Do not have to wait until the weekends for national caliber performances at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. At Tuesday evening's Southeastern District Regular Season Meet at the 200 meter indoor track facility, two US #2 performances were recorded by Grassfield senior Amanda Smith (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) in the 500 meter dash and Keilah Tyson in the triple jump. Smith, a Virginia high school top 25 all-time performer in the 500 meter dash after her 1:15.24 performance at last year's state meet, followed up her state leading 2:58 1000 meter performance from this past Saturday's Southeastern Invitational with a US #2 1:15.50 clocking in the 500 meter dash at Boo Williams.
Western Branch senior Keilah Tyson has added the triple jump to her repertoire of events this season and in only her second meet trying the event, she reached out for a US #2 mark of 39'8.50". Only her teammate Desmonae Gray at 39'9.75" has jumped farther this season in the state and nationally. Speaking of Gray, she won the long jump on Tuesday with a personal best mark of 18'10.50" which ranks US #4 as Tyson is current national leader at 20'1" from her mark last Saturday at the Southeastern Invitational.
Top performance from the boys' events was found in the 4x200 meter relay with the Indian River boys improving upon their indoor facilities only state best with a 1:32.15 clocking. Joel Coleman won the 55 meter dash in 6.54 and ran a leg on the Oscar Smith 4x400 meter relay, which ran sub 3:30 for the second time this season as Coleman's team defeated his old school King's Fork (3:31.62) in an exciting close to the meet. The Oscar Smith boys could be in the mix for the state team title with their sprint relays and Coleman along with field event performers Brandon Ruffin and Jaquan Loftin in the shot put and long jump respectively. Ruffin threw for a PR mark of 55'1" in the shot put, while Loftin just missed a new all-time best b an inch in the long jump with a leap of 22'1.25".
A competitive girls' 300 meter race, especially for a weekday meet with three girls under 41 seconds with Qualitra Brown (40.65) of King's Fork and Javette Lee (40.69) and Taranisha Taylor (40.77) both of Western Branch.