Photo by Matt Shatkus of https://nj.milesplit.com
Meet summary of the performances by the Virginia boys at the Penn Relays on Friday. The Landstown and Woodside 4x100 meter relays were the only ones to advance onto compete into Saturday with Landstown taking second in the large schools finals followed by Woodside in third. Landstown also posted the state's first sub 3:20 4x400 of the year in Friday's qualifying heats with a 48.5 anchor from Darrell Wesh. Isaiah Simmons of Woodbridge had the leading performance in all of the field events with his third place and personal best mark of 63'9" in the shot put. Grafton boys turned in a solid 4th place finish in the boys DMR to make up for just missing the All-American podium at the indoor nationals.
Boys 4x100 Meter Relay - The Landstown boys made it into the large school finals of the 4x100 meter relay where they placed second overall with the state's third fastest time of the outdoor season in 42.45. State champion Darrell Wesh ran second leg for the Eagles who finished runner-up to Central Bucks South of Pennsylvania (42.22). Woodside boys were right on Landstown's heels in the same finals section in third place at a time of 42.55.
Boys 4x400 Meter Relay - No squad from Virginia was able to crack into the Championships of America finals, but Landstown produced the state's first sub 3:20 relay of 2010 in their qualifying heat with a time of 3:19.63. Darrell Wesh split 48.5 on the anchor leg for Landstown, which finished 2nd in their heat. Salem at 3:20.06 and Bethel at 3:21.72 also produced fast times in Friday's qualifying round as the state's top three 4x400 times were produced this past weekend at the Penn Relays. A total of nine schools from Virginia ran under 3:25 at Penn Relays including Landstown, Salem, Bethel, T.C. Williams (3:23.01), South Lakes (3:23.68), Oakton 93:24.14), Western Branch (3:24.20), Woodside (3:24.42), and Phoebus (3:24.67).
Boys 4x800 Meter Relay - The Blacksburg boys had a solid showing in Friday's prelims, but were unable to make the Championships of America finals by finishing third in their small school division heat with a time of 7:54.56. Blacksburg had three sub 2 minute legs in Quinn Hull (1:57.1), Matt Howard (1:58.9), and George Carter (1:56.3) but their overall time put them 14th overall and miss the finals by two spots. Mountain View boys finished 8th in their heat of the large school division with their second sub 8 performance of the season at 7:59.52.
Boys DMR - The Grafton and Western Branch boys were unable to match or lower their times from the indoor nationals in Boston where Western Branch earned All-American and Grafton just missed the podium in 7th place with sub 10:10 performances. Grafton at least improved its team's place to fifth at the Penn Relays with their time of 10:15.38. Brian Gorwitz ran a 3:09.8 split on the opening 1200 leg for Grafton with Western Branch's George Matais just ahead of him at 3:08.6. Western Branch held the advantage over Grafton through the 400 leg, but 800 leg David Gunnerson with his 1:56.3 split, and Kyle King running a 4:17.7 on the 1600 anchor leg was able to put a four second gap at the end to be the state's top finishing relay.
Boys Mile Run - Three of UVA's top in-state male distance runner recruits all came across the finish line in the mile run in unison, but not in the expected order. Albemarle's Anthony Kostelac was expected to be one of the race contenders, but never was able to get himself up with the leaders after Millrose Mile champ Pat Schellberg of New Jersey set a blistering pace from the gun en route to his 4:08.07 meet record win. Kostelac ended up finishing 8th overall in a time of 4:12.91 and just behind two of his future Wahoo teammates who posted big personal best times in Colin Mearns of Jamestown at 4:12.36 for sixth and Drew Paisley of Ocen Lakes at 4:12.56 for seventh place.
Boys 3000 Meter Run - Concorde District's best Chris Foley of Chantilly and Yazid Zouaimia of Centreville held their own in the 3K at Penn Relays to finish in the top half of the field and post times which equate to personal bests at 3200 meters in conversion. Foley placed 8th in a time of 8:27.67 (9:04 3200c), while Zouaimia took 10th in his first Penn Relays race with a time of 8:29.49 (9:06 3200c). Foley and Zouaimia will likely be battling for the 3200 meter state title later this season, which Zouaimia won the state indoor title while Foley earned Nike Indoor All-American honors in the two mile.
Boys Shot Put - Woodbridge junior Isaiah Simmons was the state's top performer in the boys' field events as he finished third in a very strong shot put field including one of the nation's best and meet record holder Nicholas Vena from New Jersey. Simmons continued his consistent performances over 62 feet in the last four meets dating back to the state idnoor meet with a new personal best mark of 63'9" to take third overall and improve greatly from his Penn Relays showing last April.
Boys Triple Jump - The Western Branch duo of Marcus Dean and Kendrick Smith had respectable finishes in the triple jump at the Penn Relays with Dean's mark of 47'0.75" earning him 8th place and Smith one spot behind him in nith place at 46'4".
Boys Pole Vault - The vaulters from Virginia did not fare as well in the typical swirling winds of Franklin Field for the boys pole vault with state leader Matt Hazelgren of Stafford finishing 13th at a height of 14'3.25", while indoor state runner-up Matt Hoogland of Lake Braddock cleared only the initial height of 13'3.50".
Photo by Matt Shatkus of https://nj.milesplit.com