RICHMOND, VA -- The Central Region Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held this Friday and Saturday, February 24th and 25th, at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond. The Huguenot boys will be looking to defend their regional title from a year ago, but should face a stiff challenge from Dominion District rival Manchester, who finished four points behind them at the district meet. Meanwhile, the Hermitage girls will have to pull off an upset to win their third consecutive regional title. They were beaten decisively at the Colonial District Meet by Deep Run and the Midlothian girls with their distance strength look tough as well out of the Dominion District Meet.
BOYS PREVIEW
The Huguenot boys and Manchester boys should have a wire to wire team battle throughout the two days of events. The Huguenot boys are led by a cast of athletes including McArthur Henley, Brian Lee, and Matu Bundy. Henley is one of the region\'s top hurdlers with a season best of 7.56, while Lee is favored in the 500 meter dash (1:06.14 SB) with teammate Robert Conyers right behind him at 1:06.94. Henley will also be contending for the regional title in the long jump with a best jump of 22\'2\" this season. Meanwhile, Bundy should score high in the unusual double of the 1000 meter run (2:37.79 SB) and triple jump (45\'1.25\" SB) as the third seed in each event.
The Huguenot boys will also rely on their sprint relays to come through with first place finishes. They will get a run for their money by Manchester in the 4x200 meter relay (1:31.78 SB) in what should be a heated race, but the 4x400 meter relay appears to be an event in which they could dominate the regional race in with the state\'s second fastest time at 3:21.89 being nearly ten seconds ahead of the second fastest time in the region this season by Douglas Freeman (3:31.28).
Meanwhile, the Manchester boys will be coming into the meet with equal firepower as they will be led by one of the region\'s top athletes in Anthony \"Smoke\" Chesson. Chesson will be favored in both the 55 (6.46 SB) and 300 meter dashes, while playing a key role on the top ranked Lancers\' 4x200 meter relay (1:31.23). Chesson also can score points in the long jump with a 21\'9\" personal best. Manchester sophomore Antonio Miller is the state leader in the triple jump (47\'4.25 SB) and will be expected to pick up a critical ten points in the event this weekend. Another scorer out of the field events for Coach Bowen\'s squad will by Ryan Stratis as the third seed in the shot put at 52\'2\".
The Manchester boys will hope that their distance squad will give them the edge over Huguenot with their 4x800 meter relay team headed by Andrew Duty as the second seed at 8:31.56. Duty will also be depended on to bring in points individually on Saturday in the 1000 meter run with at least a top three finish in the event. Duty only has a season best of 2:42.29, but his top time comes in the Ashe Center where only favorite Alex Bowman of Hermitage has ran faster in the event this season at the slow track venue.
There are several other teams that have the capability to pick up a decent amount of points but it has yet to be seen that any of those teams can keep up with squads the likes of Manchester and Huguenot. The Colonial District champions Hermitage should definitely see 30 points added to their team total thanks to Alex Bowman this weekend as he will lead the top ranked and favored 4x800 meter relay team on Friday night with their season best of 8:08.96 way ahead of the any time posted by other relays in the region this season. On Saturday, Bowman is entered in the 1600 and 1000 meter races and will be aiming to pick up his first two regional titles in the event as the big favorite coming in with season best times of 4:17.88 and 2:33.27. Bowman\'s time in the 1600 is a state leading time. More possible points for Hermitage in the distance events include 1000 meter run second seed Kieran Lee (2:36.51 SB) and 3200 meter run third seed Nathan Puckett (10:05.73). While Bowman graduates this year as a senior, Coach Pardue and Coach Spain will retain the services of Lee and Puckett for two more years as both are sophomores.
Petersburg possesses one of the region\'s top jumpers in senior Douglas Wall. Wall has the region\'s best marks in both the long jump at 22\'6.50\" and high jump at 6\'6\". Wall would certainly like to defenind his regional title in the high jump from a year ago.
The top returnee from last year\'s Central Region shot put competition, Brandon Oliver of Meadowbrook, enters this year\'s meet much stronger with one of the state\'s best throws at 53\'10.00\". However, he will be the underdog this weekend as Clover Hill junior Blake DeChristopher has been on a tear as of late as he recently threw a state leading mark of 56\'6\" at the Dominion District Meet only to see the mark be topped by Mike Zajac of E.C. Glass from Lynchburg on the same day. However, the face-off with Zajac will not occur until next week at the Group AAA State Meet and this week DeChristopher will have to take care of business in the region with the likes of Oliver breathing down his neck.
The easiest winner to predict for the Central Region Meet this weekend is in betting that an Atlee athlete is going to win the pole vault as the Raiders hold the top three spots in the region with Justin Varner (14\'0\'), Jordan Cole (13\'9\"), and Cameron Sovick (13\'6\") holding the top three spots and a foot ahead of the next non-Atlee vaulter in Deep Run\'s Matt Armentrout (12\'6\"). Varner is Atlee\'s top vaulter, but the three are vaulting at heights so close together that any one of the three Atlee high-fliers has a good chance at the regional crown in the event.
Karl Massenburg of Matoaca will be Manchester\'s favorite athlete on the track in the 55 meter hurdles when he faces off with Huguenot\'s Henley. Massenburg is the top returnee from last year\'s event and is the second seed this year behind Henley at 7.61.
The 4x200 meter relay from Highland Springs could be a spoiler for either Manchester or Huguenot in the relay event as they are seeded in between the two teams at 1:31.78 as every point could mater in this regional team race.
Midlothian sophomore Jason Witt, one of the state\'s top underclassmen runners in the state, has the biggest time cushion in any event on both the girls and guys\' side in this weekend\'s meet with season best time of 9:31.82. Only one athlete entered in the race has dipped under 10 minutes as Deep Run junior Drew Spicer has ran just under the mark at 9:59.36 this season.
While only Bowman and Witt seem to be the region\'s only male distance runners that should place high in next weekend\'s Group AAA state meet. The future is very bright for the region in the distance races when one looks at the top seeds in the 1600 meter run behind Bowman. There are two sophomores right at 4:30 in the event with Patrick Henry\'s Davis Barry (4:30.45) and Mark Merritt\'s (4:30.79). Another promising future star for the Central Region is found in Atlee freshmen Ben Dejarnette, who has the state\'s second fastest time among freshmen in the 1600 meter run at 4:35.39. And not forgetting that Witt is only a sophomore as well, there should definitely be a resurgence at the state level in the next two years.
GIRLS PREVIEW
Three is the magic number for one team and several individuals among Central Region girls this weekend. The Hermitage girls will have the odds stacked against them as the try for their third consecutive regional title, while Queen Harrison of Hermitage, Anne Marie Gordon of Hermitage, Kathy Howard of Lee-Davis, and Shanneka Claiborne of Matoaca all seek three peats in their individual regional title quests.
As the Lady Panthers of Hermitage found out at their own district meet, a third regional title will not come easily as the Deep Run girls dethroned them as district champions by a convincing 53.50 point margin. However, at district meets depth takes you a lot further than it does at the regional and state meets and when a team possesses an individual with the likes of Queen Harrison, a team can suddenly find themselves in the running for team titles at regions and states. Harrison is a two-time defending Central Region champion in the long jump, triple jump, and the 300 meter dash.
She started off her senior season of indoors a little sluggish as she worked her way into shape coming off a season-ending collarbone injury last outdoor season. However, as of late, Harrison has started to show that top form that has made her one of the state\'s best in those events. In this weekend\'s regional meet, Harrison will be the top seed in the long jump (18\'10\"), triple jump (39\'3.25\"), and 300 meter dash (39.99).
One would think Coach Spain would have a 4x400 meter relay team entered as seem to annually have one of the region\'s top squads in the event, but he has opted instead to scratch the relays for his top sprinters in Harrison and younger sister Empress to run in more individual sprints events. In the 500 meter dash, Coach Spain will be testing the endurance of Harrison in a move that could make or break a regional title for Hermitage. She has the second fastest time in the region at 1:18.75 as only one hundredth of a second separates her from top seed Mansfield Murph of Atlee at 1:18.74. Kid sister Empress is seeded fourth with a time of 1:20.99 as the Hermitage freshmen will be counted on to pick up points in the 500 meter dash as well as the 300 meter dash at 43.21.
Older sister Queen will be competing in the max three running events as she also will compete in Friday\'s preliminaries of the 55 meter hurdles and more than likely will qualify for Saturday\'s finals as she possesses the second fastest time at 8.54. Huguenot\'s Wanetta Kirby will be favored in the event with her 8.21 season best, but a second place finish for Harrison will be key for Hermitage\'s aspirations for a three peat.
Hermitage junior Ashley Allen might be picking up small, but critical points in the shot put on Saturday morning as she finds herself seeded fourth in the event with a season best throw of 35\'1\".
When looking at how the Hermitage girls stack up in the regional meet in how Coach Spain has entered his athletes, one has to scratch their head as to how Hermitage lost the regional title and how they could possibly be considered an underdog as the two-time defending champion. While Colonial District champs Deep Run certainly will not have an easier going in trying to repeat a first place team performance this weekend, they still have a formidable team that could win the school\'s first ever regional title.
Thomas Dale sophomore transfer Ashley Orr has been huge in the team\'s success this season as she is able to score points in many events. While Orr is not necessarily favored to win any individual event on Friday or Saturday, she certainly is expected to pick up considerable points in the three individual events she is entered in as well as the two relays she will be a key member of. Orr is one of several talented jumpers in the Central Region who will be right there to take the regional crown in the long jump and triple jump if Harrison has an off day as Orr has season bests of 17\'4\" and 38\'4\", which rank her fifth and third respectively in the two events. While Orr\'s season best time of 42.95 ranks her sixth in the 300 meter dash, she certainly could finish a lot higher in the event as several of the athletes ahead of her ran their season best times on the fast 200 meter banked Virginia Trach track, which Orr did not get the opportunity to race on.
Orr and the Deep Run girls will be looking to their sprint relays though to pick up huge points to counter the many points that the Harrison sisters should pick up between the two of them. Between the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays, less than two seconds separates Deep Run from the top seed. The Armstrong girls hold the top spot in the 4x200 at 1:47.20 with Deep Run right behind them at 1:47.46. Meanwhile Atlee (4:04.34), Armstrong (4:05.84), and Deep Run (4:05.99) are bunched up together in the 4x400 meter relay. The two races are very critical for Deep Run\'s regional title hopes as big point swings could occur in each event.
In the high jump, Deep Run has two athletes who will be in the mix with Katelyn Zimmerman and Briana Hudson sharing the region\'s fifth best height this season at 5\'2, but could very well finish higher in the event.
After the 300 meter dash, the Hermitage\'s point production will end with the Harrison\'s sisters final events being completed. However, the Deep Run sprinters will definitely be rooting on Deep Run distance star Erin Bragg in the 3200 meter run. Bragg was the team\'s first ever state qualifier as a freshmen and she could play another big role in the team\'s young track history in helping secure a regional team title in the 22 lap event as she is seeded fourth with a time of 11:42.24.
There are also a few other areas where the Deep Run girls can pick up a few points here and there. Hudson is seeded eighth in the triple jump (34\'9.50\"). Deep Run sophomore Katie Fuson can score in the 55 meter dash (6th seed, 7.66) and sister Megan Fuson (7th seed, 1:24.05) and fellow sophomore teammate Courtney King (6th seed, 1:23.78) also are capable of contributing in the 500 meter dash.
While the boys\' team race looks to be the Huguenot boys and Manchester boys of the Dominion District and then everyone else, the team title contenders among the girls does not stop just in the Colonial District with Hermitage and Deep Run.
No team in the region, boys or girls, has such a stranglehold on a certain group of events like the Midlothian girls have in the distance races. There are so many point opportunties for Coach Morgan\'s squad at the regional meet in the distance events with their depth and talent. With no other event or relay team for that matter standing in their way, the Midlothian girls should easily run away with the 4x800 meter relay on Friday night. They could easily take down their own year-old meet record time of 9:51.80 if they choose to by loading up, but they could save some legs for Saturday as well as they have the state\'s fastest time this season at 9:24.82. They will probably have to put a honest team on the track though with Douglas Freeman possessing a formidable squad at 9:38.97 as 2:11 800 meter runner Christi Harsha leads the Lady Rebels.
There has not been many occassions that the top seed in a Central Region Meet distance race has came into the meet with their top time for the season coming out of the Ashe Center, but the scary truth is that Midlothian junior M.C. Miller\'s season best time of 5:15.73 was indeed run in her Dominion District title win. While considered as a 1000 meter runner, her potential is the 1600 meter event is definiely untapped and she will be doubling in the two events on Saturday for the team\'s sake in hopes of keeping them in the regional title team running. Three of her fellow teammates comprise the next five fastest seeds with Sammy Dow (5:19.58), Paige Johnston (5:23.56), and Christine Selander (5:23.97). To show how much stronger the Midlothian girls have gotten from a year ago, Selander was the regional runner-up in the event last year and finds herself ranked fourth just among the team heading into this year\'s race.
Like Massenburg will be a honorary member of the Manchester boys\' squad in the 55 meter hurdles, Douglas Freeman sophomore Casey Fowler (5:16.76) and Maggie Walker sophomore Natalie Davis (5:18.29) will have crowd support not only from their respective teams, but from the Hermitage and Deep Run fans as they look to be the only ones to stop a top four sweep and a 29 point boost for the Midlothian girls.
Miller and Johnston will have to put their individual pride to the side and their team pride to the front as they double back in the 1000 meter run as the first (Miller 3:00.81 SB) and third (Johnston 3:03.38 SB) seeds against the fresh legs of two of the state\'s top middle distance runners in defending 1000 meter state champion Kristen Wolfe (3:04.33 SB) of James River and defending 800 meter state champion Christi Harsha (3:03.16 SB) of Douglas Freeman. Miller certainly has shown that level of toughness as double event winner at the Dominion District Meet in the two events and has beaten both Wolfe and Harsha in two encounters with each this season in the event.
The Central Region Meet will be a breath of fresh air for Wolfe who had to do an insane triple of the 1600, 500, and 1000 meter races in a 45 minute span at the Dominion District Meet. Wolfe is the defending regional champion in the event and would certainly like a repeat performance this year.
Harsha has yet to really have that breakthrough race this season to show she is back to the form she was at last spring where she looked destined to be the next middle distance queen of the state after Bowman\'s graduation. Injuries during cross country season set her back this season, but her Colonial District victories in the 500 (1:20.82) and 1000 (3:09.99) meter races were certainly promising races as she ran the 1000 meter time in the Ashe off limited race from the 500.
with the likes of Harsha, Johnston, Miller, and Wolfe entered in the 1000 meter run, the Central Region girls\' 1000 meter run could be simply a preview to next weekend\'s AAA state race in the event.
In the 3200 meter run, Midlothian has their third top seed in a distance race with sophomore Erin Stehle as the race favorite and regional runner-up from a year ago. Stehle\'s season best time of 11:25.96 puts her nearly 13 seconds ahead of second seed and teammate Sammy Dow, who will be doubling for team points from the 1600 meter run earlier in the meet. Stehle\'s biggest threat could come from Douglas Freeman junior Meredith Cox, who has a season best of 11:38.78, but ran that time in her Colonial District title win in the Ashe Center. Cox has also ran 11:25 outdoors in the 3200.
However, the Midlothian girls face the hard reality that there are too many sprint and relay events and too little distance events to be able to rely exclusively on those events to win a regional track team title. Fortunately for Midlothian, they do have athletes and relays in the sprints and in particular long sprints to give them some critical points. Senior Kyra Richardson is the Lady Trojans\' top sprinter as she is the fourth seed in the 55 meter dash at 7.58. Richardson is also a member of the fourth seeded 4x200 meter relay with their season best time of 1:49.21.
A girls\' team cannot run a 9:24 4x800 meter relay without some of those girls on that squad having some decent quarter speed and the Midlothian girls certainly possess that with a respectable 4x400 meter relay squad with a fith seeded time of 4:08.79.
The Atlee girls enter this weekend\'s meet as no surprise, the Capital District champions, but possibly an underlooked team with some of the talent possed on their squad. Atlee junior Mansfield Murphy leads the Lady Raiders as the top seed in the 500 meter dash and ranked second in the long jump behind Hermitage\'s Harrison at 17\'11.25\". Murph is also one of the region\'s top triple jumpers with a 37\'1.75\" season best ranking her fourth for the Saturday morning event. Murph is also the top leg on Atlee\'s number one ranked 4x400 meter relay with their region best time of 4:04.34. Coach Triemplar also possesses another great talent in Dana Harvey, who has one of the fastest flat track 300 meter times in the region at 41.36, which seeds her fifth in the event.
While Central Region individuals and relays may have benefited based from running on a faster Tech track to record their quick seed times, they cannot use that to advantage come race time on Saturday with teams like Deep Run and Atlee who chose not to travel to Tech. The 4x200 meter relay is an event that the Atlee girls could have benefited with a better seed time by racing on the Tech track, but with athletes like Murph and Harvey on their relay team, their place should be better than their fifth place seeding of 1:51.88.
Just as Erin Bragg may play a key role for Deep Run in the 3200 meter run, Rebecca McDowell may serve the same role for Atlee as the fifth seed at 11:50.20. Ben Dejarnette is not the only freshmen phenom in his family. Twin sister Emma is ranked second in the region in the pole vault with a season best of 10\'3\". Ben is going to have to muster a regional runner-up in the 1600 meter run or sister Emma might have some bragging rights over his brother until the next regional meet at the dinner table every night until then.
The individual performances of the likes of Rachel Butler and Wanetta Kirby may solely thrust teams like Lee-Davis and Huguenot into the team picture as both athletes can rack up plenty of points in the events they compete in. Butler is entered in every field event but the shot put and she will be competitive in all four events. If we could somehow arrange the mating of Great Bridge\'s Michael Morrison and Butler, the state of Virginia would then be blessed with the offspring of quite possibly the greatest multi-event athlete in the world. If the parents of Morrison and Butler could introduce their children to one another at the state meet that would be greatly appreciated by myself and rest of the track and field nuts in Virginia. Butler is seeded no worse than fourth in the four field events as she has marks of 38\'10\" in the triple jump (2nd seed), 5\'5\" in the high jump (3rd seed), 10\'0\" in the pole vault (3rd seed), and 17\'8\" in the long jump (4th seed). Based off of seeding position alone, Butler is projected to score 25 points. The pole vault is an event that has a lot of room for improvement for Butler as she just recently picked up the event and has a lot of raw talent in the event.
Butler is not that bad of a track athlete either as she is highl ranked in both the 55 meter hurdles (4th seed) and 300 meter dash (2nd seed) with times of 8.68 and 41.00 respectively. The Lee-Davis girls have two of the better sprint relays in the region in the 4x200 (3rd seed, 1:48.45) and 4x400 (4th seed, 4:07.56). Coach Matthews will have the tough choice of deciding which relay event will benefit more from using Butler as her third and final running event.
One area Coach Matthews can depend on is that assistant throws Coach Todd DeLuca will have his throwing crew ready to pick up a solid chunk of points for the Lady Confederates. Defending state champion Kathy Howard will be heavily favored in the event as she has been unbeaten all season with a season best throw of 42\'0.25\", which is also a state leading mark. Lee-Davis also has two other potential point scorers in the event with Kelsey Farmer (4th seed, 34\'10.50\") and Teri Dix (7th seed, 33\'3\"). Kietta Griffin in the 55 meter dash (6th, 7.61), Virginia Hendrick (6th, 3:14.16) and Crystal Gouldman (8th seed, 3:17.03) in the 1000 meter run also could contribute.
The Huguenot girls finished second at the Dominion District Meet to Midlothian, but the point differential that the Midlothian girls won over the Lady Falcons should be considerably smaller as junior Wanetta Kirby will play a bigger role on a bigger stage at regionals. Kirby is the top seed and favorite in the 55 meter hurdles with one of the state\'s fastest times at 8.21. Kirby also shares the region\'s best height in the hight jump with a season best clearance of 5\'7\" this season. In the 300 meter dash (3rd seed, 41.35) and long jump (6th, 16\'10.50\"), Kirby could finish higher than seeded to boost Huguenot\'s team score even more. Huguenot is also seeded sixth (1:52.16) in the 4x200 meter relay, which Kirby will be a member of.
Central District champions Matoaca have two individuals in Shanneka Claiborne and Mia Aghaji who could push them into the team race between the two of them. Claiborne, who had a disappointing disqualification in the 55 meter dash at the district meet, will be looking to become a three-time Central Region champion in the event as she enters the meet as the clear favorite and top seed at a 7.13 season best. Meanwhile, Aghaji will take part in what could be an exciting duel in the high jump competition as both athletes share a season best mark of 5\'7\" in the event. Aghaji should also score in the triple jump as the fifth seed at 36\'9\" and is entered in the long jump and 300 meter dash as well.
Mills Godwin junior and defending state champion Anne Marie Gordon will be looking to win her third of hopefully afer next year, four Central Region indoor titles in the pole vault as she enter\'s Friday evening competition with a season best clearance of 11\'0\". Gordon has had a very strong and resilient indoor campaign after recovering from an off-season surgery.