NEWPORT NEWS, VA - A mud slickened course could not stop the runners at the Eastern Region Meet from putting up some impressive times on the Newport News Park 5K course. The meet had been postponed an additional day due to heavy rains on Thursday, but once the gun went off on Friday afternoon, the antzy runners were ready to put forth the races of their seasons to this point.
The most exciting race of the day was found in the battle for the Eastern Region boys\' individual title between defending champion Derrick Robbins of Woodside and Adam Hutton of Western Branch. The two seniors ran neck and neck for much of the race as Hutton led Robbins earlier on in the race, while Robbins had the advantage in the later stages of the race. In the final mile, Robbins seemed to have distanced himself enough for the win. However, with less than 100 meters remaining, Hutton was able to pull together a final burst of speed to nip the defending champ at the line in a time of 15:38. An exhausted Robbins collapsed right at the line as the two runners crossed the line nearly simultaneously with Robbins finishing at a time of 15:38.5.
The boys\' team title was much less dramatic as the Ocean Lakes boys pummeled the regional competition by nearly a 40 point difference with a team score of 66 points. The Dolphins were led by All-Region performers Andrew Midland (4th, 16:21) and Clancy Waldron (6th, 16:44). The remaining top five runners for Ocean Lakes finished in an eight second gap of one another with Liam Arocho (25th, 17:31), David Jeffers (29th, 17:39), and Ian Murdoch (30th, 17:39.5).
The two of the next three Eastern Region squads will be composed of teams with no state meet experience as they were able to finish ahead of traditional Eastern Region state meet qualifiers such as Hickory, Western Branch and Cox. Gloucester (2nd, 103 pts) and Bethel (3rd, 106 pts) have qualified for the state meet before, but not in recent times as none of their seniors have ran on a state meet qualifying team. Landstown (4th, 121 pts) is only a few years into existence, but advance to last year\'s state meet and has four returnees from that team.
The girls\' race saw a shattering of the historic Newport News Park 5K course record by none other than freshmen phenom Aurora Scott of Western Branch. Aurora blazed through the early portion of the race as she went through the mile mark in 5:25. She slowed up considerably in the second mile for a 11:35 split, but then put the pedal to the metal again in the final mile to close strong for a final time of 18:03. Her time broke the course record of 18:07, which was set by Pam Edwards of Tallwood in 1997. There is no telling how far under 18 minutes Scott could have gone with a Newport News Park course in better condition.
Scott\'s win was not enough to propel her Bruins squad to a team title over Great Bridge. Great Bridge won the team title with 68 points as they had four All-Region performers among their top five. Great Bridge sophomore Kristine Tobin (4th, 19:14) led the way for her squad, while Meghan Kneemiller (7th, 19:42), Kaitlin Henderson (12th, 19:51), and Katherine Telfeyan (14th, 19:55) all came through with clutch performances.
Joining Scott on the All-Region squad were teammates Kenya Jones (9th, 19:44) and Calen Powers (10th, 19:48) as the Western Branch girls finished with a team score of 74 points.
Third place Kellam (86 pts) had two All-Region individuals in Tara Connor (5th, 19:16) and Ashley Kukura (6th, 19:38). Meanwhile, fourth place Cox (111 pts) were paced by Aspen Foster (3rd, 19:12) who battled it out with Gloucester sophomore Emily Webb (2nd, 19:10) for individual runner-up honors down to the finish.