What to look forward this weekend: The first invitational weekend of the 2010 outdoor track season as many teams will be starting off with the traditional relay oriented icebreaker meets such as the Conn-Madden Relays, Manchester Relays, Legard/Scuderi Relays, Battlefield Relays, and Blue Streaks Co-Ed Classic, while some will taken advantage of the unseasonably warm temperatures for the last two weeks of March to get qualifying times in individuals events at the Knights Track Classic and Brian Watkins I-95 Invitational. A select number of distance runners will be competing in the high school invite 3200 field at the Raleigh Relays on Friday night.
Meet Performance Lists:
Brian Watkins I-95 Invitational
Knights Track Classic (Video coverage by Tayloe Skelton & Photo coverage by Frank Locascio) - The largest meet of the first weekend of outdoor track & field in Virginia with over 30 high school schools competing and nearly 1,000 high school athletes total (additional middle school teams add to total) will be held on the campus of Roanoke College this Saturday. The meet features three state champion teams from this past indoor season in the Group AA champion Christiansburg boys and Blacksburg girls as well as the VISAA private school boys state champions from Fork Union.
Christiansburg boys have a nice trio of stars in hurdler Chris Dobbins, jumper/hurdler Travis Hudson, and distance runner Andy Eddleton. Hudson was a two-time All-American at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships earlier this month. He will be the top seed in the 300 meter hurdles at 40.13, high jump at 6'9", and long jump at 21'11.75" Dobbins and Eddelton are both top seeds respectively in an event each with Dobbins having the only time in the meet under 15 seconds for the 110 hurdles, while Eddleton should have a great race with private school state cross country champion Josh Morris of Fork Union in the 1600 meter run as both runners have personal bests of 4:23 in the event.
Fork Union's Wojciech Czernek nearly earned All-American honors out of a slower section in the mile at Nike Indoor Nationals while winning one of the more exciting races of the 2010 indoor season in Virginia with his 1600 victory at the private school state meet. At the Knights Track Classic, the Polish native will be competing in the 800 and 3200 meter run with a seed time of 1:54.03 in the half mile.
Doubling back in a short time span for the 3200 meter run, Czernek should have his hands full with Roanoke's best in Patrick Woodford of Patrick Henry (9:44 PR) and Cody Seymour of Cave Spring (9:45) having the opportunity to pick up the win against the 4:14 miler.
There should be great boys' sprint races at the meet between private school state champion at 55/300 meters in Demitri Knowles of Liberty Christian against Group AA state 55 meter dash champion Phillip Bush of Northside. Fork Union's Rich Dyer should make the 100 meter dash even more tighty contested with the potential of several speedsters to run early season sub 11 second clockings in the event. Bush was knocking on the door last spring of running under 22 seconds in the 200 meter dash with his 22.07 clocking from last spring's state outdoor meet in Harrisonburg.
River Ridge District's top individual stars in the Stevens twins of Blacksburg and multi-event athlete Amber Church of Pulaski County will get a rare weekend break from meet action after their incredible indoor campaigns. With their absence opens the room for other athletes to garner individual spotlight this weekend in the Cave Spring High School hosted invitational.
In the distance races typically owned by the Stevens twins, their Blacksburg teammate Leah Fitchett will be the top seed in the 1600 and 3200 meter run with the likelihood of winning both races with personal bests of 5:06 and 11:14 respectively. Roanoke Catholic's Brennan Long is one of the private school's fastest in the middle distance bests as her 2:17 all-time best in the 800 ranks her a five full seconds ahead of her next competitor in the race this weekend.
Sherhae Holloway of Highland Springs makes her return to competition after missing the last 3/4ths of the indoor season due to injury. Her injury was suffered after starting out the season in December with a sensational 5'8" clearance in a duel with eventual Group AAA state high jump champion Keilah Tyson at an early season meet at Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton.
She will be facing off against the Group AA state indoor runner-up in Talisha Watts of Brookville, who cleared 5'5" this winter. Watts is a favorite to win the short hurdles as her 16.37 best puts her solidly as the fastest entrant by over 6 tenths of a second.
The girls' jumps will be all-around strong at the Knights Track Classic including the long jump with Brittany Bostick of Christiansburg with a best over 18 feet and Liberty Christian's Dana Mercer and Brookville's Uniquequa Jackson knocking on the door of joining her over the mark. Mercer could potentially be a double winner in the long jump and as a top seed in the 100 meter dash with a 12.64 personal best.
Patrick Henry's Alicia Terry is one of the Northwest Region's top sprinters and will look to begin her 2010 outdoor season with two victories in the 400 and 200 meter dash. The junior Terry qualified for state competition indoors in the 500 and 300 meter dash as she was a regional runner-up in the 500.
She will have to contend with a familar Western Valley District rival in Tanisha Evans of Halifax County in the 200 meter dash who will be doubling back in a shorter time span than Terry from the 400 in competing in the 300 meter hurdles as the fastest seed with a personal best of 45.82 from last outdoor season.
Conn Madden Relays (Friday photo coverage by Ryan Kelly) - The meet which serves as a springboard for Eastern Region and Tidewater area schools for now 39 schools should see some quality performances produced in the relays, hurdles, and field events at Todd Stadium over the two day meet this weekend.
Qualifying for the Penn Relays will be on the mind for several individuals in hurdles and field event action. The boys 400 meter hurdles should be a good race between several state caliber athletes including NSIC All-American and Group AAA state 55 meter hurdles champin DreQuan Hoskey of Henrico. Hoskey ran 56.07 last June in his first 400 meter hurdles race, and will look to run in the 54-55 second range this weekend.
Teira Denmark of First Colonial leads a solid early season collection of top female jumpers for this weekend meet. Denmark recently earned All-American honors in the triple jump and will be the top seed in all two of the three jumping events at 5'4" in the high jump and 39'3.75" in the triple jump. Hampton's Renay Ransaw has a best of 18'5.25" in the long jump to put her ahead of Denmark in that event, while presenting herself as a top challenger in the triple jump.
In the sprint relays, Phoebus and John Marshall girls feature two standouts with Nike Indoor Nationals 60 meter dash champion Christal Phoebus for Phoebus and Central Region sprint champion Mary Allen for John Marshall.
The Churchland girls 4x400 and sprint medley relay will also be formidable, especially if both relays include Cydney Robinson, who earned her team All-American honors in the SMR at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships with a 2:12 split then later in the meet posted an open 800 meter time of 2:11 to finish third and earn All-American honors individually
The John Marshall boys have arguably one of the top sprint relays in the Central Region currently, so have decided to start their spring season seeking out the top competition from the Eastern Region. Look for some good battles in the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays between John Marshall and Woodside. Woodside ran 1:31 indoors in the 4x200, while running a time of 3:25 last spring in the 4x400. Woodside's best relay at Conn-Madden Relays if loaded down thought will be their 1600 meter sprint medley relay if 1:53 800 leg Brandon Burton anchors their quartet.
Denbigh's Terrence Hollis is the top thrower in the meet as Hollis is head and shoulders above the rest in the discus as one of the state's top returnees with a best mark over 157 feet in the event.
Conn-Madden Relays Performance list
Raleigh Relays High School 3200m Invitational (Video coverage by Ben Hovis of NCRunners.com) - Two outstanding high school 3200 meter fields are set for Friday at the Raleigh Relays which feature several of Virginia's top distance runners. NSIC mile champion Colin Mearns of Jamestown will be looking to achieve a 3200 PR two weeks after dropping 7 seconds off his mile PR at the indoor nationals against virtually all of North Carolina's top distance harriers including Nike Indoor Nationals 2 mile runner-up (9:02) and Foot Locker All-American Jake Hurysz of Eastern Alamance (NC).
n the girls' race, 3A state cross country champion Kaitlyn Davis of Mountain View and NSIC mile All-American Stephanie Frenchik of Landstown with PR's just under 11 minutes for 3200, look to run significantly under in a stellar field with a loaded field headlined by Foot Locker All-American freshmen Wesley Frazier of North Carolina and three girls with 1600 bests right under or at 5 minutes from the homestate in Carolyn Baskir, Samantha George, and Laura Hoer. Lee-Davis High School will have their trio of state caliber runners in Bonny Turnage, Stephanie Cario, and Amanda Lineberry also competing together at 3200 meters for the first time ever.
The race is held at NC State University's outdoor track facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. Girls race at 7:05 PM on Friday with the boys to follow at 7:20 PM.
Manchester Relays (Photo coverage by John Herzog) - Quite a few of the state's best and brightest stars will be at Manchester High School on Saturday. Two national runners-up Nikki Nunn of Manchester (NSIC long-jump) and Marques Atkinson of Atlee (NSIC pentathlon). Nunn will be competing in her specialty of the long jump, while Atkinson will be in several relays, hurdles, and field events. The Atlee boys will be loading up a sprint medley relay featuring Atkinson.
In the hurdles, Group AA state 55 meter hurdles champion Dante Davis of Louisa County and Central Region hurdles champion Montasia Golden of Lee-Davis will be the leading individuals in those events, but will have to rely on their other teammate to win the event with the combined times determining place order.
The short hurdles, Davis will be dueling with Manchester's own Devron Harris and also have an more anticipated match-up in the 300 meter hurdles with not only Harris but Atlee's Atkinson will all three capable of running early season sub 40 second times in the event. Atkinson and Harris are the top two entrants in the high jump as the small in height Harris has reached great heights with a 6'6" best clearance
Lee-Davis junior Montasia Golden is only doing one hurdle race with teammate Brie Jackson as the pair should be favored to win the event for their team as the top two seeds as the only competitors with personal bests in the 15 second range. Golden, a state champion indoors in the triple jump, is not jumping this weekend but may be featured in other relays for Lee-Davis.
Three All-State caliber throwers are competing in the boys shot put with Sam Hartman of Thomas Dale, Wes Tuck of Lee-Davis, and Chris Lusk of Cosby. Despite not having the region's top two throwers in Sulaiman Fareed (Highland Springs) and Thomas Fuson (Deep Run) at the meet, the Central Region's depth in the event will be on display with all three top seeds capable of marks over 50 feet to start their season.
Midlothian and Maggie Walker should have strong relays in all of the distance races for both genders and potentially in the co-ed 4x800 meter relay. Atlee boys have a nice staple of distance runners in particular with their trio of Andrew Cantanese, Andy Hesse, and Wes Steenburgh who all ran under 16 minutes for 5000 meters indoors at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.
Manchester Relays Performance list
Legard/Scudieri Relays - Preview to come once team list/performance list received.
Brian Watkins I-95 Invitational - Preview to come once team list/performance list received.
Battlefield Relays - Preview to come once team list/performance list received.
Blue Streak Co-Ed Classic - A total of 11 schools will be competing in this fun relay meet to open the season, which will include primarily Massanutten and Southern Valley District schools. Some of the top individual athletes in the meet will include Group AA state shot put champion Daquaa Scott of Robert E. Lee, Group AA 400 meter state champion Chris Williams of Robert E. Lee, Fluvanna County jumpers Javanique Burruss and Kadarius Bruce. Spotswood boys have a strong core of distance and middle distance runners which produced a 8:07 4x800 indoors, which should have their legs featured in several events at Harrisonburg High School.