Once again, today\'s meet shows the promise of placing itself among the best in regional meet history as Northern Virginia\'s finest get a chance to showcase their talents.
As a reminder to family and friends of the athletes on hand, as well as long time fans of the sport in attendance, the top six finishers in all individual events along with the top three teams in all relay events automatically qualify for the Virginia AAA State Championships to be held here at George Mason University on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5.
Other qualifiers also include those who may not finish among the top six in individual events or top three in running relay events, but who meet the state qualifying standard for their particular event in this meet, or have met the state auto standard in a previous meet this indoor season.
Also, scoring for the regional meet will be different this year with team scoring now through eight places on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Girls Preview:
Patriot District champion Lake Braddock, Concorde District champion Centreville and Hayfield all field very strong teams with a core group able to finish very high in certain events to grab the big points.
Lake Braddock will look to get a quick start in the field events. The Bruins are led in the field by senior Ashley Haislip, who is the defending two-time regional champion and state meet record holder in the girls high jump and also the top seeded entrant in the pole vault.
Lake Braddock should also get a boost in the field events from junior Teressa McCoy, who is the top seed in the shot put. On the track, the Bruins are led by distance runners Kelsey Snowden and Erin Klein as well as perenially putting forth a very strong showing in all three relays.
Hayfield may not have the overall depth as Lake Braddock, but their top performers are all at or near the front in their respective events. Senior Murielle Ahoure is the defending champion and solid favorite in the 55 dash after setting a new Patriot District record of 7.14 seconds two weeks ago, with Ahoure also being among the top seeds in the 300 dash.
Ahoure is also aided in the sprint events by sophomore Marika Gray and junior Nakeisha Wineglass for the Hawks, with Wineglass also the defending region champ in the triple jump.
Hayfield is also formidable in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs with senior Melissa Dewey. The Foot Locker Cross Country All American was impressive two weeks ago in easily winning the Patriot District 1,600 run and then coming back an hour and a half later to set a new district record in the 3,200 run by over twenty seconds.
Centreville has a young, swift squad. The Wildcats have freshmen Brittini Finch and Jordan Grant in the short sprints and sophomore Cate Tisinger as a factor in the long sprints.
Finch of Centreville has also impressed with one of the state\'s leading marks in the triple jump at 38 feet, 4 inches with the Wildcats also very strong in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Others to watch include Jefferson senior Abby Lauer in the long jump, 55 dash and 300 dash; W.T. Woodson senior Claire Zimmeck along with Marshall sophomore Jacqueline Hargrove in the 500 dash; Westfield senior Karen Woolley in the 55 hurdles, high jump and 500 dash; West Springfield sophomore Trish Friederich in the 55 hurdles; Herndon senior Karen Wilson in the 1,000 run; Washington-Lee senior Karin Ohman in the 3,200 run and Oakton senior Danielle Light in the 500 dash along with the 4x800 and 4x400 relays for the Cougars.
Boys Preview:
The path to the boys team title seems wide open with a combination of some breakthroughs in some events coupled with the scoring through eight places maybe also playing a factor in determining the team title.
In the field events, the horizontal jumps have West Potomac junior Antwane Minter as the top seed in both events but a host of jumpers creeping closer to his best marks of the season.
The high jump has Lake Braddock senior David Jones as a very consistent performer and the defending regional champion but McLean\'s Doug Zimmer comes in as the top seed at 6-5 after setting an new meet record in the Liberty District championships two weeks ago.
The shot put has had Annandale\'s Julio Villatoro at the top all season long with his closest competitor Patriot District rival Jon Cowden of Lake Braddock while the sometimes topsy-turvy pole vault has Robinson senior Tyler Tucker along with Westfield junior Chad Cochran coming into the meet with marks at least a foot better than the rest of the field.
On the track in the straightaway events, senior Charles Jones of West Potomac has been the only consistent performer under eight seconds in the 55 hurdles this season and in the 55 dash John Wingfield of Langley looks to be once again improving as the season wears on.
The 300 and 500 dashes look to be a pick\'em affairs with many of the region\'s long sprinters clustered close together timewise. With some of the marks from those events on very fast tracks and some others from relatively less than ideal tracks, look for the seedings to not necessarily prevail. The opportunity to win or place out of any section may become more evident in these races than any others today.
The 1,000 run certainly looks to be the race of the day on the boys side with eight runners in the fastest seeded section already having hit the state auto qualifying mark. Chantilly junior Brad Siragusa comes in with the top time, but will be coming back from the 1,600 run, where he also has the top time thus far this season and it could be his third race of the day if Siragusa also anchors the 4x8 for Chantilly.
Herndon sophomore Abe Dagnachew should be completely fresh for the race while sophomore Jeff Miller of Hayfield, juniors Kris Benton of West Springfield and Mark Hussa of Robinson along with seniors Brian Fussell of Hayfield, Steve Frames of Langley and Chris Katilie of Jefferson will all probably have played an integral part on their team\'s 4x800 relays two hours prior to the 1,000 run.
Miller of Hayfield is known to set a strong early pace with West Springfield\'s Benton liking to keep the pace honest in the middle of the race and that could be the catalyst towards the regional meet record of 2:29.40 by Phil Gaeta of Oakton set in 2002 to being in jeopardy.
The 3,200 run looks like a battle between Lee senior Dawit Legesse setting a consistent pace throughout with West Springfield sophomore Mike Spooner looking to break that up, much as they raced in the Montgomery Invitational last month.
Others to watch include Edison junior Justin Smith in the triple jump, 4x400 relay and the Eagles top seeded 4x200 relay; Herndon senior Danny Gordon in the 3,200 run; Oakton\'s Jason Vick in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs and Hayfield junior Christopher Richardson in the 500 dash, 300 dash and possibly the 4x400 relay.
Also, the 4x800 relay looms large with only one team entered with an auto state qualifier. Look for quite a few squads to \"load up\" in the hopes of either finishing among the top three teams or at least getting to the state qualifying time of 8:12.21.
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