NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- The Eastern Region has always been known as the most track rich region in the entire state of Virginia. This year\'s regional meet held at CNU\'s Freeman Center was no different in showing the wealth of talent that is possessed by the region. Several of the performances from the meet found themselves not only the state and national leaderboards, but also a US #4 all-time 500 meter time was recorded by Francena McCorory.
After setting a national record in the 300 meter dash last month at Virginia Tech, Bethel senior Francena McCorory nearly notched a second national record to her name in the 500 meter dash. Running on the unbanked 200 meter Vince Brown Track at Christopher Newport University\'s Vince Brown Center, McCorory sprinted to the nation\'s fastest time of the season with a 1:11.97 clocking. Her time also ranked her #3 on the US all-time list behind Devon Williams of Maryland\'s 1:11.44 mark from 2004. Put McCorory on a banked track surface and the national record is all but goodbye.
McCorory had an outstanding triple in her regional meet as she ran a personal best time of 6.86 in the 55 meter dash to improve her state leading time. McCorory finished out the meet with a third win in the 300 meter dash with a 38.06 clocking.
With McCorory\'s three first place finishes, the Bethel girls were given room to work with to dispell any challengers to the regional team title. However, McCorory needed her teammates to come through as well. Without McCorory, the sprint relays had some pretty solid performances in winning the 4x400 meter relay (3:59.42) in a close finish over Landstown (3:59.68), while taking second to Salem (1:43.18) in another close finish in the 4x200 meter relay with a 1:43.40 clocking.
Bethel received points out of the field events which was a big boost for a team that has relied primarily on their sprinters on the track. Recent transfer from North Carolina, Shakia Forbes, finished fourth in the long jump at 18\'0\", while Bethel junior Sheanna Mitchell took a third place finish in the high jump at 5\'4\".
More points came out of the sprints for Coach Eddie Williams squad with Crystal Carrington in the 55 meter dash (3rd, 7.23), Essynce Roberts in the 300 meter dash (3rd, 41.67), and Kamilah Barnette in the 500 meter dash (5th, 1:19.83).
While the Bethel girls (75 pts) had an excellent meet, if they had faltered one bit, the Great Bridge girls (65 pts) were close behind as both teams were tied going into the final event with the 4x400 meter relay. Most of the points for the Great Bridge squad came from two talented individuals in field events star Janet Brown and distance runner Kristy Tobin.
Brown, a transfer from Salem High School, won an impressive three field events in a very competitive region. Brown had winning jumps of 18\'11\" and 38\'3.50\" in the long jump and triple jump, while also showing her amazing athletic ability in having the best toss in the shot put at 40\'1.50\". Brown has a very strong chance at taking top three finishes or better in each event at the Group AAA State Meet if she chooses to compete in all three. "It's real surprising that we did this well because we didn't have a lot of athletes," she said. "I'm just proud of our team because we've worked so hard."
Meanwhile, Tobin had an equally impressive meet in helping lead her 4x800 meter relay team (9:42.17) to victory with a 2:19 anchor leg split as well as taking two victories afterwards in personal best times of 5:03.98 (indoor PR) and 2:56.30 in the 1600 and 1000 meter races respectively. "I doubted myself at first because I thought I used up too much energy in the 1,600," she said. "But as the race went on, I felt like I could do it."
With the 4x800 meter relay on Friday evening at the Group AAA State Meet, Tobin will be given greater rest to come back from the 4x800 meter relay to compete in two events which she will be in contention for a state title in both. Her time in the 1000 ranks her #2 in the state and top among AAA runners, while only Stefanie Slekis of Forest Park (5:02.87) has a faster time in the 1600 meter event among athletes in Group AAA.
The Deep Creek girls finished third with 56 points as wins by Chantill Harvey in the 55 meter hurdles (8.25) and Ashley Gatling in the high jump (5\'6\") led the way. Deep Creek also had two strong relays in the 4x200 (3rd, 1:44.26) and 4x400 (4th, 4:05.98) meter relays.
Harvey won the 55 meter hurdles in a very exciting race that came down to the finish with Tierra Brown of Hampton (8.26). Teammate Nikki Luedeke picked up additional points for the Deep Creek squad finishing second in the event.
Gatling, an earlier national leader in the high jump, had several near misses at 5\'8\". Teammate Jonee Artis finished second at a height of 5\'4\".
Kellam senior Tara Connor won her first regional title as a senior in the 3200 meter run as she posted a time of 11:23.19 in a solid distance race from an Eastern Region Meet. Western Branch sophomore Callen Powers (11:28.39), Kellam freshmen (11:29.57), and Great Bridge senior Katherine Telfeyan (11:32.68) rounded out a solid top four with Connor.
The Salem girls took advantage of Bethel running without top sprinter McCorory in the 4x200 meter relay as they won the event with a solid 1:43.18 clocking. The Salem girls shared fourth place with Western Branch at 31 points as Seton Hall bound Shamika Kentish was the Sun Devils top individual finishing runner-up int he long jump (18\'1.25\") and 55 meter dash (7.17).
Western Branch had three regional runners-up in senior Kenya Jones in the 1000 meter run with a personal best time of 2:58.57, Powers in the 3200 meter run, and sophomore Enmisha Fair in the triple jump (37\'0.50\").
Heritage\'s Carolyn Lewis had a long and tiring meet which kicked off with a regional title in the pole vault on Friday night with a height of 10\'0\". On Saturday, Lewis finished third in the triple jump (36\'11.50\"), fourth in the high jump (5\'4\"), and fifth in the long jump (17\'7\").
Great Bridge had an excellent meet on both sides as the boys won the regional team title by 18 points over Deep Creek (42 pts) with a team total of 60 points. The Wildcats were led by Mike Morrison, who took Friday night\'s pole vault competition with ease at a clearance of 15\'6\". Morrison came back on Saturday to take runner-up honors in the 55 meter hurdles at a 7.53 clocking, while also scoring in the long jump (5th, 22\'1.50\") as well. Teammate Austin Lester joined Morrison as an event winner in the field events as he defeated favorites Ryan Gordon of Woodside (3rd, 53\'8.50\") and Jaymes Brooks of Denbigh (5th, 50\'6.75\"). Lester won a close competition with his best throw of 53\'10.50\" as Oscar Smith sophomore Frede Spellman finished close behind as regional runner-up at 53\'9.50\".
While in Great Bridge\'s state title outdoors last June, Morrison contributed the majority of the points, this year\'s Eastern Region title was more even spread among his fellow Wildcats. Great Bridge picked up a huge ten points with a first place finish in a time of 8:17.92. Some of those same relay members contributed more points later on in the meet individually including a runner-up performance by Ryan Sykes in the 500 meter dash (1:06.94) and the regional title clincher with juniors Chris Kust (10:05.03) and Brandon Jones (10:05.73) finishing third and fourth respectively in the 3200 meter run. "It feels really good," said Kust. "Now it's time to go for the state title."
First-year Great Bridge coach Bill Volkman thinks if the Wildcats can get a total-team effort at the state meet, then a state title is not out of the question.
"So we feel good about our chances at the state meet," he said.
Despite losing ten points in a no-call fall on the final stretch leading the 4x400 meter relay, Deep Creek would have needed more than ten points to take down Great Bridge as they settled for a runner-up finish. Deep Creek was led by Quentin Moore who came back after sitting out the district meet due to a groin injury. He came back to post the nation's third fastest time in the 500 meters on a flat track this indoor season. Moore ran 1:05.30.
"I felt real relaxed," he said. "I'm really looking forward to the state meet."
Moore also placed third in the 300 meters (35.80) and teamed with LaMar Veale, Konrad Fitzgerald and Curtis Campbell to run 1:30.75 in the 800 relay. Their time is the nation's best on a flat track this indoor season.
Indian River shared third place honors in the boys\' team standings with Booker T. Washington as they were led by two victories from Toriano Moody. Moody won a loaded 55 meter dash finals race with a 6.40 clocking and was more of a surprise winner in the long jump with a personal best mark of 23\'4\".
However, the best performance of the day from the Indian River squad came from Thomas Speller sprinting to the nation\'s second fastest 300 meter dash time on an unbanked track with his 34.83 clocking. Speller was pushed all the way to the line with Western Branch senior Courtland Marriner (34.86) close on the Indian River junior\'s heels. Marriner\'s time ranks third in the nation. Indian River also put together a strong 4x200 meter relay with their third place finishing time of 1:31.84 as Moody and Speller were members of the squad.
Three separate winners in all three distance races on the boys\' side. Daniel Cummings of Bethel won the 1600 meter run due to a disqualifiaction of Cox\'s Eddie Judge. Judge had won the race in a time of 4:29.88, but was disqualified for having entered in too many events. Cummings won by default as the second place finisher in the race with a time of 4:30.60.
Ocean Lakes senior Liam Arocho had a strong kick in the 1000 meter run to win in a time of 2:38.93, while Hickory senior Andrew Zohorsky was the lone runner to dip under ten minutes in the 3200 meter run as he closed well over the last few laps to win in a time of 10:03.53.
Granby senior Chris Bell was nearly disqualified in the 55 meter hurdles due to a uniform violation in winning his heat with a US #4 time of 7.31, but an official\'s clearance of the uniform in check-in allowed for the disqualification to be overruled for Bell to compete and take the regional title in the fianls with a time of 7.40.
Corey Vinston of Phoebus had a solid meet as he won the high jump over Marlon Woods of Booker T. Washington in a tiebreaker as both athletes cleared 6\'7\" in an exciting duel. In the long jump and triple jump, Vinston earned regional runner-up honors with leaps of 23\'1\" and 44\'8.50\".
Woods matched Vinston with an equally impressive meet in winning the triple jump with a leap of 45\'1\" over Vinston, while finishing third in the long jump (22\'9.50\"), third in the 55 meter hurdles (7.64), and second in the high jump (6\'7\") to help Booker T. Washington tie for third place team honors.
The Eastern Region Meet went on without Landstown\'s Percy Harvin, but he can still compete at the state meet on March 3rd and 4th at George Mason University with his automatic state qualifying performances from the district meet.