VIENNA, VA -- In a meet that featured over 1600 athletes from 40 different schools, there were bound to be some great performances as was the case at the 2006 Metro Run & Walk Northern Virginia Invitational with a total of 12 new meet records over the two day event held at Oakton High school in Vienna. A well rounded meet as the new records were set in all different types of events with the field events, relays, sprints, and distance races all having record breaking performances.
After winning the discus throw in a meet record mark of 136\'3\" on Friday afternoon, Park View sophomore Natalie Baird gained her second victory of the meet in Saturday\'s shot put as the event was closely contestd with Westfield\'s Aimee Kodat not far behind in second place.
Two-time triple jump indoor state champion and Hayfield senior Nakeisha Wineglass kicked off her outdoor season in fine fashion by setting a new meet record in the triple jump with her leap of 38\'7\", while winning the 400 meter dash in a personal best time of 58.06 and finishing second in the 200 meter dash (25.53) to Thomas Edison senior Courtney Conley (25.31) as both athletes dipped under the old meet record.
Another state champion for the Group AAA State Meet, pole vaulter Nicole Kazuba of Chantilly, bested the old meet record height of 10\'6\" with a 10\'7\" clearance in the event. Kazuba had several near clearances at her next height of 11\'1\".
Christy Johnson of Bryn Mawr (MD) took top honors in the 1600 meter race as well as the meet record as she dipped just under the magical five minute barrier with a time of 4:59.86. Teammate Laura Paulsen was the next finisher at 5:14.86, while James Robinson\'s Jennifer Hovland (3rd, 5:15.33) topped Lake Braddock\'s Erin Klein (4th, 5:15.46) as the top Virginian finisher in the race.
Johnson won her second event of the day in the 800 meter run later in the meet with a time of 2:16.98 as she held of challenges from the Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) duo of Dominique Lockhart (2:17.87) and Marika Walker (2:20.02) to give the state of Maryland a top three sweep in the event. Paul VI junior Abby Clement (2:21.93) slipped ahead of Westfield\'s Tasia Potasinski (2:22.04) for fourth place as highest finishing Virginian.
In the freshmen girls\' 1600 meter run, Eleanor Roosevelt had the top ninth grader in Teshika Rivers as her time of 5:22.50 was just good enough to hold off W.T. woodson\'s Aaren Pastor (5:22.57) in a close race. Rivers\' time broke the old meet record by over 12 seconds.
Eleanor Roosevelt had several meet record performances on the day including Tameka Jameson in the 300 metr hurdles as had a swift clocking of 44.41 in the event. Earlier in the meet, Jameson had ran the opening 1200 meter leg on Eleanor Roosevelt\'s first place distance medley relay (12:57.09).
There was no surprise in the strength shown in the relays by the girls from Eleanor Roosevelt as they set a new meet record in their final event with the 4x400 meter relay at a time of 3:55.27, while placing second in the 4x800 meter relay with a \"B\" team at 10:02.19. A disqualificationt in the 4x100 meter relay prevented them from a third win in the relays.
Coach Beeby\'s West Potomac girls took a comfortable win in the 4x800 meter relay as they won by a 15 second margin in a meet record run of 9:47.87.
The Westfield girls benefited from the disqualification of Eleanor Roosevelt in the fast section of the 4x100 meter relay as their time of 50.19 in section two of five held up as the top time of the day in the event.
Stonewall Jackson senior Thelma Breezealt breezed her way to a first place finish in the 100 meter dash with a solid early season clocking of 12.48 in the event to earn an early state qualifier for the Group AAA State Meet in June.
Breezealt was not the lone Stonewall Jackson athlete with a meet record win as Jared Simmons won the boys\' 200 meter dash in a impressive clocking of 21.83 clocking.
The freshmen boys\' 1600 meter run saw an impressive twin duo to look out for from Thomas Edison in Leoule and Tihut Degfae as they led from start to finish in the fast section of the event to take the top two places in times of 4:41.47 and 4:45.76 respectively.
DeDatha Catholic (MD) senior Jeremy Samuels looked strong in the 400 meter dash as his final time of 48.26 set a new meet record. Meanwhile, Hayfield senior Chris Richardson won his section of the dash event in a time of 48.94 to finish second overall and put himself ranked #1 in the state currently.
The Eleanor Roosevelt boys\' distance crew is not too bad themselves as they won the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 8:11.49 with Thomas Edison in second at 8:19.26. Roosevelt also had an individual winner in the distance races with junior Kelli Thibou posting the top time (1:57.64) in the 800 meter run.
In one of the more dramatic finishes of the meet, James Robinson senior Mark Hussa regained the lead he had earlier from Oakton senior Matt Kroetch in the final strides on the homestretch for a 4:29.03 win in the 1600 meter run. Kroetch finished close in second at 4:29.49.
DeMatha\'s Geoffrey Daley swept the hurdle events at Oakton by winning the 110 meter hurdles on Friday evening in a 14.45 clocking and then dipping under 40 seconds in the 300 meter hurdles on Saturday with a fine early season time of 39.25. Lake Braddock\'s Ian Prohaska was the race runner-up in a time of 40.61.
DeMatha also won the 4x100 meter relay as their 44.37 clocking bettered Group AA\'s Park View (44.57) out of the fast section. DeMatha ran a \"B\" team for their 4x400 meter relay consisting mainly of underclassmen as they posted a time of 3:29.27 as Northern Region rivals Lake Braddock (3:26.18) and Westfield (3:26.81) battled to the line with the Bruins of Lake Braddock coming up victorious in the end.
Friday night\'s 3200 meter winner James Phillips opened up strong for Oakton on the 1200 meter leg of the Cougar\'s distance medley relay, while Tommy Mason was able anchor home the win on the 1600 meter leg with Oakton winning the relay event in a time of 10:58.15.
George Marshall\'s Theo Robinson won the high jump competition in a tiebreaker over James Robinson\'s Thomas Barrineau as both athletes successfully cleared six feet.
Another tiebreaker decided the outcome of the boys\' pole vault with Chantilly\'s Dominic Lauchengco and Yorktown\'s William Harris both clearing bar heights of 13 feet with Lauchengco being declared the winner based on a tiebreaker.
After setting a new meet mark in the long jump on Friday (22\'11.25\"), Thomas Edison senior Ed Baldwin had a strong follow up performance on Saturday in the triple jump with a third place finishing mark of 45\'9.50\" in the triple jump. Maryland\'s Oxon Hill had the top two finishers in the event with Warren Gray (1st, 46\'9.25\") and Antwan Farmer (45\'10.25\") as Gray broke the old meet record with his jump.
Baldwin\'s teammate Devan Clark duplicated the performance by Baird of Park View in the girls\' throwing events by winning each event. In Friday\'s shot put, Clark threw a best of 48\'2.75\" to win the event. Clark dominated Saturday\'s discus throw as he threw for a distance of 149\'3\" to win the event by nearly 20 feet.
Meet management and the timing crew did an excellent job at handling the large meet in an efficient and well-run manner. The Nike Spring Invitational on May 6th should be another very exciting meet hosted at Oakton High School with Maryland\'s Eleanor Roosevelt returning and a select few of some of Virginia\'s best track teams in the state.