A fairly low-key weekend in Virginia despite being late in the invitational season especially since there was no weekend invitational held at Boo Williams Sportsplex to showcase the Eastern Region and Tidewater talent. Highlights below of some of the few major meets held this past weekend in Virginia.
Photo by John Herzog
East Coast Invitational - At the 52nd annual East Coast Invitational (oldest actively run indoor meet in Virginia), Cosby junior Megan Moye defeats Foot Locker finalist Mattie Webb of Western Albemarle by six seconds in the 1600 meter run posting a great time of 5:06 on the Arthur Ashe Center's 145 meter spikeless track surface to break Sarah Bowman's 5:11 meet record from 2005. Hayfield's Elbert Maxwell, who cleared a VA #2 height of 6'7" last weekend at Episcopal, came down to Richmond and nearly matched that performance with a clearance of 6'6" to win the high jump at the East Coast Invite.
New Balance Games - Lake Braddock sophomore and Foot Locker finalist Sophie Chase finished 6th in the invitational mile race, but her time of 5:03.88 converts to a state leading time for 1600 meters by two seconds. Both Lake Braddock and West Potomac brought 4x800 and 4x400 meter relays to New York City with each school's 4x800 meter relay for girls proving themselves as expected to be two of the state's fastest this season with the West Potomac placing third in a state best time of 9:27.13, while Lake Braddock finished two places and eight seconds back in fifth place at 9:35.32. The Northern Region had several other schools competing at the Armory as well including Centreville and South County with the Centreville boys running surprisingly very competitive and nearly winning the 4x800 meter relay with the state's fastest time of 8:03.77 for second place, while South County girls likewise placed second against some of New York's best in the 4x400 with a time of 4:01.53.
St. Christopher's Indoor Meet #5 - Lee-Davis senior Cody Snyder continued his strong indoor season of success (4:16 1600, 2:31 1000) and remaining undefeated but not without a tough and close race from his Central Region rival in Brayden Burleigh of Midlothian. Snyder edged Burleigh out by the narrowest of margins in the 1000 meter run with Snyder the winner at 2:33.45 and Burleigh in second at 2:33.46. Returning Virginia 3A indoor state champion Montasia Golden of Lee-Davis was a double winner in the jumps with marks of 18'1.75" in the long jump and 37'8.50" in the triple jump. St. Catherine's senior Taylor Clevinger followed up her 3:01 PR run in the 1000 last weekend with a 1:17.54 500 PR in a spirited race with 1600 meter winner Marie Johnston (5:15.86) of Midlothian in second under 1:18 as well at 1:17.77. The St. Christopher's boys proved that the relays are the cornerstone of this year's squad showing range in winning the 4x200 (1:33.84) and 4x800 (8:05.48) with their time in the 4x800 being the fastest of the season in Virginia. St. Christopher's 4x800 meter relay leg Ben Constable later won the 500 in a time of 1:07.73. Tiel Westbrook of Lee-Davis dropped 8 seconds in three weeks from her race at CNU in the 1000 with a state automatic qualifier of 3:03.78.
Mid-Area Track Classic - Atlee pole vaulters Cameron Overstreet and Chris Pillow continue to set the bar high for themselves this season and had another high flying day in the pole vault in the Friday evening invitational at Liberty University. Consistency by both this season has been commendable in the event with new Virginia state indoor record holder Overstreet again well over 12 feet at 12'3" on Friday, while VA #3 indoor all-time performer Pillow stayed over 15 feet as well at 15'6". Last spring's surprise VA 3A outdoor 110 meter hurdles champion Vincent Wyatt of William Fleming made his indoor season debut with a 7.63 victory in the 55 meter hurdles. Blacksburg girls had their top 2 distance runners back racing for the first time in 2011 with strong returns for Sarah Dorrell winning the 1000 in 3:00.05 and Hannah Brown edging out Cave Spring freshmen Katie Fortner (5:11) in the 1600 with a 5:09 performance. Blacksburg also had another individual champion in Alyn Carr, who won two sprint races in the 55 (7.26) and 300 (42.7) as well as helped the Blacksburg girls take first in the 4x200 as well at 1:48.56. A deep boys 1000 with 5 under 2:40 as Blacksburg senior George Carter followed up an easy 4:20 win in the 1600 with 2:34 victory in the 1000. Two Group AA jumpers went over 45 feet in the triple jump and should be in the mix for state titles later this season with Heritage's Xavier Calloway at 45'6.75" and Charlottesville's David Johnson at 45'4.25".
