MIDLOTHIAN, VA -- In what started off looking to be what has become typical late March track meet invitational weather on an annual basis with dreary, wet, and cold weather actually turned out to be a beautiful day. Early morning rains stopped and the sunshine showed it\'s face occassionally at the Manchester Relays as some great early season performances were put out by local Richmond area high school athletes and teams.
Maggie Walker track coach Jim Holdren certainly has to be proud of his distance crew\'s performance on both the boys and girls side at the Manchester Relays in the 4xmile relay. Both squads came away with victories by substantial margins as the boys\' team of Daniel Howard, Rohan Patel, Andrew Stegmaier, and Jonathan Charlesworth won the event in a time of 18:56.46, which was over 13 seconds slower than second place finisher Atlee. The team of Tracey Jennings, Ritchie Vaughan, Stella Askin, and Emily Wauford had an equally impressive win with their 22:51.11 clocking.
The quarter of junior Ryan Witt, freshmen Brandon Frye, and seniors Andrew Baker and Brandon Miles led the Trojans to a meet record breaking time of 10:45.30 and to a convincing win in the distance medley relay. Witt gave Midlothian a commanding lead with a 3:20 opening split on the 1200 meter leg. Frye (53 second 400 meter leg split) and Baker (1:59 800 meter leg split) continued to build on Witt\'s lead to give Miles (4:32 1600 meter leg split) the baton to bring home the victory. Midlothian is hoping to enter a distance medley in to compete at the prestigous Penn Relays in Philadelphia in late April along with their 4x800 and 4x400 meter relays.
Manchester and Hermitage proved themselves of having two of the best throwing programs in the area as the two teams went to
battle at Manchester. Both two-member relays for Manchester and Hermitage finished 1-2 in the shot put as well as
the discus throw. In the shot put, Darryle Jones (48-9.50) and Jay Brown (49-3) combined their best throws together for a total mark of 98 feet and 1/2 inch to give the Panthers the win in the event. In the discus, Manchester\'s combined total of 256 feet and one inch was good enough to hold enough Hermitage in second at 254 feet and 10 inches. The Manchester girls also showed their supremacy in the throwing events by winning the discus throw relay (188-11)
The girls of St. Catherine\'s were impressive in their performance in the distance relay events. The group ended up coming away with two wins in the 4x800 meter relay (10:27.51) and distance medley relay (13:00.60). The team of Morgan Barry, Vicki Fort, Ann Trip, and Katie Doswell finished just ahead of Midlothian in second at 13:03.93. Earlier in the meet, Doswell, Tripp, and Barry joined with Brittany Rogerson for their first win in the 4x800 meter relay.
One of the top hurdlers in the area in junior Chris Roberson of Monacan helped lead the Chiefs to decisive wins in the 110 (30.86) and 300 (1:23.30) meter hurdle relays. Roberson had the top time individually in both the 110 (14.97) and 300 (40.47) meter hurdles.
Huguenot\'s Tyreshia Gasque shined in her performances as her individual performances helped Huguenot win the long jump (32-10.50), triple jump (68-8.25), 110 meter hurdles (35.12), and 300 meter hurdles (1:39.29) relays.
Individually, Gasque had the best performances in the long jump (17-6.75), triple jump (35-7.25), 110 meter hurdles (14.89), and 300 meter hurdles (47.69) to complete a successful day for the Huguenot star.
Two of the Central Region\'s best at 400 meters in all-state runners Anthony Easter of Atlee and Tyler Hock of Monacan, decided to see how far they could extend their range at Manchester. Both anchored their sprint medley relay\'s 800 meter legs and were impressive at the new distance for the two as each had splits at approximately 1:59.
The sprint medley relay team of Tiffany Street, Jennifer Marinarci, Shaunte Cotton, and Kelly Keener took comfort in competing in the familiar confines of their home track at Manchester. After falling behind early in the relay, the Lancers were about to come from behind for the win with Kelly Keener\'s strong 800 meter anchor leg for a finishing time of 4:24.03.
The girls\' 4x100 meter relay from Hermitage broke the meet record set by Gar-Field High School (49.74) in 1998 with their swift clocking of 49.58. Making up the formidable group was Jasmine Major, Loretha Brooks, Queen Harrison, and Tanique Carter.
The Highland Springs\' 4x400 meter relay consisting of Chateece Chappelle, Chantel Beverly, Monet Harrison, and Janell Liddelow ran away with the win with an area best time of 4:12.64.
Fork Union\'s Kenyan import Kippy Keino had a 1:56 800 meter anchor leg split to help lead his squad to record breaking time of 3:32.73 in the sprint medley relay. Later in the day, Keino busted out another strong 800 meter time with a 1:55 split in the 4x800 meter relay.
Oscar Smith out of Chesapeake and T.C. Williams from Alexandria made long hauls to arrive to compete at the Manchester Relays. The two teams made sure the trip was worth it by bringing with them on their homebound trips a meet record performance. Oscar Smith\'s 4x100 meter relay team of Matthew Scott, Gerald Griffin, Antonio Teel, and Terrance Burton set a new meet record time of 43.02. T.C. Williams won the 4x800 meter relay (8:17.04) earlier in the day, and then came back to win the 4x400 meter relay out of the slow heat in a meet record breaking time of 3:25.28. Timothy Nunn, Kennedy Kyei-Mensah, and Nulie McCarthy were key members on both relays.
MIDLOTHIAN, VA -- In what started off looking to be what has become typical late March track meet invitational weather on an annual basis with dreary, wet, and cold weather actually turned out to be a beautiful day. Early morning rains stopped and the sunshine showed it\'s face occassionally at the Manchester Relays as some great early season performances were put out by local Richmond area high school athletes and teams.
Maggie Walker track coach Jim Holdren certainly has to be proud of his distance crew\'s performance on both the boys and girls side at the Manchester Relays in the 4xmile relay. Both squads came away with victories by substantial margins as the boys\' team of Daniel Howard, Rohan Patel, Andrew Stegmaier, and Jonathan Charlesworth won the event in a time of 18:56.46, which was over 13 seconds slower than second place finisher Atlee. The team of Tracey Jennings, Ritchie Vaughan, Stella Askin, and Emily Wauford had an equally impressive win with their 22:51.11 clocking.
The quarter of junior Ryan Witt, freshmen Brandon Frye, and seniors Andrew Baker and Brandon Miles led the Trojans to a meet record breaking time of 10:45.30 and to a convincing win in the distance medley relay. Witt gave Midlothian a commanding lead with a 3:20 opening split on the 1200 meter leg. Frye (53 second 400 meter leg split) and Baker (1:59 800 meter leg split) continued to build on Witt\'s lead to give Miles (4:32 1600 meter leg split) the baton to bring home the victory. Midlothian is hoping to enter a distance medley in to compete at the prestigous Penn Relays in Philadelphia in late April along with their 4x800 and 4x400 meter relays.
Manchester and Hermitage proved themselves of having two of the best throwing programs in the area as the two teams went to
battle at Manchester. Both two-member relays for Manchester and Hermitage finished 1-2 in the shot put as well as
the discus throw. In the shot put, Darryle Jones (48-9.50) and Jay Brown (49-3) combined their best throws together for a total mark of 98 feet and 1/2 inch to give the Panthers the win in the event. In the discus, Manchester\'s combined total of 256 feet and one inch was good enough to hold enough Hermitage in second at 254 feet and 10 inches. The Manchester girls also showed their supremacy in the throwing events by winning the discus throw relay (188-11)