The championship season has arrived and first up on deck is the VISAA State Championships. Within this meet we will see four team champions crowned across the DI and DII divisions.
Team wise let's start with D1.
In the girls' competition Saint Catherine's is the odds on favorite having won indoors by a staggering 47 points over The Potomac School. One team to watch though is St. Stephens & St. Agnes who enter the weekend with some good potential scorers. Both them and The Potomac Schools may lead the meet with winners but it will be an uphill climb to beat Saint Catherine's who seemingly has scorers in every single event.
In the boys' competition St. Christopher's is the team to beat after they won indoor states by 34 points over Paul VI. Outdoors it looks to be similarly slated but one false start or bad exchange can change things in a hurry.
In the DII competition North Cross will be looking for the sweep just like indoors. The boys from Blue Ridge School and girls from Trinity Christian were both second indoors. Tentatively on paper this seems to be the order heading into the meet but again, the athletes need to perform and be firing on all cylinders.
Outside of those teams, there are quite a few individuals to watch... more than we can list but here are just 10 individuals to keep an eye on this weekend.
Victor Olesen (St. Christopher's): He is your state record holder in the pole vault and enters the meet also the third seed in the 110mH. He would love a state title on the track so don't be surprised if he comes ready to run in this race. His teammate Henry Nelson is the top seed.
John Morrison (Woodberry Forest): This Woodberry Forest standout will by vying for the MVP award this upcoming weekend. He enters the weekend as the top seed in the 100, 200, and long jump competitions. Not only is he the top seed in D1 but he is the top seed in VISAA and one of the best in the entire state in all three events.
Faith Johnson (North Cross): Talking about athletes leading multiple events, Faith enters the weekend as the favorite in the 100 and 200 as well. She also ranks third in the long jump and will likely run on North Cross' second seeded 4x100m relay.
The St. Anne's-Belfield Super Duo of Tyson Boyd and Quinn Eliason: Not only do these guys lead their respective events but they dominate them and will be looking to etch their names in the record books. Tyson leads the shot put competition by over a foot with his season best of 57-4 and the discus competition by 20 feet at 170. Both are historically great marks if he were to equal or best them at states. His teammate Quinn will be racing a lot of laps as the top seed in the both the 1600 (4:08) and 3200 (8:57).
Jon Nathan Lawrence (The Covenant School): Your Penn Relays Mile Champion is the top seed here with his 4:08 seed time in the 1600 and 1:54 seed in the 800. This season will be looking to complete the year on top with two more titles.
Hayes Buppert (Tandem Friends): Hayes enters as the top seed in the 3200 with his teammate, Jack Blemker, seeded second. Hayes is also the second seed in the 1600. Those two went 1-2 at XC states with their other teammate, Miles Griffith taking third. It will be interesting to see how this race places out whether they work together for points or chase a time.
Lucy Versen (Trinity Episcopal): Lucy enters the weekend as the D1 top seed in both the 100 and 200m dashes and is also entered in a deep high jump field where it could come down to misses decided 1-8.
Michael McKnew (Cape Henry Collegiate): Unlike others, Michael is not doubling in an individual event but will be solely focused on the open 800m run where he is the top seed at 1:52! He will also be a likely anchor leg for their 4x8 relay which enters the meet seeded third behind St. Chris and St. John Paul The Great.
Eve Frost (Stonebridge Schools): Your indoor state champion in the 1600 and runner-up in the 1K will be attempting a tough triple (800-1600-3200) this weekend. She will have great competition from her teammate Josie Nunziata, Trinity Christian's Taylor Van Raaphorst who is the top seed in the 3200, and Walsingham's Remington Freeman who is the top seed in the 1600 and second seed in the 800.
