Photo by Ryan Kelly
Boys Highlights:
- Highland Springs sophomore Marcus Taylor remained unbeaten this indoor season and lowered his state leading time in the 55 meter dash even more with a US #2 6.46 clocking. His teammate Quashod Williams was right behind him in the finals as a 6.50 runner-up. Taylor and Williams were also featured on the Highland Springs 4x200 meter relay, which rolled out a state best time of 1:32.58 to win by a full second over I.C. Norcom (1:33.64)
- I.C. Norcom senior Romero Hines had a big weekend as he garnered three first place showings at Boo Williams including a personal best leap of 45'2.50" in the triple jump and state leading performance of 35.79 in the 300 meter dash. Hines also had the best mark in the long jump at 21 feet even. Hines was 7th in the AAA State Indoor Championships last year in both the long jump and 300 meter dash, while he just missed qualifying for the finals in the 100 and 200 meter dash at the outdoor state meet.
- Last weekend, Churchland's Deandre James dropped a handful of seconds off from his previous best in the 1000 meter after being pulled along in chasing after state leader Griffin Carmichael of Atlee. This weekend at Boo Williams, James had to set the pace on his own and ended up running even faster out in front to post a great solo effort time of 2:35.61 to rank him US #10 in the middle distance event.
- X'Saviar Murrell of Warwick just recently moved up to the 500 meter dash after focusing on shorter events in previous season. The Warwick senior Murrell may want to stick with the new event after improving nearly two seconds from his debut (1:09.12) in the event five days earlier to hold off Devon Thompson (1:07.67) for Highland Springs with a 1:07.57 victory. He can utilize his 11.23 100 meter speed to close well at the end of his 500 meter races.
- An exciting race to close the meet in the 4x400 meter relay between Highland Springs (3:31.32), I.C. Norcom (3:32.13), and Churchland (3:32.36) featuring many of the individual winners from earlier races.
Girls Highlights:
- After being stuck at a 5'4" best in the high jump for the longest time, Gloucester senior Evan Wagner finally broke through with her first clearance at 5'5" in her team's own invitational. Wagner has won three consecutive weekends at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in the high jump, but her clearance at 5'5" had to mean even more than any win so far since she had being stunted at a 5'4" best in so many meets since clearing 5'4" for the first time as a 10th grader back in December of 2010.
- Highland Springs senior Darsheal Cook was a double winner in the sprints as she just missed matching her season best in the 300 meter dash with a 41.96 clocking after winning the 500 meter dash in a new personal best and first sub 1:20 performance in 1:19.57 for last year's Capital District indoor champion.
Gloucester Pre-Holiday Invitational Complete Results