Photo by Don Rich
From MileSplit US summary: Westfield (VA) went into the COA 4x800 as the favorite, but nothing is certain on Saturday. Kingston College, St. Jago and Holmwood dominated the first two legs of the relay while being stalked by Cherokee (NJ). During the end of the second leg the pack bunched up with Cherokee taking the lead for the first time. Westfield had moved into 5th at this point but there was still a gap to overcome. Entering the third leg Kingston led with Cherokee closely behind. St. Jago, Chariho (RI) and Holmwood were strung out with Westfield sitting in 6th place. During the first lap of leg 3 Westfield caught back up with the pack, led by Cherokee. Westfield's Nathan Kiley went from 5th to a big first as he closed out his leg before handing off to Tyrone Walker. Kingston College captured the lead again with 500 to go and Walker settled in. With 270 meters to go Walker launched into his kick and took the lead. Kingston College anchor Sanj Powell gave it one final effort with 100 to go but the teams crossed the line with Westfield winning in 7:39.73 with Kingston College clocked at 7:40.52.
Splits for Westfield went as followed in the Championships of America finals at the Penn Relays: Max Chambers (1:57.6), Jeff Edmondson (1:56.4), Nathan Kiley (1:51.3), Tyrone Walker (1:54.4). Westfield's performance ranks them #3 all-time in Virginia high school history behind only the national record holders from the 2009 Albemarle squad, who also won at the Penn Relays in 7:30.67 as well as the 2001 South Lakes squad featuring high school mile national record holder Alan Webb at 7:35.33.
Video Interview with w/ Westfield Boys 4x800
The state of Virginia also had a winner in the boys' triple jump on Saturday. A 50 foot winner that is. Lakeland senior Anaquan Peterson, an already accomplished triple jumper as a state champion and All-American, finally got that elusive mark which he had been reaching for and he achieved on one of the biggest stages. Peterson propelled himself to 50 foot mark exactly on a wind-aided attempt to win the Penn Relays high school triple jump competition by over a foot.
Video Interview w/ Anaquan Peterson
In the large school 4x100 finals, Western Branch boys clocked a time of 42.80 for 4th place, while Annandale posted a time of 42.40 but were disqualified in the event.. They were the only two Virginia boys' relay team to advance onto any finals in the sprint relays (4x100 or 4x400) at the 2012 Penn Relays as Western Branch and Annandale were also the fastest VA squad in the 4x400 trials at 3:22.22 for Western Branch (28th overall) and 3:23.30 for Annandale (36th).