NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- The Group AAA State Meet concluded Saturday at Todd Stadium in Newport News. A fitting tie for the state title was found for two deserving teams in the Landstown and Great Bridge boys with 52 points a piece.
The Landstown boys were led by junior William Harvin as he did something that no athlete has done in 69 years by winning five state titles (23-5.50 LJ, 47-7 TJ, 10.69 100, 21.59 200, 42.06 4x100).
Multi-event star Michael Morrison of Great Bridge had a equally extraordinary meet as the junior tallied 40 points by himself with a state title (16-9 PV), state runner-up (22-9 LJ), and third place finish (46-4.50 TJ) in three field events and two state runners-up in the hurdle events (14.61 110H, 38.08 300H). The Deep Creek boys proved that others should never sleep on the team that has continually been one of the best track programs in the state over the years as they neary snagged the state title in the 4x400 (2nd, 3:21.84), but finished just short by one place and .71 of second with 51 points.
Meanwhile, sophomore Francena McCorory (11.77 100, 23.84 200) and the Bethel girls (41 pts) maintained their now three year old dynasty over the state as they won their third straight state title in the final event over the two person scoring machine of Carolyn Lewis (18-0 LJ, 37-10 TJ) and Octavia James (14.54 100H, 42.58 300H) for district rival Heritage (36 pts).
In the 4x100 meter relay, the Landstown coaches placed Harvin on second leg and the move turned out to be a brilliant one as Harvin put a gap on the whole field that no other team would be able to regain as Landstown won in a time of 42.06.
Harvin got another strong challenge from Clark in the 200 meter dash as Harvin garnered his fifth title on the day with a 21.59 clocking in the finals, while Clark was a close second at 21.66. Going into the final event of the day with Harvin's 40 individual points and 10 points from the 4x100 meter relay, the Landstown boys appeared to have the state title locked up if they could manage a sixth place or better finish. They came into the race tied with the fifth fastest. Landstown would end up finishing fifth overall in the fastest heat at 3:24.29, but two teams from the slower section in James Robinson (3:22.85) and Hermitage (3:23.00) would be the spoilers for Landstown and new best friends for Great Bridge to have the two teams tie for the state title.
After going through trials in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles and taking runner-up honors to Harvin in the long jump at 22-9 on Friday, Great Bridge junior Michael Morrison and his team would have to ask for a lot more from him on Saturday. In the Saturday morning session of the meet, Morrison would finish as seeded in the triple jump cometition with a third place finish of 46-4.50. Morrison's primary event and his sole state title of the meet would come in the pole vault where he currently ranks among the top five in the nation. Morrison would clear 16 feet to start off and then moved up to 16-6, which he would successfully clear and not proceed to go any higher to save himself for his two hurdle finals. Senior teammate Daniel Magness came through big to take second place in the event with a clearance of 16 feet. These points would turn out to be very decisive in the final team score.
In the boys 110 meter hurdles, Granby junior Chris Bell mowed down the hurdles to successfully defend in a scorching time of 13.99. Bell's current season best time ranks among the top 15 in the nation. Meanwhile, Morrison was a step ahead of the rest in the race to get second place honors with a time of 14.61.
Morrison came back to compete in the 300 meter hurdles, which would turn out to be a dogfight. Down the final stretch, Morrison and 37.92 state leader B.J. Revis of Douglas Freeman battled it out stride for stride. It appeared going into the last set of hurdles that Revis had gotten just ahead of Morrison to take the win, but Revis would crash on the last hurdle and throw Morrison off as he successfully cleared the last hurdle. With everyone focused on the two inside lane hurdlers, Hampton senior Hamid Abdurrahim (38.07) stole the race from the lane eight and beat out Morrison (38.08) by one hundredth of a second for the state title in the event. Abdurraham would have probably received a better lane position out of the preliminaries if it was not for Abdurrahim's accidental collision with a race official prior to his preliminary heat where he ended up finishing third in. He was visibly shaken up from it and showed great strength to qualify for the finals and then surprise the field to win the state title in eight lane.
With Morrison's individual point total at 40 matching Harvin's total, Great Bridge would need more points to account for the two Landstown relays. Great Bridge got the points they needed from fellow field events teammates in Magness taking second in the pole vault and Austin Lester's critical fifth place showing in the shot put with a toss of 52-8.
With a new head coach and graduations, many thought Deep Creek would lose its grip as one of the top track teams in the state. Despite winning the state title in indoors, the Deep Creek boys were not commanding the same respect as they had in previous years heading into the outdoor state meet. However, Deep Creek proved all naysayers wrong with a powerful team performance on Saturday.
During the morning portion of day two, Deep Creek's Thomas McCutcheon would upset top seeded Jeffrey Fitzgerald (55-9) with a winning toss of 55-10 as the exciting competition saw a winner decided only by a mere inch. McCutcheon's win would set the tone for the Deep Creek team for the rest of the meet.
Deep Creek came away with more than McCutcheon's ten points in the field events as defending state champion Raphel Hall became a three-time state champion (1 indoors, 2 outdoors) as a senior in the high jump with a winning clearance of 6-6. Also picking up points in the field for the Deep Creek squad was a sixth place effort by Calvin Wilson (22-2) in the long jump.
Top performance on the track for the team came from Quentin Moore as he blew out the field in the 400 meter dash to win in a new state leading time of 48.26 and a new personal best for the junior as well. Moore would come back to place fourth and pick up five points in the 200 meter dash with a 22.17 clocking. Deep Creek also scored points in the running events with junior Lamar Veale's fifth place showing (39.37) in the 300 meter hurdles and the 4x100 meter relay finishing eighth in 43.64.
The heartbreaker for the squad that has won three of the last five outdoor state championships was in the 4x400 meter relay. With no Great Bridge relay entered and the Landstown relay falling back in the heat, the Deep Creek boys battled it out up front with Potomac Senior and Western Branch. Potomac Senior, not in the team running like Deep Creek, would come away with the state title in the event with a time of 3:21.13. Deep Creek anchor Jaris Riley would overtake Western Branch (3:21.85) at the line to take second place honors in a time of 3:21.84, but would be one place short of the two points they needed to win the state title.
After losing the 4x800 meter relay to Herndon on Friday night, the Tucker distance studs Michael Chapa and Thuom Mathaing wanted to make sure they came away with some form of glory in their final high school state meet. The Virginia Intermont College bound seniors both won a state title each on Saturday in the distance races. In the 1600 meter run, Chapa went to the front early on and stayed there. E.C. Glass junior Patterson Wilhelm tried to give Chapa a late challenge, but Chapa responded and pulled away on the bell lap to win in a new state leading time of 4:13.85. Oakton senior Jason Vick (4:16.12) had a great kick to overtake Wilhelm (4:18.86) on the final stretch for second place.
In the same race, Mathaing would earn all-state honors by finishing fifth in a time of 4:22.26. Chapa and Mathaing would both double back for the 800 meter run as an honest pace would be set through 400 meters at 56 seconds with Hayfield's Jeff Miller and Mathaing. Down the home stretch, it appeared that Herndon sophomore Abreham Dagnachew and James Robinson junior Mark Hussa were taking the lead away from Mathaing from the inside lanes as Mathaing had swung wide. However, Mathaing would rally back and win in a final time of 1:54.63. E.C. Glass junior Carlton Phipps was able to get his body across the line before the rest of the field coming in at once in a time of 1:55.58 for runner-up honors.
In the boys 3200 meter run, a competitive race would be seen as West Springfield sophomore Mike Spooner made sure an honest pace would be set as he took the lead and set a brisk pace early. Albemarle senior Kelley Watt and J.R. Tucker senior Mason McElroy would be the next to take race leading duties in the latter stages of the race, but it would be Oakton's Jason Vick, the only athlete in the race who was doubling back from an earlier event in the day, to make the decisivie move for the win as he took the lead from McElroy on the final lap and sped his way to his first state title in a time of 9:27.33. Virginia Tech will certainly be excited to take on this late bloomer on their team next fall as Vick was probably on no one's radar as a state champion caliber runner until today. McElroy would take runner-up honors in 9:29.71. After a gutsy run to make it a race earlier, Spooner would take third in 9:33.15 as the sole non-senior finisher among the top eight all-state. Three of the top seven finishers came from the slow heat with Western Branch senior Adam Hutton (4th, 9:33.22), Kellam senior Mitch Cooper (6th, 9:33.71), and Robert E. Lee senior Dawit Legesse (7th, 9:35.65).
Despite having no point scorers in the field events, hurdles, or distance events, the Bethel girls were still able to dominate the competition that included better rounded teams to win their third consecutive outdoor state team title. Wearing black speed suits on the first day of events, the Lady Bruins switched over to yellow ones on Saturday. It did not matter what kind of uniform the Bethel girls decided to wear; they were going to win it all regardless.
Bethel star sprinter Francena McCorory set her sights on breaking Kim Graham of Stonewall Jackson's state meet records set in 1989 of 11.73 in the 100 meter dash and 23.79 in the 200 meter dash. While McCorory was disappointed with near misses of the record, she cannot be ashamed of her finishes as the junior won her third consecutive state titles in each event with times of 11.78 and 23.84. Her performance of the day came in relay action though. On anchor leg for the Bethel girls' 4x100 meter relay, McCorory brought her girls from behind to run down Salem's anchor to win in a time of 47.27. It was also the third consecutive year McCorory has been on a state championship 4x100 meter relay. Coach Eddie Williams would need more points from athletes not named McCorory though for her team to win. He got a point from Crystal Carrington finishing eighth in the 100 meter finals and a fourth place from senior Shakirra Pinnock in the 400 meter dash at 56.94. The finish was a bit of a disappoint for Pinnock in the race, but that was because competition rose to the occassion with some personal best days as Oscar Smith junior Crystal Roscoe passed Woodside freshmen Dominique Jordan (55.66) at the line to win with a personal best time of 55.60. Kecoughtan junior Tiara Swindell caught a fading Pinnock at the line for third in a time of 56.88. Jordan had posted a 55 flat at the regional meet with Pinnock taking second in a time of 55.11.
With an opportunity to redeem herself for possible critical lost points in the 400 meter dash, Pinnock did just that in the 4x400 meter relay as the Bethel girls found themselves near the back of the pack in the fast heat of the event. Pinnock was able to bring them up two places as Bethel finished fourth overall in a time of 3:57.86. The girls' 4x400 meter relay would end up being an Eastern Region domination with the top six finishing teams coming from the region as 400 meter state champ Roscoe would anchor home a win for Oscar Smith (3:53.22) over 300 meter hurdle state runner-up Tierra Brown of Hampton who took second (3:53.91).
James disappointed with coming up short in the race would come back later to compete in the 300 meter hurdlers. Prior to the start of the race, some words were exchanged and things escalated a bit between James and two Hampton hurdlers including defending champ Tierra Brown. James already frustrated with her race earlier was able internalize it all into the race of her life as she won in a time of 42.58 and beat the defending state champ Brown, who finished second in 43.73. James was able to amass 20 points total on the day as she also finished seventh in the 100 meter dash finals at 12.34.
She was not the only Heritage athlete racking up some points as Carolyn Lewis put in 16 points on her own by taking runner-up honors in both the long jump (18-0) and triple jump (37-10). Somehow with two athletes, the Heritage squad was able to give their district rival Bethel an unexpected scare. Most were looking to Lake Braddock as the team that could beat Bethel, but the Lake Braddock squad ended up finishing a disappointing seventh.
After taking a finishing in fourth place in Friday's long jump competition and coming into the meet as the top seed in the event, Meadowbrook's Rachel Lewis needed to regain her confidence on Saturday. No better way to do that than win a state title as Lewis leaped to a first place finish in the triple jump competition with a mark of 39-6. She won the competition by nearly two feet over second place Carolyn Lewis of Heritage.
Lake Braddock senior and multiple state champion Ashley Haislip figured she would have her hands full at the state meet with one Deep Creek athlete in past state champion Ashley Gatling, but she didn't expect to have to deal with two in junior Jonee Artis as well. Artis would defeat both teammate Gatling (5-8) and Haislip (5-6) to win her first state title with a clearance at a height of 5-8.
There was no excitement in the girls' discus competition in deciding who the winner would be. Marissa Facey destroyed the field with a winning toss of 136-4, which put the Western Branch senior nearly 20 feet ahead of second place finisher Aimee Kodat of Westfield.
Western Branch freshmen Aurora Scott was a surprise winner in the 1600 meter run. Not because people doubted the freshmen phenom could win, but because she was not in the entries originally. A sudden late second entrant, Scott took the lead early on in the race and opened up a huge gap that left too much distance for even the best kickers to catch on the final lap. Great Bridge sophomore Kristine Tobin gave a valiant kick to catch Scott on the final stretch, but Scott sensed her coming and was able to muster enough down the last 50 meters to win in a time of 4:58.99 with Tobin taking runner-up honors in a personal best time of 5:00.35.
Scott would double back to win the 3200 meter run with similar out in front and fast early pace tactics in a time of 10:50.83. In race dominated by strong finishers by underclassmen, four of the top five finishers were underclassmen with Fairfax sophomore Jessica Trapeni (2nd, 11:04.04), W.T. Woodson sophomore Sarah Hadiji (11:04.32), and Colonial Forge freshmen Kaylan Comer (5th, 11:10.76).
Five of the top seven finishers in a hotly contested 800 meter run will also be returning next year. The race went out in a honest pace of 68 seconds with the entire field packed together. Douglas Freeman junior and 2:11 top seed Christi Harsha would take the lead on the backstretch and keep it for good to win in a time of 2:15.38. Midlothian sophomore M.C. Miller would kick past the remaining front pack runners to take second place honors in a time of 2:15.86.