Central Region Meet once again was an outstanding showcase of some of the Richmond area\'s finest in track and field. The Manchester boys showed why they are one of the best teams in the state with a dominating performance to take the boys team title. The Lancers were led by Anthony Chesson as he posted two swift victories in the 100 (10.85 finals, 10.65 prelims) and 200 (21.49 finals, 21.93 prelims) meter dashes. The Hermitage boys finished second as they were led by distance ace Alex Bowman, who put together an incredible triple with a 1:51.5 anchor leg to give Hermitage the victory in the 4x800 meter relay on Friday night, while returning on Saturday to win both the 1600 (4:19) and 800 (1:55) meter races. Multi-event star Rachel Butler led the charge for the Lee-Davis girls to take the crown, while Kathy Howard\'s win in the shot put and runner-up finish in the discus also helped considerably also for their team effort.
The Manchester boys were 36 point winners over Hermitage as junior Anthony Chesson scored two individual regional titles in 100 and 200 meter dashes as well as being a member of the winning 4x100 meter relay at 42.35. Manchester got an unexpected extra push out of the distance events starting off with their 4x800 meter relay team finishing second in a time of 8:00.72 as Andrew Duty anchored with a 1:54 high split. Duty and relay teammate Josh Hawes then came back on Thursday to finish second and third in the 800 meter run with times of 1:57.05 and 1:57.38 respectively. In the 200 meter dash, another strong Manchester duo was found with Chesson winning and Reggie Hill finishing second in a 22.19 clocking. Heavily favored, but only a sophomore Antonio Miller of Manchested picked up a regional title with a mark of 47\'8.75\" in the triple jump.
Hermitage picked up 30 points directly from Alex Bowman as his outstanding 1:51 anchor leg split on the 4x800 meter relay helped pull Hermitage from considerable distance behind into a first place victory of 8:00.37. Bowman certainly gave chase once receiving the baton with a 53 second first 400 meters. On Thursday, Bowman won both the 1600 (4:19.35) and 800 (1:55.43) meter races without any serious contention.
Despite Bowman\'s efforts, he contributed less than one half of Hermitage\'s team total of 69 points as John Vial was the next best place winner for the Panthers with a second place finish in the 3200 meter run at 9:53.26. J.R. Tucker\'s Mawut Deng was a surprise winner in the race at 9:51.80 in a down year for the event. Other solid individual performances from Hermitage included Curtis Robinson in the 110 meter hurdles (4th, 15.31), Vial in the 1600 meter run (4th, 4:27.42), Nathan Puckett in the 3200 meter run (5th, 9:59.83), Marvin Edison in the shot put (5th, 51-3.75), and Harold Robertson in the discus (4th, 138-11).
Lee-Davis built huge leads in the field events on both days of competition thanks to the tandem of Rachel Butler and Kathy Howard as they finished just over ten points ahead of Midlothian (76 pts) at 86 1/2 points. Butler finished second in Wednesday\'s long jump with a mark of 18-0.50 as she finished second to Hermitage senior Queen Harrison, who hit a personal best mark of 19-6.75. Unfortunately for Harrison and the Hermitage team, Thursday would not be the desired finish to Harrison\'s illustrious high school career as she reinjured an already aggravated hamstring injury in the triple jump competition in what looks to be her second season ending injury in a row. She suffered her first fate of bad luck with a broken collarbone in her district meet last spring. Harrison\'s best mark before that attempt at 39-5 still placed her second in the event as fellow 40 plus foot jumper Butler won the event with a mark of 39-7.75. Butler also finished third in the pole vault at 10 feet, while tying for third in the high jump at a clearance of 5-3.
In the throws, Howard successfully defended her regional title from a year ago as she looks ahead to defend her state title next week at Todd Stadium with a winning toss of 42-3 in the shot put. Howard won the shot put on Thursday after finishing a close second in Wednesday\'s discus throw at 126-6 behind former state champion Jennifer Marinacci of Manchester, who posted a top throw of 127-10.
Rachel Butler added to her already large individual point total finishing second in the 100 meter hurdle event at 14.95. Butler was not done for the day there as she won her second regional title of the meet in the 300 meter hurdles with a personal best clocking of 43.98. She concluded her meet with a blazing 4x400 meter relay anchor leg to lead Lee-Davis to a season best fourth place performance of 4:03.50.
Second place Midlothian only gained a one point advantage in the final relay event finishing third in a time of 4:02.47. The Lady Trojans were led by junior M.C. Miller as she was a part of Wednesday night\'s first place 4x800 meter relay (9:40.23) and individually, won her second battle in two weeks over former 1000 meter state champion Kristen Wolfe of James River in the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:06.96 with Wolfe in second at 5:09.18. Miller then would have to square in the 800 meter run with defending AAA state champion Christi Harsha as one of the meet\'s best races was found between last year\'s top two finishers in the state 800 meter race. Miller sat off of Harsha for the majority of the race and tried to rally past her from the outside on the final stretch, but Harsha was unwilling to relinquish the lead as she finished in a season best time of 2:14.28. Miller completed a strong double for the day to finish second in a time of 2:14.42.
Other top finishers for Midlothian included Kyra RIchardson in the 300 meter hurdles (2nd, 47.13), Erin Stehle in the 3200 meter run (2nd, 11:44.59), and Paige Johnston in the 1600 meter run (3rd, 5:10.31).
With defending regional champion Anne Marie Gordon of Mills Godwin still working herself into form in her second meet back since coming back from a stress fracture, Atlee freshmen Emma Dejarnette seized the moment to win her first regional title with a successful clearance of 10-6. Gordon cleared 10 feet along with two other athletes in Butler and Atlee sophomore Rachael Hawks, who gave the Lady Raiders a top two underclassmen in the event.
Douglas Freeman senior Kevin Brinkley broke up a complete Atlee party by winning the boys\' pole vault in a clearance of 14\'3\" with three Raiders following him in place order in Jordan Cole (2nd, 14-0), Justin Varner (3rd, 14-0), and Cameron Sovick (4th, 14-0).
Top seeded Blake DeChristopher of Clover Hill had a best throw of 55-3.75 to beat his season best coming in as well as the rest of the field in the shot put. No surprise as well in the discus throw with Mills Godwin\'s Chad Lawson winning at a mark of 157-10. However, Henrico\'s Thomas Hughes was not expected to join Lawson in throwing over 150 feet in second at 152-0.
Only one inch separated the top three competitors in the boys\' long jump with J.R. Tucker junior Marcus Robinson taking the narrow win with a best jump of 22-10.75. Rashaad Cannon of Highland Springs (2nd, 22-10) and Douglas Wall of Petersburg (22-9.75) helped to make for a close event.
Wall could have ended up with two regional titles with just over one more inch in the long jump as he already took the high jump as the only athlete to clear a height of 6-5.
The girls\' high jump featured three entrants at 5-6, but the only one of the three of them to have a good day would be Huguenot\'s Wanetta Kirby as her 5-4 clearance was good enough for first. Kirby also won the 100 meter hurdles in at 14.85.
Matoaca junior Aramis Massenburg won the 110 meter hurdles by roughly half a second in his classy 14.64 clocking. Massenburg made it a sweep in the hurdles later in the meet with his time of 39.39 giving him a close victory over Clover Hill\'s Jeremy Zdanek (39.64).
In a race heavy with underclassmen, seniority ruled in Mills Godwin senior Elsia Yoo closing strong over the final 200 meters to overtake Midlothian\'s Stehle in a final time of 11:41 for her first regional championship.
Matoaca junior Shanneka Claiborne is becoming the Francena McCorory of the Central Region in that she never loses. Claiborne added to her already growing count of regional titles with quick times of 12.09 in the 100 (12.02 in prelims) and 25.14 in the 200 meter dash.
However, the top sprint performance of the day belonged to Colonial Heights sophomore Shae Wilbon as she blew away the 400 meter field with a personal best time of 55.84. Wilbon was then later featured on the 4x400 meter relay, which she helped to motor on anchor leg to victory and the region\'s first sub four team this spring with a 3:59.33 clocking.
Matoaca had a total of five individual Central Region titles as Massenburg and Claiborne won two apiece and Bryant Terry was also a first place finisher in the meet in the 400 meter dash as he led three runners under 50 seconds with a final time of 49.09.
The girls\' 4x100 meter relay saw an exciting battle between top seeds Deep Run and Matoaca as Deep Run won out with Ashley Orr on anchor in a time of 49.43. Orr later finished second in the 200 meter dash (26.26) to Matoaca relay member Claiborne.
Manchester punctuated its regional title statement with a second place finish in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:23.96, while Highland Springs earned the relay title as they held onto the win in a time of 3:23.01.