Virginians @ Penn Relays (Friday Highlights)

 

Westfield boys were the fastest qualifiers of all teams in the 4x800 trials with a state best time of 7:48.39 from the indoor AAA state 4x800 relay squad and now insert themselves as a far in the Championships of American finals on Saturday. Splits for Westfield were as followed: Max Chambers (1:59.5), Jeff Edmondson (1:57.8), Nathan Kiley (1:54.8), Tyrone Walker (1:56.3). Another Northern Region relay in Annandale clocked the swiftest time among all Virginians in the 4x100 heats at 42.48 for 11th fastest overall to qualify for the large school finals tomorrow. Another Atom from Annandale in Ahmed Bile was part of a contigent of four Virginians in the Penn Relays high school mile and ended up fifth overall with a season best performance of 4:12.81.

 

Best race of the day from Virginia and a big surprise came from Skyline's Thomas Madden scoring his biggest win so far of his high school career as the Group AA state cross country champion won the 3000 meter title at the Penn Relays in a resounding 5 second victory at 8:25.54.  The Skyline junior Madden, who boasts a 3200 meter PR of 9:14, would have chopped off roughly 12 seconds and threatened a 9 minute flat time if he had continued on for another 200 meters. Albemarle's Adam Viskokay, who was a national runner-up indoors in the 2 mile, placed fifth in 8:34, while the state had five of the top 11 finishers with Madden, Visokay, W.T. Woodson's Paul Gates, Lake Braddock's Nick Tuck, and Princess Anne's Matthew Schwartzer.