RICHMOND, VA -- There cannot be enough thanks extended to groups and individuals who made the Southern Track Classic as outstanding of a meet as it was in the 2006 edition. Granted, some pop singer by the name of Elliott Yamin was getting a lot of the attention and uproar across the parking lot with his appearance the Richmond Braves game, but the athletes that were participating in this year\'s Southern Track Classic will most likely have a future in the sport that far outlives the musical career of Elliott or most musician through American Idol. I will be using the media medium to play down music that is awful and tacky and instead uplift the greatness and actual achievement that is found in the great sport of track and field that was put on display at the 2006 edition of the Southern Track Classic. Honestly, is it not sad more people probably vote for American Idol than they vote for America\'s president!
There were certainly two big stories associated with this year\'s Southern Track and the two stories took different directions as far as positive and negative turns. To get done with the bad news and put it out of the way, Virginia\'s top athlete in track and field in the state and the one individual that we can boast load and proud that she is one of own, Francena McCorory of Bethel, injured herself at the Southern Track Classic. Midway through her first event of the day in the 100 meter dash, McCorory pulled up lame with clearly a hamstring injury. While worse has been seen with studs pretty much crashing to the track due to hamstring pulls, McCorory\'s status for the rest of the season still has to remain questionable.
However, the triple jump sure filled in with McCorory knocked out of the meet. In one of the best competitions for the girls\' triple jump ever witnessed on a state and national level, four individuals in the event cleared marks over 40 feet and earned top ten national rankings. Hermitage senior Queen Harrison led the foursome as she set a new meet record with a US #3 leap of 40\'8.75\" as she bested the old mark of 40\'8\" held by current University of Miami star Amy Seward. However, the excitement did not end there as Hayfield senior and Clemson University bound Nakeisha Wineglass of Hayfield scooted into second with some clutch finals jump after fouling on earlier jumps with a US #4 mark of 40\'6\" for the evening. Previous state leader Angela Jenkins of Buffalo Gap finished third with a US #9 mark of 40\'0.50\", while Lee-Davis junior Rachel Butler cleared 40 feet for the first time ever with a personal best US #9 jump of 40\'0.50\" as well.
One of the top performances to come out of the boys' field events at the Southern Track Classic came in the throws with E.C. Glass senior Mike Zajac\'s double wins in the shot put and discus threw. Zajac threw for an outdoor personal best of 57\'1.75\" to win the shot put, while breaking the old meet record with his top mark of 180\'7\" in the discus throw. Zajac was awarded as one of the meet\'s most outstanding athletes.
Both long jump competitions were very close. Thomas Edison\'s Ed Baldwin won the boys\' event with only half an inch separating himself from third place finisher Spencer Croner of 22\'5.25\" as Baldwin had the top mark at 22\'5.75\" and Daniel Richmond of Menchville took second at 22\'5.50\".
Centreville\'s Brittni Finch was favored to win the long jump at Southern Track and she did just that as she almost matched her personal best of 19\'8.50\" from her indoor state meet record performance by leaping to a US #4 mark of 19\'8\". However, Bethel junior Shakia Forbes was certainly not expected to finish right on her heels at 19\'7\" for second in a US #7 performance.
The girls' high jump was the face off that was expected between AAA state champion and Nike Indoor Nationals runner-up Ashley Gating of Deep Creek and April Sinkler of Brooke Point. Both had cleared heights of 5\'9\" this season and while neither matched that height at Southern Track, both went over the old meet record of 5\'6\" as Gatling cleared a height of 5\'8\" for the win over Sinkler, who topped out at 5\'7\".
While no impressive height clearances in the boys' high jump, there was an exciting jump-off to determine the winner with Petersburg\'s Douglas Wall, Dinwiddie\'s Dwan Jackson, and Albemarle\'s Anthony Bryant all clearing heights of 6\'4\". Wall was declared the winner after the jump-off with Jackson and Bryant sharing second place.
While the attention was on the jumping pit near the homestretch with four girls launching off jumps over 40 feet or greater in the triple jump, Dominion District rivals Antonio Miller of Manchester and Matu Bundy of Huguenot were going at it on the other side of the track in the boys triple jump. Miller, only a sophomore, won with an outstanding mark of 48 feet, while fellow Nike Indoor Nationals All-American Bundy finished second at 47\'3.50\". Both marks at Southern Track were personal bests for Miller and Bundy.
Park View sophomore Natalie Baird won the discus throw with her second best mark ever at 144\'2\" as the Penn Relays champion broke the old meet record held by Lindsay Neuberger at 131\'6\" by an impressive margin of nearly 13 feet. Second place finisher Carly Morse of Liberty also had a strong meet as she also eclipsed the old mark with a throw of 135\'2\".
Morse also finished second in the shot put with a mark of 41\'11.25\" as a big upset was found in the event with Robert E. Lee\'s Kristen Crawford winning with a personal best throw of 42\'7\" and defeating favorite and defending AAA state champion Kathy Howard of Lee-Davis, who finished third with a mark of 41\'4.50\".
The wind picked up a bit more for the boys\' pole vault versus the girls\' event as Tim Beierle of Harrisonburg won the event at a clearance of 13\'9\".
Westfield looked impressive in a 9:26.65 win in the 4x800 meter relay as solid times were recorded among the top three finishing squads with Westfield, Colonial Forge (9:29.56), and St. Catherine\'s (9:33.64). Westfield was anchored by Tasia Potasinski who ran a strong leg to pull away from Colonial Forge\'s anchor down the home stretch in the race.
With both James Robinson and Hermitage scratching from the event, the Fort Defiance boys once again found themselves in a position racing against the clock in the lead as they fell just short once again in breaking eight minutes as they finished with a time of 8:02.89. Three other teams went under 8:10 in the event including Forest Park (2nd, 8:05.12), J.R. Tucker (3rd, 8:07.71), and Thomas Edison (8:08.36).
The Menchville girls swept the hurdle events with Kali Watkins taking the 100 meter hurdles and Nicole Saunders defeating challenger Queen Harrison in the 300 meter hurdles. Watkins was a convincing winner in her race with a final time of 14.27 as she finished just one hundredth of a second off from tying the meet record of 14.26 held by Lauren Taylor. Meanwhile, the highly anticipated match up between Saunders and Harrison lived up to its excitement as Harrison gave the US #1 400 meter hurdler a fair challenge, but it was Saunders who would pull away in a meet record time of 42.54. Harrison would finish second in a time of 43.54 and later finish second in the 200 meter dash to go along with her triple jump win to earn the meet\'s most outstanding athlete award.
Winning the girls\' 200 meter dash and also the 100 meter dash was Riverdale Baptist of Maryland sophomore Krystin Lawson with clockings of 11.77 and 24.46 in the two sprint events. McCorory going down opened up the opportunity for Lawson to win, but she also broke McCorory\'s meet record of 11.84 in the 100 meter dash on Friday night.
Sean Holston won in a too close to tell by the naked eye finish in the 100 meter dash as his first place clocking of 10.71 only put a difference of seven hundredths of a second between him and fifth place finisher DeAngelo Wilson at 10.78. Filling in the space in between the two were Jerry Jones of Middlesex (2nd, 10.73), Justin Stith of Nottoway (3rd, 10.75), and James Harris of Middlesex (4th, 10.77).
The top sprint performance out of the day though came from Anthony Chesson as he competed in three events on Friday night at Sports Backers and walked away with three first place finishes. Chesson kicked off the night as the 400 meter leg on the sprint medley relay for Manchester as they broke their own meet record from a year ago with a US #8 time of 3:31.64. Manchester and Chesson then picked up a second relay win on the night in the 4x100 meter relay with the state\'s second fastest time at 42.04 as they beat most of the state\'s top relay teams in the event as well.
Chesson then came into his lone individual event of the night as the top seed but rather untested top seed having not raced against considerable competition this spring. However, Chesson certainly legitimized himself with a smoking 21.36 clocking as he broke the meet record of 21.44 held by current NFL Pro Bowler Jerome Matthis. Four other sprinters went under 22 seconds in the event including Thomas Speller of Indian River (21.56), Oliver Alexander of Bayside (21.58), 100 meter winner Holston (21.81), and DeAngelo Wilson of Prince Edward (21.96).
The boys' 400 meter dash looked to be one of the most competitive races on the night with several athletes as strong contenders in the event. DeMatha Catholic of Maryland\'s Jeremy Samuels took the event in a solid time of 48.18, while Bayside\'s Charles Clark (2nd, 48.91) held off Appomattox County\'s Rashad Kelso (3rd, 49.02) in the battle of Virginia\'s two best quarter milers.
Samuels was also featured on the 4x400 meter relay team for DeMatha, which won in a time of 3:20.61 to finish out the night. Salem of Virginia Beach placed second in the event as they won a slower section in a time of 3:22.74.
Their female counterparts in the relay event finished one better in first as they took the fast section in a time of 3:58.43. Deep Creek finished second overall out of a slower section as they joined Salem in running under four minutes at 3:59.24.
The big void of McCorory was apparent in the girls' 400 meter dash, but the race was exciting regardless as Oscar Smith\'s Crystal Roscoe won in a time of 56.26 and William Fleming\'s Brittany Cabbler had an excellent race to place second in a time of 57.73.
Brooke Point senior Mike Garel put together an incredible meet in the hurdles as he both events. In the 110 meter hurdles, Garel broke the meet record with a sensational clocking of 14.06, while showing great strength in doubling back for a 38.46 win in the 300 meter hurdles. Both times are state leading performances.
The winner for the girls\' 4x100 meter relay had to be decided looking at the camera and taking times to the thousandth of a second as Matoaca and William Fleming both clocked times of 49.22 in separate heats. Matoaca was then declared the winner as their relay squad featured Shanneka Claiborne, who finished second in the 100 meter dash with a personal best time of 11.87.
The Midlothian girls scratched out of the 4x800 meter relay, but put together a strong team in the sprint medley relay as the team of Crystal, Kyra Richardson, Danielle Murray, and Christine Selander won the event in a time of 4:17.98. Tallwood finished a close second in 4:19.46.
Lead changes were quite in the girls\' mile run as Albemarle\'s Rachel Rose led early on and then AAA state indoor champion Kristy Tobin seized control of the pace work. Rose faltered back and then Tobin did as well. Brooke Point\'s Brittany Copeland looked strong on the final lap and on her way to a victory, but then Tobin came back with a fast closing last 200 meters to win in a time of 5:03.41. Forest Park senior Stefanie Slekis (5:05.29) snuck in at the end to nip Copeland (5:05.34) for second. A total of seven girls were under 5:10 in the race including the top three finishers, Kristen Wolfe of James River (4th, 5:06.17), Michelle Britto of Woodbridge (5th, 5:06.66), Rose (6th, 5:06.77), and Kaylan Comer of Colonial Forge (7th, 5:07.04). The impressive stat is that Slekis is the only senior among that group.
People paid good money to come watch the boys' mile run as it featured some of the state\'s best distance runners and two of the nation\'s top milers as well in Daniel Roberts of Colorado and Rob Sorrell of Tennessee. Hermitage senior Alex Bowman almost spoiled the trip to Richmond for the out of staters as he seized the lead on the bell lap and looked to be holding off Roberts. However, Roberts proved too strong in the final 200 meters as he crossed the line in a time of 4:10.72 for the win. Bowman came away with a huge personal best with a second place time of 4:12.29, which converts to 4:10.69 for 1600 meters. Sorrel finished third in a time of 4:13.02 to round out a swift top three. Virginians Mike Spooner of West Springfield (4th, 4:17.10) and Dan Leyh of Colonial Forge (5th, 4:19.51) had to personal best days as they went under 4:20 as well.
Leyh\'s teammate Blake Arnold won the 800 meter run in another slow year for the event with a winning time of 1:56.28. The finish for the race was tightly bunched as most of the field was intact heading into the final 100 meters. Mark Hussa of Robinson had led for most of the race, but then was challenged by mile winner Roberts. However, it would be a late charge by Arnold that would claim the win as Carlton Phipps of E.C. Glass also closed well to take second in a time of 1:56.75.
Northside junior Catherine White successfully defended her Southern Track title from a year ago with a swift solo effort time of 10:35.81. With Rose running the mile earlier in the meet, White had no serious challenge from anyone during the race as she set a hard pace for herself alone. Rose had an impressive double that many struggle to do at Southern Track finishing second in a time of 11:01.39. Another performance worth noting was Group A\'s Susanna Sullivan of George Mason running a stellar personal best time of 11:05.37 for third place.
The boys\' two mile missed pre-race favorite Brad Siragusa as he sat out the meet with a quad strain, but the race turned out to have one of the more dramatic finishes of the day as E.C. Glass senior Patterson Wilhelm, still recovering from the death of his grandfather, showed the Patterson of old as he held off Midlothian sophomore Jason Witt to win in a time of 9:21.62. Witt\'s second place time of 9:21.91 broke the Midlothian school record formerly held by Austin Smith.
Nike Indoor Nationals national champion Katie Doswell of St. Catherine\'s took the 800 meter run with an outdoor personal best time of 2:12.64 as she over took William & Mary bound Ariel Burbey of Blacksburg, who set a solid early pace for the field and finished second with a big personal best time of 2:13.79 in a breakthrough run.
The Southern Track was held for the first time at the Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond. The Richmond Sports Backers, Road Runner Running Store, and National Scholastic Sports Foundation helped to make this event possible. And of course, one cannot forget the brainchild behind it since the inception of this meet in 1999 and the best promoter in Virginia high school track and field in selling an event in Mr. Dan Ward, the meet director.