Photo by Andrew Kicinski
A great competition in the jumps at the Liberty Elite Invitational on Saturday between David Prince of Patrick Henry (Roanoke) and David Johnson of Charlottesville. Prince recorded a huge personal best by 13 inches in the long jump with a VA #2 mark of 23'2", while Johnson was a foot behind in second place at 22'2". A big improvement for Prince, who failed to qualify for the Group AAA state outdoor championships. Johnson's specialty is the triple jump as a returning Group AA state champion, which he shined in again at Liberty University to improve his state leading mark in the event with a US #3 leap of 46'8". Monacan senior Kaila Blackburn broke 11 minutes for the first time for 3200 meters in a duel with Watauga's (NC) Darby Middlebrook (2nd, 10:59) with a US #2 indoors performance of 10:56.74. Region IV outdoor 1600 meter champion Joel Johnston took first in the 1600 at the Liberty Elite meet with a time of 4:28, while Blacksburg junior Nick Link was able pull away from Staunton River's Stuart Robertson (9:40) for the win in the 3200 with a 9:36 clocking. Blacksburg sophomore Kendell Wiles dipped just under 1:20 in the 500 meter dash, while teammate Hannah Brown won the 1000 in 3:06 after getting a workout in by also competing in the 500 before and 300 after the 1000.