After running laps and laps around the shorter track indoor facilities throughout the winter, many of the teams and athletes competing at this past Saturday's Gus Lacy Track Classic were given an unexpected return back to indoor competition with meet management opting to move the meet into the Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center due to the severe storms which rolled through Virginia. Some adjustments had to be made to the events offered since some of events such as the 4x100, 100/110 hurdles, and 300 hurdles cannot be run on a 160 meter indoor track facility. With athletes more fit and faster in the spring, the Estes Center produced some great performances than normally seen during the winter.
Western Albemarle senior Derek Armstrong punctuated this in running one of the fastest 3200 meter time ever at the facility with a 9:19.56. In the last ten years, only Kippy Keino of Fork Union at 9:20 had run as fast in the Estes Center.
If Taylor Clevinger of St. Catherine's was able to run a 2:18 800 indoors on a 160 meter track, she is capable of running a much faster time later this spring on a 400 meter track outdoors.
Before the meet moved indoors, they were able to get off a few events on their outdoor track including an outstanding 4x800 meter relay race between the Midlothian and Mountain View boys which produced the state's first two sub 8 minute times this season with Midlothian as the winners at 7:55.84 with Mountain View close behind at 7:56.24.
The discus was also one of the few events to get in before the meet moved indoors, which had a 151'1" mark from Fork Union's own Jordan Roach. Roach has opened his outdoor season undefeated with four invitational wins at the Knights Track Classic, Vince Bradford Relays, Woodberry Forest Invitational, and another first place showing at Gus Lacy.
The pole vault certainly benefited from not having to battle the elements outdoors. In the girls' pole vault, Hannah Meador of Fluvanna and Kelsey Grupp of Western Albemarle have become two of Group AA's top performers in the event and face each other often with both at Jefferson District schools. Grupp won the Group AA state indoor title over Meador, but Meador scored the win at Fork Union with her first clearance over 11 feet. Grupp cleared 10'6" for second place.
Louisa County's Tony Green was the only individual athlete to win three events as the multi-event star for Coach Cutright cleared 6'4" in the high jump, leaped to a mark of 44'9.75", and had to condense down his hurdle races from two to one with the indoor event of the 55 meter hurdles. In his lone hurdle race, Green faced an old Central Region foe in Atlee's Marques Atkinson, who had beaten him earlier in the season in the 110 hurdles at the Manchester Relays. Green was able to regain bragging rights with a 7.66 victory.
With no 300 meter hurdles being contested following the move indoors, Atkinson had to opt for a new event which he decided on the open 800. In a field against defending Group AA state outdoor champ Michael Waller of Chancellor and Fork Union's own Michael Idziak, Atkinson pulled away from both to dip under 2 minutes on the 160 meter indoor track with a time of 1:59.73. Atkinson later ran a leg on Atlee's 4x400 meter relay, which posted a time of 3:34 to close the meet as relay event winners. Marques' twin brother Michael Atkinson won the boys 400 with a time of 51.8, which bodes well for Michael in looking to break 50 seconds in the open 400 on an outdoor track this spring.
While Green leads the Louisa County boys, Javanique Burruss has starred as the Louisa girls' top individual performer. At Gus Lacy, Burruss knotched a pair of first place finishes in the long jump (17'10.75") and 55 meter hurdles (8.94). Burruss also ran anchor on Louisa County's 4x200 which clocked the fastest overall time at 1:48. The triple jump winner Thireyona Legg of Booker T. Washington joined Burruss as a winner in the jumps and on the track as Legg clocked an impressive 58.74 400 dash time after having to run 2 1/2 laps indoors instead of just one lap outdoors for 400 meters.