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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The Brooke Point girls squeaked out a two point win over the Rachel Butler-led Lee-Davis squad, while the Fork Union boys rolled to their second consecutive team title at the Dogwood Track Classic. Axel Mostrag of Fork Union set a meet record in thrilling 1600 meter battle with Alex Bowman of Hermitage in 4:13.42, while Brooke Point\'s April Sinkler (5\'8\" HJ\") tied the old high jump mark. Less than four inches separated Angela Jenkins of Buffalo Gap(19\'0.50\" LJ/39\'2\" TJ) from breaking two meet records in the long jump and triple jump held by Gar-Field great Sheena Johnson. Hermitage senior Queen Harrison posted two impressive times in her victories in the 300 meter hurdles (42.15) and 200 meter dash (24.65).
Fork Union boys were convincing winners as their team total of 66 points put them well ahead of second place E.C. Glass with 38 points. Brandon Caleb led Coach Winston Brown\'s troops as he was awarded honors as the top field event athlete of the meet by winning both the long jump and triple jump with strong marks of 22\'6\" in the long and 47\'2\" in the triple. His mark in the triple jump was just over a four inch personal best for Caleb. Caleb also was a member of the third place finishing 4x100 meter relay (43.27), fourth in the 110 meter hurdles (15.01), and sixth in the 300 meter hurdles (41.30) to contribute a total of 34 points inal between the one relay and four individual events competed.
Fork Union also the runner of the meet as well in junior Axel Mostrag as the highly anticipated battle between Mostrag and Hermitage senior Alex Bowman lived up to its billing. Bowman led Mostrag for the majority of the race as they went through 800 meters in a moderate pace of 2:10. The pace picked up significantly over the second half of the race and on the final lap, Virginia\'s two premier middle distance runners were rolling. With 200 meter to go, Mostrag seized the lead from Bowman and was able to put a slight cushioning room between them as he closed in a 59 second last 400 to win in a meet record and personal best time of 4:13.42. Bowman having been drafted off of the entire race by Mostrag, closed strong as well in a personal best time of 4:15.42 for second.
Mostrag would come back later in the day and encounter another one of Virginia\'s best in the sprint medley relay Carlton Phipps of E.C. Glass, who ran 1:53 last spring for 800 meters. Phipps took the baton less than a second ahead of Mostrag as the 800 meter anchor legs on the event. The two harriers went through 400 meters in roughly a slow 60 seconds. The race was on from there and rolling off the final curve, Mostrag had the advantage from the outside and sped his way to the finish as Mostrag split a 1:56 to give FUMA the win in a time of 3:36.65 over E.C. Glass (3:36.98) and Phipps.
Bowman also had an outstanding 1600 and 800 meter double as he competed in the open 800 meter event following the SMR and led from wire-to-wire in a personal best time of 1:54.62 as he won by a dominating four seconds. Fork Union junior Jamie Reichlein was the second place finisher in a time of 1:58.86 as he doubled back from competing in the 400 meter dash earlier in the day.
Oscar Smith sophomore Frede Spellman and Massaponax senior Dominique Smith played musical chairs in the throwing events as Spellman won the shot put with a state leading throw of 57\'3\" and Smith finished second with a mark of 53\'10. Meanwhile, the discus throw suited Smith better as his best throw of 158\'4\" put him ahead of Spellman at 149\'3\".
Harrisonburg junior Tim Beierle soared to a personal best height of 14\'6\" to win the pole vault competition as Douglas Freeman senior Kevin Brinkley also hit a best height of 14\'0\" despite some windy conditions to disrupt the approach of the vaulters.
Albemarle senior Anthony Bryant won for the home crowd in the high jump as his height of 6\'6\" topped Dinwiddie senior Dwan Jackson, who bowed out at a height of 6\'4\".
The boys 3200 meter run showcased a resurgence in the distance events for Group AA after a couple of down years in a row as four of the top five finishers were from the classification including race winner Nick Gehlsen of Brentsville, who held off a challenge from Culpeper\'s Devin Cornwall (9:32.48) on the final lap to win in a time of 9:30.41. Teammate Adam Henken finished third in a time of 9:34.18, while fellow Group AA runners Andrew Mearns of Jamestown (4th, 9:35.05) and Will Massie of Western Albemarle (5th, 9:36.55) also had fine races to round out the top five.
Fort Defiance nearly joined James Robinson as the only Virginia teams to break eight minutes this year in the 4x800 meter relay as they won the event at Dogwood in a time of 8:01.00 as the team was comprised of Derek Hizer, Daniel Alonso, Alex Ott, and Matt Bailey. They finished over 11 seconds ahead of the field with J.R. Tucker taking runner-up honors in a timeof 8:12.78.
Heritage\'s Les Bradley wasted no time shedding the race rust from last spring as Group AA\'s top returning hurdler defeated very deep fields in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles with first place clockings of 14.51 and 38.90 respectively. State leader in the 110 meter hurdles, Mike Garel of Brooke Point, finished second to Bradley in a time of 14.54.
The finish of the boys 100 meter dash virtually looked like a three way tie between Oscar Smith senior Ervin Riddick, Robert E. Lee junior Sean Holston, and Nottoway senior Justin Stith. However, the tape gave Riddick the win by a mere one hundredth of a second over Holston (10.99) at 10.98. Stith took third in a time of 11.02 as headwinds slowed times down.
Appomattox County continuees to appear to be Group AA\'s top 4x100 meter relay as they overcame a tough challenge from Orange County (43.27) to win with a 43.07 clocking. Anchor leg Rashad Kelso would win the 200 meter dash as well with a 22.16 clocking as headwinds also affected times in a sprint event. Nottoway\'s Stith had a nice double finishing second in the event in 22.76.
The unheralded Brunswick senior Ronquis Posey surprised all by winning the 400 meter dash in a time of 50.29 out of a slow section of the event. Albemarle\'s Chris Best had won the top section in a time of 50.86, but the fastest section turned out to be section three with Posey, Peter Branch of Lee-Davis (2nd, 50.79), and Emmanuel Morgano of Thomas Jefferson (3rd, 50.83).
E.C. Glass relied on their sprint relays to carry them to a second place finish. Their team finish was impressive considering they were competing without two of the top athletes in thrower Mike Zajac and distance ace Patterson Wilhelm. Zajac was competing and winning the discus throw at Penn Relays this weekend, while Wilhelm in unfortunate circumstances was attending his grandfather\'s funeral. However, a second place finish to Osbourn (1:31.05) in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1:31.05 and victory to close out the day in the 4x400 meter relay (3:25.37) helped move them up in the team standings. Carlton Phipps anchored three relay events on the day with the SMR, 4x200, and 4x400 meter relays.
Mountain View took the distance medley relay in a time of 10:52.51 as freshmen star Thomas Porter had an excellent 1600 meter anchor leg to run down Western Albemarle\'s Will Massie, who was making a difficult double in a short period of time from the 3200 meter run in the morning. Massie was able to hold off a challenge at the line from Battlefield\'s Jason Driscoll to give Western second place in a time of 10:57.72. Battlefield just a few hundredths of a second behind in third at 10:57.75.
Not anyone can pull off running an all-out personal best 3200 meter run and then come back to run a PR split on the 1600 meter leg of the DMR less than an hour later. Well it is possible if your name happens to be Rachel Rose. That is exactly what the Albemarle junior did as she ran away from the field in the 3200 meter run as she went through 2:30 at 800 meters and 5:15 at 1600 meters to finish up in a time of 10:45.52. Her time put her nearly 30 seconds ahead of the next finisher in North Carolina\'s Marley Burns of Carolina Day (11:14.49). With more even pacing, Rose could be venturing close to 10:30 this spring. Her time ranks her just behind Catherine White of Northside as one of the state\'s best times.
Then in less than an hour time span, Rose was on the track again anchoring her team\'s distance medley relay and chasing down the field as she gave Albemarle the win in a time of 12:49.64. Rose split a personal best time of 5:06 on her leg.
The Brooke Point girls won the team title by a narrow two point margin over Lee-Davis. Brooke Point had plenty of point contributions from April Sinker in the jumps as well as a few first place finishes from their relays. Sinker, the current state leader in the high jump at 5\'9\", almost matched her best height as she successfully cleared 5\'8\" at Dogwood to tie the meet record in the event. Sinkler also finished fourth in the long jump (18\'6\") and third in the triple jump (38\'3.50\").
Relays also played a key role in the team title as their 4x100 meter relay, which was anchored by Sinkler, bested Deep Run (50.26) with their final time of 50.03. However, it would take a win in the 4x400 meter relay to give the Lady Blackhawks sole property of the first place exactly and they did just that with their winning time of 4:02.67, which is a season best for the team.
Buffalo Gap senior Angela Jenkins nearly walked out with two meet records on Saturday in the jumps and meet records at Dogwood are pretty lofty in all events. There is no exception in the girls long jump and triple jump as the former Gar-Field and UCLA star and now Olympian Sheena Johnson holds both marks at 19\'2.50\" and 39\'3.50\". Group A\'s top track athlete Jenkins beat some of Virginia\'s best jumpers in the process to winning both events with a mark of 19\'0.50\" and state best jump of 39\'2\" in the triple jump. Both events were deep as only an inch and a half separated the top three finishers in the long jump with Jenkins, Gloucester\'s Jaleesa Osbourne (2nd, 18\'11.75\"), and Hermitage\'s Queen Harrison (3rd, 18\'11\"), while four jumpers went over 38 feet in the triple jump with Jenkins, Deep Run\'s Ashley Orr (2nd, 38\'10.75\"), Brooke Point\'s Sinkler, and Lee-Davis\' Rachel Butler (4th, 38\'0\").
Butler of Lee-Davis was all over the place for another track meet competing in a handful of events. She won the 100 meter hurdles with a personal best clocking of 15.01, while finishing third in the pole vault (10\'0\"), third in the 400 meter dash (57.67), and fifth in the 200 meter dash (25.72) to help Lee-Davis finish second as a team.
Kathy Howard complemented multi-event star Butler for Lee-Davis in throws as took the shot put with a best mark of 42\'9.50\" with two 40 feet plus performances following her in Robert E. Lee\'s Kristen Crawford second at 40\'9.50\" and Liberty\'s Carly Morse third at 40\'7\". Howard found stiffer competition earlier though in the discus throw as she placed fourth behind three Group AA throwers in event winner Roshell Hill of Fluvanna (120\'3), Morse of Liberty (118\'6\"), and Jeneva McCall of Bassett (115\'7\").
Third place long jumper finisher Queen Harrison really made some headwaves on the track as she ran a smoking 300 meter hurdle time of 42.10, which is a personal best and ranks her second in the state behind current US #1 400 meter hurdler Nicole Saunders of Menchville. Harrison also come back in the 200 meter dash to post another barn burner with a 24.65 clocking.
Finishing second to Harrison in the 200 meter dash was James Monroe senior Marie Fields in a time of 25.35. Fields was the winner of the 100 meter dash earlier in the day as she took a close win over Freedom freshmen Assante Johnson (12.64) in a 12.61 clocking.
After the final competitors were out at 10 feet with St. Catherine\'s sophomore Carrie Wortham and Lee-Davis\' Butler, Western Albemarle senior and 12\'10\" state record holder Ashley Early came into the competition at 12 feet and cleared successfully. However, she struggled at her next height on the windy day and failed to clear on her three attempts.
A state best time was posted in the 800 meter run by defending Group AAA state champion Christi Harsha. One of Group A\'s finest in Ashton Bishop led the race through close to 600 meters, but on the back stretch of the final lap, Western Branch\'s Kenya Jones and Douglas Freeman\'s Harsha began to move up on her. In the final 100 meters, Harsha rallied to pass by Jones (2nd, 2:16.09) to win in a time of 2:15.36. North Carolina\'s Callan Fike of Athens Drive completed a strong double for second third place finish of the day in a time of 2:18.75 as she snuck past Gate City\'s Bishop (4th, 2:20.40) close to the finish.
In the girls 1600 meter run that Fike finished third earlier in the meet in a time of 5:09.57, the race saw several lead changes. Brooke Point\'s Brittany Copeland set a hot early pace for the field that made it a hang on for dear life race for the last half. As Copeland faltered, Fike, Sallie Ford of E.C. Glass, and Kayley Byrne of Oakton battled for the lead. It would be Byrne who would pull away with the win in a time of 5:07.16 as the William & Mary bound Ford had a solid effort in second at 5:08.50.
Ford would later anchor a the E.C. Glass girls sprint medley relay to victory with a time of 4:18.53 as the Lady Hilltoppers won by 11 seconds over St. Catherine\'s (4:29.94). The St. catherine\'s SMR did not feature sophomore Glennis Lofland nor Katie Doswell. If loaded down, St. Catherine\'s could put together a pretty incredible team, especially considering Lofland\'s 57.61 PR run to finish second in the 400 meter dash on Saturday at Lannigan.
The Potomac Senior relay team of Jasmine Williams, Jasmine Haley, Brittany Johnson, and Yvonne Amegisha took top honors in the 4x200 meter relay with a solid time of 1:46.73.
Spotswood became one of only several teams in Group AA to go under ten minutes this season in the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 9:53.98 as their four relay members were Margene Moats, Colleen Hopkins, Devin Coleman, and Karla Slater.
The Dogwood Track Classic once again proved itself to the be biggest and deepest meet in the state of Virginia.