Frank Nothaft

MileStat.com will be attempting to do a series of interview articles with a top male and female athlete from each region leading up to next weekend’s state championships. The first featured athlete spotlight is on Thomas Jefferson Science & Tech senior thrower Frank Nothaft. Nothaft has been one of the state’s top discus throwers this spring and looks to give TJ head track coach and distance coaching genius Matt Ryan his first AAA state boys’ individual state champion outside of the distance races. Nothaft is currently ranked fourth in the state with a season best discus throw of 166’4”, which is second best in Group AAA. (Photo by John Herzog @ Southern Track Classic)

4:21 is only good enough for 7th at Nike Spring Invite 1600 Mike Spooner of West Springfield and Chris Tyson of West Springfield worked out a pre-race plan to take the first 800 meters out together in 2:04 and then Tyson would push the third lap in hopes of both attaining personal best times and possibly a run at a sub 4:10. Neither was able to come close to breaking 4:10, but Spooner earned a PR in a 4:13.31 win and their bold racing strategy made the rest of the field come along for the ride with 7 runners at 4:21 or faster for one of the deepest races one will find in Virginia in the distance event. Check out the race video!  (Photo by Brandon Miles)  One of the biggest weekends so far with the number of invitationals being held across the state this weekend, so please be patient as we try to digest it all! MileStat.com's Brandon Miles tried his best to be everywhere by attending three meets in two days with the Fluvanna Invitational on Friday night, Gar-Field Invitational on Saturday, and Nike Spring Invitational on Saturday Night. Photos and video are forthcoming from all three meets by Brandon Miles as well as photos from other selected meets by MileStat.com contributors. Meet directors please email us your meet results. Results posted so far from Caroline Inv, Draper Invitational, EMU HS Qualifier, Five Forks Track Classic, Fluvanna Invite, Gar-Field Invite, Landstown Invite, Lee-Davis Subvarsity Invite, Lynchburg All-Area Meet, Nike Spring Invite, Suffolk Invite, Times-News Relays, T.C. Williams Invite, and VMI High School Classic. Check back Sunday for more results and throughout the week for more coverage from this past weekend with performances, meet summaries, photos, and videos to be added.  Tuesday's focus of site work will be on capturing, editing, and uploading of video and pics from Fluvanna, Gar-Field, and Nike Spring.

Scudieri Team Challenge Highlights: Many stellar performances at the Scudieri Team Challenge at West Potomac High Schook, despite the meet went head to head with the Metro Run & Walk Northern Virginia Invitaitonal to spread out the Northern Region talent between the two meets. W.T. Woodson's Sarrah Hadiji (pictured right by Brandon Miles), fresh off a European spring vacation, showed she obviously stayed fit while on the other side of pond with a state leading time of 5:08.22 in the 1600 meter run and doubled back for a 2:20.25 meter run as two-time 3200 meter state champion sharpens up for the longer event and the 3K at Penn Relays. Robert E. Lee senior Sean Holston, fresh off his MVP 400 and 200 meter double at the Mobile Challenge of Champions in Alabama, came back to Virginia to put on a show for the home crowd with a 21.52 clocking in the 200 meter dash. Complete results and all performances are posted from Scudieri. Full meet summary...