Photo by Ryan Kelly
Highlights from the CNU Winter Frolic:
- Trey Holloway of Grassfield dominated in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles with his state leading 7.48 clocking. Meanwhile, his teammate Vincent Lowe came out of nowhere to win the 55 meter dash in 6.50. Lowe has improved greatly from the spring when he finished 33rd in the 200 meter prelims at the AAA State Meet.
- Big marks were recorded in both shot put competitions. Kempsville's Taylor Frenia (57'0.50") and Grassfield's Austin Johnson (59'9.25") battled it out to the state's top two marks so far this season. Defending Group AAA state champion Kiara Howell opened her season in a big way last week at a Southeastern District regular season meet with a personal best performance of 46'7" and followed that up with her second best mark ever at 44'10" for a victory at CNU.
- Only a Saturday removed from running at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, Matthew Schwartzer of Princess got himself automatically state qualified in the 3200 meter run with a personal best 9:22.27 run, but not before having to chase down a gutsy run from Landstown's Brent Coulter who finished second with a PR of 9:23.73.
- The Bethel girls were runaway winners in the 4x200 (1:45.84) and 4x400 (4:05.47) meter relays, while relay leg Maya Moore ran a state leading and US #2 time of 1:16.53 in the 500 meter dash on Friday night. Moore finished 12th at last year's state indoor championships in the 500 meter dash, but her performance at CNU has to insert her as one of the contenders this year. The Bethel boys matched their female counterparts with a winning time of 1:33.49 in the 4x200, while their anchor leg had a thrilling come from behind win on Clover Hill in the 4x400 meter relay.
- Atlee swept the 4x800 meter relays on day one with their girls' squad running an impressive 9:46.99 without much help from the competition, while the boys were winners at 8:17. The Raiders also swept the 1000 meter races on day two with Katharine Leitch (3:08.29) and Griffin Carmichael (2:37.05). Carmichael's time is a state best currently.
- Coming off their historic second place finish at the state cross country meet for the Eastern Region, the Ocean Lakes distance girls are already rolling in early December with both Olivia Bethune and Audrey Batzel clocking swift times in decisive victories at the CNU Winter Frolic. Bethune (5:11.06) won by six seconds in the 1600 meter run, while Batzel (11:08.17) was able to put 14 seconds between her and second place in the 3200 meter run.
- In a meet filled with state leading performances, hidden on the backstretch during the running events on Saturday was Thomas Edison senior Anna Williams uncorking a VA #1 mark of 37'1.50" in the triple jump. The defending Northern Region outdoor triple jump champion was 12th in last year's outdoor state championships. Teammate Louis Colson, who had the sensational track season last year as a freshmen, opened his sophomore year of track with a 4:26 victory in the 1600.
- Western Branch's Javette Lee was one of the state's best last spring in the 300 meter hurdles with a 42.32 personal best and state runner-up performance, but is showing that she can get it done in the 55 meter high hurdles race too as shown with her significant personal best drop in the finals at CNU. Lee had a best in the 55 meter hurdles last year of 8.61, which she matched in the prelims at CNU before taking a huge chunk out of that time with her swift 8.38 performance in the finals.
- Potomac Senior had a pair of event champions on Friday in Ayinde Bickersteth in the boys 500 at 1:08.21 and Oluoma Chukwu in the girls long jump at 17'9.50". Ayinde Bickersteth is the younger sibling of Pearl Bickersteth, who has a great girls' high jumper for Potomac Senior only a few years back with a high school best clearance of 5'11" and All-American in the high jump.
CNU Winter Frolic Complete Results
CNU Winter Frolic Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - 5,662 photos total