DeVaughn Benion Jr.

He is from the Bahamas, but Liberty Christian Academy senior Demitri Knowles has certainly opened some doors for him to be recruited well by U.S. college track coaches with his high school career at the Lynchburg private school. (Photo by John Herzog)   In high school football, basketball and many other high school sports, college coaches and recruiters regularly check out various media publications and media websites which attempt to rank the top prospects in the country or within a state. These recruit rankings give the athletes more exposure and make it easier for college coaches and recruits to find who are some of the top high school athletes to try and attract to their school. Why not attempt something similar for track & field in Virginia? MileStat.com will be releasing their own top 10 rankings lists (possible expansion to larger lists) of the most prized recruits within the state of Virginia for each discipline of the sport (sprints, distance, hurdles, jumps, throws, pole vault). We will attempt to update our lists periodically throughout the year based on season performances and put together a class of 2012 rankings later this year.

A total of five Virginians were selected to compete for Team NSSF at the fourth annual Caribbean Scholastic Invitational held this past weekend in Puerto Rico.   Western Branch junior Jeff Lewis (pictured left by Ted Plunkett), who will be one of the top returnees for the defending AAA state team champions, faired well in the hurdles including a personal best performance of 14.30 to place third in the 110 meter hurdles. Lewis also ran in the 400 meter hurdles with a sixth place effort of 56.29.   DeVaughn Benion Jr, one of the state's fastest underclassmen as a sophomore at George Washington High School in Danville, finished as runner-up down in Puerto Rico with a 10.78 clocking in the 100 meter dash.   Two girls from Virginia finished high in the 400 meter dash with Great Bridge freshmen Shakeela Saunders running a time of 56.83 for third place then being trailed in by Bethel junior Emmy Fraenk in fourth place at 57.02.   Albemarle junior Jordan Hill picked up a pair of fifth place finishes in the long jump and triple jump.   Caribbean Scholastic Invitational - Complete Results