Check out our highlights from the New Balance Indoor Nationals. MileStat.com interviewed many of Virginia's top performers at the national meet, while MileSplit US and ArmoryTrack.com's national coverage of the meet included photos and more.
3 of the top 4 hurdlers in nation from VA!
* The state of Virginia was well represented with four of the 8 finalists in the boys' 60 meter hurdles to prove that the 2011 indoor was a historically exceptional year in the 55 hurdles in the state of Virginia. Heritage's Daniel McFadden started out strong battling for the lead, but Demetrius Lindo (DC) was able to pull ahead in the final sets of hurdles as McFadden settled for national runner-up at 7.76. The next two places after McFadden were two fellow Virginians in Anthony Williams of Potomac Senior and John Jenkins of Annandale both being timed at 7.90 for third and fourth places respectively.
* The Western Branch girls completed a great weekend of fast relay times by running a state leading and VA indoor top 10 all-time performance of 3:51.47 in the 4x400 meter relay to place fifth overall in the final event of the meet.
* A rare sight to see Ahmed Bile passed at the end, but the Annandale junior put it all out of the track going for the win. Bile finished 3rd with a swift time of 1:51.96.
* Justin Burke of First Colonial bettered his top time from the prelims with a third place effort of 21.49 in the finals of the 200 meter dash.
* VA 3A state triple jump champion Siobhan Ford-Hollard of Thomas Dale earned All-American accolades with her leap of 39'10.50", which placed her fourth in the national field.
* A pair of Virginians recorded top 6 All-American marks in the boys triple jump with AAA state champion Allen Bordley (48'6.25") of First Colonial and Anaquan Peterson (47'8") of Lakeland placing fourth and sixth respectively in the event.
* Virginia high school indoor state record holder Cameron Overstreet placed third in the pole vault competition after successfully clearing 12'10.25".
* The Blacksburg milers did well at New Balance Indoor Nationals with George Carter able to follow a breakaway pack in the third 400 en route to a fourth place All-American and personal best time of 4:13.82. Grassfield's Jeremy Greenwald was in the hunt for a top 6 finish as well entering the final stretch, but was tripped and fell to a ninth place finish at 4:17.56.
* Blacksburg junior Hannah Brown nearly snuck into the top 6 for All-American honors from a slower section running a sensational time of 4:51.20, which converts to under a 4:50 for 1600 meters. The sub 4:50 converted 1600 puts Brown in elite and rare company of past Virginians who have ran under the time indoors including only Sarah Bowan, Erin Keogh, and former teammates in the Stevens twins.
* Phoebus senior Christal Peterson was a 60 meter dash national champion in 2010 and finished as national runner-up in 2011 with a faster time at 7.46. She was timed at 6.92 through 55 meters. Another Peninsula District athlete also competed in the 60 dash finals but for the boys with Woodside's Majique Key taking 8th with a time of 6.95.
* In her first national individual race ever, Cosby junior Megan Moye broke into the top 6 for All-American in the fast section of the 2 mile with a time of 10:32.89 which ranks just outside of top 5 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.
* Lakeland boys had two relay legs busy with individual events on Sunday with JaQuan Demiel in the 60 hurdles and Anaquan Peterson in the triple jump, but despite a few rough handoffs and athletes bouncing around from event to event, took a respectable 4th place for All-American recognition with their second sub 1:30 clocking of the weekend at 1:29.62.
* Despite running without their star sprinter Keilah Tyson, the Western Branch girls ran a valiant race in the 4x200 meter relay finals to nearly pull out a national title. Long Beach Poly (CA) anchor was able to chase down Western Branch at the end, but not before Western Branch lowered their own day old state record to 1:38.74.
* In the unseeded sections of the girls 4x400 before noon, Cosby and South County both won their sections with times of 3:54 each. Cosby's relay includes all underclassmen.
* Woodside's Majique Key is moving onto the finals of the 60 dash later today after a second place 6.90 clocking in his semi-final race.
* Taranisha Taylor of Western Branch won her 60 dash semis with a 7.55 clocking to advance onto the finals, while Christal Peterson of Phoebus ran a faster time in her heat at 7.53 for second place and an automatic spot in the finals. Taylor's teammate Keilah Tyson did not show for her heat and will not be running on the Western Branch 4x200 later today, which actually set a Virginia high school indoor record yesterday with their prelim run of 1:39.42.
* Advancing to the finals of the boys 60 meter hurdles from Sunday morning's semis from Virginia were Heritage's Daniel McFadden (7.85) and Annandale's John Jenkins (7.95) as the top two finishers in their . Potomac's Anthony Williams (7.94) also advances to the finals to make for three Virginians.
* Episcopal's Shantell Bingham was able to qualify for the finals of the girls 60 meter hurdles despite not finishing as one of the two automatic qualifiers in her semi-final by virtue of being one of the two remaining qualifiers by time with her 8.66 performance.
* Taylor Clevinger of St. Catherine's finished 2nd in her morning section of the 800 meter run with a time of 2:14.
* Albemarle's Adam Visokay ran a time of 9:30 for the full 2 miles in the morning section to follow up his breakthrough 17 second PR 9:21 state meet runner-up 3200 performance.
* Mattie Webb (10:43) of Western Albemarle and Hannah Lowery (10:49) of Stafford clocked solid sub 10:50 performances in their morning section of the 2 mile run.
* Colonial Forge boys may have lost the state title in the 4x800 to Atlee, but got even at nationals earning All-American honors with the state's fastest time of the indoor season at 7:49 despite having to replace one of their top legs Brian O'Loughlin due to mono.
* Woodbridge senior Isaiah Simmons proved himself to be worthy of mentioned as part of a "Big 4" in the national high school throws scene in challenging New Jersey's Nick Vena for the win with a runner-up performance just over 67 feet. Simmons will attempt to snag another All-American honor tomorrow in the weight throw.
* Cosby girls won the slower section of two in the 4x800 meter relay with the state's fastest time this indoor season at 9:15. Cosby opened with a sub 2:20 leg from Jayden Metzger and closed with a 2:12 leg from Megan Moye to pass two teams in the final 400 for the section win.
* First Colonial junior Justin Burke is in great position entering tomorrow's final of the 200 after posting the fastest time among all qualifiers at 21.51
* Two of Virginia's top freshmen milers put on a battle in the final half of the freshmen mile at the indoor nationals as Thomas Edison's Louis Colson took over the lead midway through and pressed Albemarle's Ryan Thomas enough for Thomas to have to run a 60 second last 400 for the win in 4:26.36. Colson ran roughly an 8 second PR with his first sub 4:30 performance at 4:29.62 for second place.
* Virginia went 1-2 in the freshmen 400 in a too close to call finish between Blacksburg's Kendall Wiles (58.62) and Cosby's Alexandra Moseley (58.64) with both Virginians breaking the old meet record in the event.
* Blacksburg girls put together a strong sprint medley relay on the track with their young sprint stars Alyn Carr and Kendall Wiles and state champin middle distance runner Hannah Brown to produce a national runner-up squad with their performance of 4:05.94. Hannah Brown split a high 2:12 on the 800 meter anchor leg.
* Despite running close to their national championship time from a year ago, the Blacksburg boys faced a much stronger field at the Armory to finish fifth overall but still earn All-American honors with a time of 17:48.
* With three juniors and a freshmen, the Ocean Lakes girls secured All-American honors in the 4xmile relay with a time of 21:43.98 for third place. Audrey Batzel split a 5:06 split on the second leg for Ocean Lakes and freshmen Olivia Bethune moved them back up into the top 3 on anchor leg.
* The Lakeland boys continue to their late season surge becoming the first VA boys team under 1:30 in the 4x200 posting the fourth fastest time to advance to the finals with a quick time of 1:29.53.
* Despite holding out their top sprinter Keilah Tyson, the Western Branch girls won their heat, broke 1:40 for the first time, and will be one of the favorites in the finals of the 4x200 meter relay after their 1:39.42 performance in the prelims. The South County girls may have ran the fastest 4x200 ever by a Northern Region squad with their 1:42.24 performance, but missed the finals along with other swift performances by Virginia squads Bethel (1:41.95) and Osbourn Park (1:42.50).
* Western Branch girls prove to the nation what the state of Virginia has known about the depth of their hurdlers as they won the shuttle hurdles relay national title with a US #1 clocking of 32.73 after a great start from Desmonae Gray to get them out to the lead for good.
* Four of the top 11 fastest qualifiers in the girls 60 meter dash to Sunday's semi-finals are from Virginia led by 55 meter dash state champion Keilah Tyson of Western Branch with the third fastest time at 7.53 and defending indoor nationals 60 dash champion Christal Peterson of Phoebus with the seventh fastest time of 7.59
* Group AAA 55 meter dash state champion Majique Key of Woodside automatically qualified for the semi-final round of the 60 meter dash by winning his prelim heat in 6.89, while First Colonial's Justin Burke qualified on time with his 6.44 clocking.
* Heritage senior and US 55 hurdles leader Daniel McFadden of Heritage was only a hundredth off the fastest time in the prelims of the 60 hurdles with his 7.91 heat winning performance. McFadden leads a strong contigent of Virginians onto the next round with five of the top 16 qualifiers including a sub 8 second performance from Annandale's John Jenkins (7.98)
* Three of Virginia's very best hurdlers are moving onto the next round of the girls 60 meter hurdles in Episcopal's Shantell Bingham (11th, 8.74), Lee-Davis' Montasia Golden (18th, 8.88), and Western Branch's Desmonae Gray (21st, 8.94).
* Travis Hudson of Christiansburg will be contending for a top 6 All-American spot once again this year at the Armory. He opened with a time of 8.65 in the 60 meter hurdles.
Day 1 Interviews: Hidden Valley girls DMR - Alyn Carr (Bethel) - Andrew Catanese (Atlee) - Darren Barlow (Midlothian) - Devin Spencer (Bethel) - Genamarie McCant (James Robinson) - Kendall Cowne (Chantilly) - Marquis Worsley (Norview) - Mattie Webb (Western Albemarle) - Sean McGorty (Chantilly)
* Hidden Valley girls become first VA squad to break 12 minutes indoor in the DMR and as a result set the state indoor record with a time of 11:52. Splits were 3:32 1200 for Haley Cutright, 1:05 400 for Leslie Weidner, 2:18 800 for Carolyn Bethel, and 4:56 1600 for Annie LeHardy.
* To close out day one events, Andrew Catanese of Atlee ran a PR of 15:21.48 to finish 8th in a national record breaking race from Lukas Verzbicas at 14:06. Only a sophomore, Skyline's Thomas Madden ran an impressive 5K time indoors of 15:33.48.
* Western Albemarle senior Mattie Webb sets a new 5K PR of 17:21 finishing 11th in a swift fast section including a national record breaking winner (16:34).
* Despite not running without their top runner Brayden Burleigh, Midlothian boys set a school record finishing second in their section with a time of 10:31 with a strong 4:20 1600 anchor leg from Darren Barlow.
* Two Virginia boys placed among the top 6 in the emerging elite boys long jump with Caleb Wyatt of Lee-Davis (4th, 22'2.25") and Tony Green of Louisa County (6th, 21'6.75"). Green's teammate Corrin Harris performed well in the emerging elite triple jump later on in the day to grab runner-up honors with a leap of 45'7.25".
* James Robinson junior Genamarie McCant won her preliminary heat of the emerging elite dash in a time of 25.46 to qualify for the finals later today with the sixth fastest time.
* Sport newcomer Kendall Cowne of Chantilly (2:19) and season surprise Marques Worsley of Norview (1:59) won their sections of the emerging elite 800.
* Audrey Batzel of Ocean Lakes and Sean McGorty of Chantilly both ran PR's in the 2 mile emerging elite division with top 3 finishes. The Ocean Lakes junior Batzel finished 2nd in 11:06.84, while the Chantilly sophomore McCorty ran a time of 9:27 for third place overall.
* The state of Virginia had two of the top three finishers in the emerging elite boys 60 meter hurdles finals with Grassfield's Trey Holloway (8.07) edging out Group AA 55 meter hurdles champion Tony Green (8.14) of Louisa for second place in the event.
* Bethel senior Devin Spencer threw over 50 feet for the first time in the shot put, which was good enough for sixth place in the emerging elite division.
* Hayfield's Renee Rieves kicked off the meet for the state of Virginia by winning the emerging elite division of the girls shot put with a mark of 39'9.75"