Darrell Wesh

With adidas Nationals in a week we look at the best performances at NC A&T's venue's history.

All photos by John Herzog   It took several years for a Virginia school to qualify to compete for the Nike Cross Nationals in the fall, but it did not take long for the state to send a team to Oregon for the first ever Nike Track Nationals to be held on July 2nd at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.The Western Branch girls will be the lone representative for the Southeast region girls as their composite team scoring based on performances during the 2010 outdoor season ascened them to the top of the region rankings to be selected.With the likes of state champion caliber athletes Keilah Tyson, Desmonae Gray, and Sydni Cobb along with formidable relays, the Group AAA state indoor and outdoor champions will represent the state of Virginia in two weeks at the University of Oregon's facility.

Preview for the running events at the 2010 VHSL Group AA State Championships. Several races at this year's state meet will be historically some of the best ever in meet's history in terms of depth such as nine girls under 11 minutes in the 3200 meter run, six girls under 12 seconds in the 100 meter dash, and a large pack of boys relays ready to roll under 8 minutes in the 4x800 and 3:20 in the 4x400.  It has been seven years since the state meet was last held at Sports Backers Stadium and the ability for athletes to wear quarter inch spikes will not be the only factor to help potentially produce for many performances to rank among the fastest all-time in state meet history. Several athletes are capable of winning a pair of individual titles on the track including Darrell Wesh (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) in the boys 100 and 200 meter dash.

Brooke Point junior Roderque Gray (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) is one of the state's top returnees in the 100 and 200 meter dash based off his times last summer in age group club meet competition. He showed this past weekend in his outdoor season debut at the Brian Watkins I-95 Invitational that he is ready to validate those summer performances and perform right along the state's best during the actual high school season. At Potomac Senior High School in Dumfries on Saturday, Gray clocked personal best times of 10.97 in the 100 meter dash and 21.61 in the 200 meter dash as the 200 performance added a fourth school record to his credentials. Both times are early season state leader clockings in Virginia.   Limited meets and practice due to the snowstorms of this past winter slowed him  down from his potential in the indoor season as well as missing All-State honors in the 55 (7th) and 300 meter dash (10th). Following some good weather and quality training though since the end of indoor, Roderque Gray appears ready to become one of the top challengers to new sprint king and Nike Indoor Nationals 60 dash champion Darrell Wesh and definitely in position to become a rare sprint champion from the Northwest Region next year as an 11th grader currently. MileStat.com interviewed Gray following his stellar sprint double to start his spring season at the Brian Watkins I-95 Invite.

US High School Indoor All-Time 800 Meter List 1. Robby Andrews (Manalapan, NJ) 1:49.21 2009 2. Michael Granville (Bell Gardens, CA) 1:50.55 1995 3. George Kersh (Pearl, MS) 1:50.62 1987 4. John Marshall (Plainfield, NJ) 1:50.7 1981 5. Karjuan Williams (New Bern, NC) 1:50.74 2006 6. Anthony Kostelac (Albemarle, VA) 1:50.96 2010     Albemarle senior Anthony Kostelac (pictured above by Matt Shatkus) became only the sixth US high school runner to ever break 1:51 indoors for 800 meters in his jaw-dropping Nike Indoor Nationals 1:50.96 victory today in Boston. Kostelac's time broke the meet record held by another former Central Virginia middle distance star in 2007 champion Axel Mostrag (1:51.63) of Fork Union. An incredibly fast race and talented field set Kostelac up for the historically great time as second and third place finishers recorded times among the top 10 and 15 all-time, while last year's champion Billy Ledder finished 7th and out of All-American honors. After enjoying incredible success as an anchor leg on Albemarle's national record breaking 4x800 meter relays last as a junior (split 1:51.7 yesterday on Albemarle SMR), Kostelac now can enjoy a national title and the fast time to his name individually. (Watch Race Video)     Christal Peterson of Phoebus is a Nike National Champion in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.50! Virginia went 1-3 in the event with Western Branch's Keilah Tyson taking third place in a 7.53 clocking. Since both are juniors, Peterson and Tyson will be back again next year to potentially set up for a national title battle between two of Virginia's best.     Landstown senior Darrell Wesh made it a Virginia sweep of the Nike National 60 meter dash titles as roared a 6.73 winning performance! En route to the finish, Wesh was timed by a separate finishlynx camera at 6.28 for 55 meters, which now ranks him #12 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.   Joanna Stevens of Blacksburg completed an amazing triple over the past two days in taking fourth place in the girls' mile run with a personal best and VA #3 all-time performance of 4:49.68. Stevens has cemented herself as one of the greatest high school distance runners ever from the state of Virginia with two performances this weekend in last night's 10:12 2 mile and today's 4:49 mile ranking among the top 3 all-time in state history. Also not to forget that Stevens blazed her last leg for the Blacksburg 4xmile on Saturday morning to move her team up to a national runner-up showing in starting her triple for the weekend at the Reggie Lewis Center.   More Updates...   MileSplit Meet Page w/ Results & Coverage Flash Results Sunday Winner's Gallery Photo Gallery Video Interviews

Meet preview for Friday's running events (including prelim events which finals carry over to Saturday). The Lake Braddock and Midlothian girls will pick up from where they left off at Great Meadow in the 4x800 meter relay. The sprint relays are no longer the strength for Western Branch boys, but the 4x800 instead with the addition of a quarter miler to a solid trio of distance runners from the fall.   State leader Daniel McFadden's hamstring injury has opened the door for others to take the title in the boys hurdles, while the Bethel duo of Samantha Scarlett and Courtni Pannell attempts to go 1-2 and become one of the great hurdle pair of all-time in state history. Western Branch's fourth fastest girl in the 55 is faster than all of the regional champions from the other 3 regions led by Keilah Tyson (pictured left by Brandon Miles) shooting for Monique Everett's 23 year old state meet record. Four under 6.40 in the boys 55 dash, but Wesh's consistency keeps him as a heavy favorite.   Preview for Saturday's running events to be posted late Thursday/Friday morning.

Landstown senior Darrell Wesh (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) heads into the 2010 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Track & Field Championships as the top seed and US leader in the 55 meter dash (6.35), which includes one of the fastest fields in recent meet history with four entrants having clocked times under 6.40 this season. Against a loaded field, Wesh will be attempting to win the 55 meter dash state title last year which eluded his older sister Marlena Wesh's attempt in the sprint triple. As the state runner-up last spring in the 200 meter dash and top returnee from the 100 meter dash, Wesh has really stepped up after his sister's graduation and exceled in the short sprints this winter by consistently running 6.40 or faster in the 55 dash. The Virginia Tech signee also will be featured on the state leading 4x400 meter relay (3:25) on Saturday at Boo Williams. Read more for interview with Darrell Wesh...

At the 2010 Beach District Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday, Landstown swept the team titles with Stephanie Frenchik and Darrell Wesh leading the Eagles with a pair of individual titles. At the Boo Williams Sportsplex, Frenchik (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) clocked impressive times of 5:06 and 2:58 in her 1600/1000 meter double, while national leader Darrell Wesh was a hundredth of a second off his US #1 time in the 55 meter dash with a 6.37 performance and also posted a personal best time of 35.25 in the 300 meter dash. First Colonial senior Teiara Denmark made a clean sweep of the jumping events, 15 race videos are now added from this past Friday's Beach District Championships.   Beach District Indoor T&F Championships Complete Results   15 Race Videos by Andy Paisley

Leave it to the Eastern Region to give something to get excited about in a snowed out weekend from track meets for the majority of the state. Shakeela Saunders (pictured above by Ryan Kelly), Justin Hunter, and the Western Branch girls 4x200 had the leading performances on day two of the Atlantic Coast Invitational at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton on Saturday. Saunders stormed to a US #1 and VA #10 all-time 1:14.46 500, while Hunter cleared a US #2 height of 6'10" in his first high jump competition of the season. The Western Branch girls are capable of setting a state record later this season in the 4x200 after their US #2 1:40.72 performance this weekend.  

Not all of the state has been shut down due to this weekend's storm as more rain than snow has found its way into the Hampton Roads area at least on Friday allowing day one competition of the Atlantic Coast Invitational to occur at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton. Many teams slated to the attend from the west and north were unable to attend, but many local schools were able to participate on Friday.

While the invitational mile and 500 meter races were expected to be the featured races of the 2010 Montgomery Invitational and certainly did not disappoint with some of fastest times in the US, the top performance may have come from the boys 3200 with Chantilly senior Chris Foley clocking a US #1 9:14 performance. Foley had to shut his season down after the state cross country meet due to illness, but appears to have been training well since then as shown with his performance in Landover. More to come from Montgomery Invitational including photo gallery by Nicoll Knudsen and a full meet summary.