly having All-American aspirations on her mind. Graham cleared 5'7" as a state runner-up two weeks ago and looks to join a good size group at 5'8" this weekend and easily insert herself into top 6 All-American contention.

Slated to compete in likely her first of several rounds of races is Group AAA 55 meter dash state champion Christal Peterson (pictured left by Ryan Kelly) of Phoebus as the sophomore is coming off a sizzling historically fast 6.96 performance in the state meet finals two weeks ago.

Peterson, ranked #5 in the US, will be competing in the 60 meter dash trials on Friday with only US leader Whitney Fountain (6.89) of New York and Myasia Jacobs (6.93) of New Jersey having ran faster than her at 55 meters this season. Peterson is a strong bet to become an All-American in the short sprint event.

Competing also in the preliminary round of the girls 60 meter dash is another Peninsula District star in Tania Minkins of Menchville who nearly stole the 300 meter dash state title in a fast start over favorites. Minkins is one of the few Virginians with an actual 60 meter dash time posted this season at 7.70.

Demitri Knowles of Liberty Christian Academy leads the Virginia boys in the short sprints at NSIC as the Virginia private school state champion at 55 meters and 300 meters has a 6.42 clocking in the 55 dash, while his 34.83 300 meter dash performance stood as the state leader prior to Darrell Wesh's 34.44 AAA state meet clocking. Knowles is capable of advancing onto the finals round this weekend and Atlee's Trevor Elie also should advance onto the next round of the 60 meter dash with a 6.47 best in the 55 meter dash.

The Atlee boys with Elie as a 200 meter leg could put together a very strong 1600 meter sprint medley relay anchored by Marques Atkinson for 800 meters and his twin brother Michael as the opening 400 meter leg. Marques Atkinson anchored Atlee for a come from behind state title in the 4x800 meter relay two weeks ago, while Michael Atkinson was All-State in the 500 meter dash and ran 35.63 for 300 meters this season.

Manchester senior Nikki Nunn (pictured right by Ryan Kelly)  looks to leap into a big weekend for herself and Virginians this weekend in the noon start of the girls long jump. US #4 Nunn at a 19'4.50" indoor best will be competing in the long jump at both NSIC on Friday and Nike Indoor on Saturday this weekend. Nunn is only two inches behind top seed Nicole Cummings of New York and might be considered the favorite as the #2 seed as more consistent performer over 19 feet among all of the top entrants including Cummings who has only been over 19 feet once.

Nunn could potentially take a similar path taken by Bethel's Shakia Forbes a few years ago when Forbes was unable to win a state title, but won a national title as a nice consolation prize. Nunn was just a few inches short of a state title two weeks ago behind Great Bridge sophomore Shakeela Saunders.

Virginia's top boys hurdlers will be at NSIC including Group AAA state champion DreQuan Hoskey of Henrico, Group AAA state runner-up Anthony Williams of Potomac, and Group AA state champion Chris Dobbins of Christiansburg.

None of the three are ranked highly nationally with Hoskey's 7.53 season best 55 meter hurdles time from his state title performance placing him #23 in the US, but might excel better in the 60 meter hurdles contested at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.  They will need to likely clock a 60 meter hurdles performance equivalent to a 55 meter hurdles time well into the 7.40s to advance far against national level competition. The trials are contested at 11:40 AM on Friday, which if able to advance, the Virginians will move onto Saturday's 11:00 AM semi-final heats.