US #1 time in 55 hurdles stays in VA, but changes hands
The nation's fastest this indoor season in the 55 meter hurdles still reigns from the state of Virginia, but a new athlete has taken over the national leaderboard with JaQuan Demiel of Lakeland defeating previous national leader Daniel McFadden of Heritage in the finals at the Eastern Region Championships with a 7.35 clocking on Saturday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. (Photo by Ryan Kelly)
Links to regional meet championships meet results, coverage, and information below. Check out the virtual meet previews for each region to get an idea of what teams will be in contention for regional titles. On Wednesday, a total of three regional championships will be contested with Northwest Region at the Prince George County's Sports & Learning Center, Region I at the Boo Williams Sportsplex, and Region II at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center.
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Sometimes, its okay for guys to hug...
....especially good reason for the Grassfield boys to celebrate on Friday night at day one for the Eastern Region Championships. Jeremy Greenwald, one of the nation's fastest this winter at 1000 meters (US #2 2:27), anchored the Grizzlies to a near sub 8 minute performance and a state leading time of 8:00.69. With Grassfield now as the likely top seed for the state meet in the relay event and Greenwald having one of the fastest times in the 1600, 1000, and 3200, their team could potentially compete for a top 3 state meet finish with Greenwald and their 4x800 meter relay squad alone. (Photo by Ryan Kelly)
* Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - 3,483 photos total.
Bile learns lesson from sit and kick style
Ahmed Bile proved himself as man among boys at the Northern Region Championships as simply toyed with the fast sections of the 1600 and 1000 meter races before motoring away convincingly late in both races for victories. At least in the 1600 meter run, Chantilly sophomore Sean McGorty set an honest enough early pace to setup Bile up for a sub 4:20 performance. While the Annandale junior Bile won both fast sections of the 1600 and 1000, the Foot Locker finalist forgot that he also needed to beat the times posted by the winners from the previous slower sections. West Potomac's Khoki Bernier ended up accomplishing what few runners in the state of Virginia will be able to accomplish over the next two years in saying that he beat Ahmed Bile, despite not having to beat him head-to-head as his time from a slower section in the 1000 bested Bile with both runners timed at 2:38. A very similar outcome occured for Robert E. Lee's Sean Holston at the 2008 Group AAA State Indoor Meet as a heavy favorite to win the 500 meter dash. (Photo by Dave Watt)
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10:48 3200 on 160 meter track!
After Western Albemarle's Mattie Webb became the first ever to break 11 minutes at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center on their 160 meter flat track surface last week at the Jefferson District Championship, her top competition for the Group AA 3200 state title in Krista DeCeault quickly took down Webb's facility record at the Region II Indoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday evening. In a matter of 20 laps, the Sherando senior DeCeault ran arguably one of the greatest distance performances on a short track in Virginia high school indoor history. Her final time of 10:48.93 is the fastest Virginia high school girls' 3200 indoor performance on a track short of 200 meters. The girls' 3200 meter run next weekend at Group AA State Meet featuring DeCeault and Webb is shaping up to be an all-time classic!
The state's leading times in the 1600 meter run were produced this past Saturday at Virginia Tech for the Region IV Championships by a pair of Blacksburg runners. George Carter won the boys' 1600 with a personal best time of 4:13, which ranks him US #8 in the event. Blacksburg junior Hannah Brown was able to pass Hidden Valley's Annie LeHardy (4:58.82) at the end for a PR time to put her ontop of the state leaderboard as well at 4:57.79. (Photos by Andrew Kicinski)
* Photo Gallery by Andrew Kicinski
US #1 time in 55 hurdles stays in VA, but changes hands