It's time for the biggest and best meet of the outdoor season, The Dogwood Track Classic. You can watch the meet live on MileSplit both Friday and Saturday.
Nearly 200 schools and 2,600 athletes entered to compete with the accepted entries getting those numbers down in most events. Below you will find 10 of the many athletes we are going to be watching this upcoming weekend on the grounds of the University of Virginia.
Lauryn Robertson (Colgan): Lauryn enters the weekend as the favorite for both the 100 and 200m dashes. She has run fast already this season but this week brings a little more at stake with its history and records. If the weather cooperates (especially the wind) we could see some fast times from this senior.
Elaina Pierce (Charlottesville): The hometown star will get some great competition this weekend. We are used to seeing her dominate the 3200 and 1600 but this weekend we get to see her in the 800. We think she will run well but she does have great competition. This is what makes our sport so much fun is seeing elite athletes battle it out in events that may not be their strongest.
Petra Gruendel (James W. Robinson): She has an amazing indoor season and outdoors could be even better. She has arguably the best training group in the entire state with her fellow teammates, especially the Bird sisters. Now that we are later into the season we should see her rounding into championship form which should mean some fast times.
Josh Johnson (Freedom SR): The defending champion and state champion is back and ready to lower his PR in the event closer to 10.1. Just like, Lauryn, he will face some solid competition and hope for great weather to increase his chance of producing a really fast time. With two rounds for this event, he has two shots potentially at a great time.
Kebryl Chandler (Parry McCluer): Kebryl is one of the elite distance runners in the state, being from a small school though means he doesn't always get the best competition at his state meet. Lucky for him, his team travels well and this weekend he will face off with multiple "large school" state champions which should mean very fast times.
Davian Booker (Massaponax): Davian has now opened his season in the intermediate hurdles and will be looking to go much faster. This track is known to be fast and with him also running the high hurdles (110) he should be warmed up and ready to go for a historic 300mH race.
Aaron Stokes (Churchland): Aaron and his teammate Travis Quinerly are inching closer to that 190' and 200' barrier for the discus. The field events are hard, especially the discuss, to put everything into one throw. We will be keeping an eye on him during the competition to see what is in store the rest of the season.
Kobi Bonds (Auburn): The king of the shot put is going to have to bring his best to win another competition. He's going to be throwing against four other boys who have gone 60'+ so this competition is going to be fun!
Lamont Mayo (Varina): Lamont is in both the shot put and discus throw and if he has a great day could walk away with two huge titles. Though many of the athletes are doubling, he is the highest ranking athlete across both with him ranking second in the shot and third in the discus heading into competition.
The Boys 1600m Race: Here we saved the best for last and really we couldn't narrow it down to just one athlete. This race is absolutely stacked and should be one of the most exciting races we have seen in years. In this race you have nine boys seeded under 4:10 and a staggering 30 guys under 4:20!
In the top group you will have national record holder Cole Boone, Class 6 State Champion Henry Birge, Penn Relays Mile Champion Jon Nathan Lawrence, Penn Relays 3K Champion Trent Daniels, and another five state champions in Quinn Eliason, Thomas Rae, Kebryl Chandler, Samson Palmer, and Anthony Sarro (DC). Joining them are numerous other elite athletes too.
