The 24th annual Fred Hardy Invitational (formerly known as the Fork Union Indoor Invitational) had an impressive collection of winning performances spread out among the sprints, hurdles, distance races, and field events at the Estes Athletic Center's 160 meter indoor track facility.
Photo by Pat Maddox
Girls Highlights:
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Last year's Group AA state indoor champion in the 55 meter dash as a freshmen, Latrice Morris of Heritage High School in Lynchburg, won both the 55 and 300 meter dash at FUMA with a swift clocking of 7.26 in the 55 meter dash finals and a 42.94 performance on the tight turns of a short track. Morris was also the runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 16'3".
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In her first meet back from an injury, which had her out of competition for the past month, Louisa County senior Javanique Burruss breezed through the 55 meter hurdles with a 8.27 clocking in the finals. Burruss will be a Group AA state title favorite in both the hurdles, long jump, and triple jump.
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Fluvanna County junior Hannah Meador matched her season best height of 11'6" in the pole vault as she works to match the high bar set for herself as a sophomore last year when she successfully cleared 12'8.50" and was a Group AA state champion both indoors and outdoors in the event.
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Western Albemarle distance runner Annie Taylor lapped the entire field en route to her near personal best performance of 11:33.99 in the 3200 meter run. Taylor is coming off a strong finish to her cross country season in which she was the Region II individual runner-up and finished 9th for All-State honors in the Group AA state meet race.
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Marika Livingston, a freshmen at Norfolk Academy, ran a PR in an event which normally athletes do not see all-time best performances in the Estes Center as the versatile multi-event athlete recorded a time of 1:20.83 in the 500 meter dash to win the event over King George distance runner Lindsey Armentrout (1:21.40).
Photo by Pat Maddox
Boys Highlights:
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Romero Hines of I.C. Norcom really lit it up on the track in the sprints at FUMA. Hines was able to outduel King George junior Davion Hutt (2nd, 6.61) in the 55 meter dash with a 6.59 clocking in the finals. A Group AAA All-State performer in the long jump and 300 meter dash last year indoors, Hines came back later in the 300 meter dash to defeat the 500 meter dash winner earlier in Varina's Desmond Dowling, who had a great sprint double himself with a 1:09.02 victory in the 500 followed by a 36.51 runner-up finish to Hines (36.42) in the 300 meter dash.
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Returning Group AA state 1600 meter indoor champion David Taylor of Western Albemarle really took charge and blazed a hard pace in the 10 lap event in order to record an outstanding time of 4:22.70, which was not far off his personal best of 4:21.80 from last year's state indoor race.
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Runner-up to Taylor and holding off his Capital District rival Griffin Carmichael (3rd, 4:28.71) for second place was Varina's Darrick Thornhill in a time of 4:28.32. Thornhill impressively came back in a short time later to claim first place in the 1000 meter run with his second personal best effort of the day in a 2:35.90 win.
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One of the state's top returning pole vaulters, Fluvanna County senior Chance Parmly was able to clear a new season best height of 14'6", which ranks him fourth in the state of Virginia and first among all Group AA vaulters which Parmly is a defending Group AA state indoor champ.
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Another state champion featured in the meet and Fork Union's own in hurdler Clyde Gross quickly pulled away from the field in the 55 meter hurdles with a new personal best time of 7.59. Gross is well ahead of the next best private school hurdlers as only teammate Tyron Mcdade, who posted a time of 7.81 for third place in the finals, has ran under 8 seconds in the 55 meter hurdles this season.
2013 Fred Hardy Invitational:
The 24th annual Fred Hardy Invitational (formerly known as the Fork Union Indoor Invitational) had an impressive collection of winning performances spread out among the sprints, hurdles, distance races, and field events at the Estes Athletic Center's 160 meter indoor track facility.
Photo by Pat Maddox
