Shakia Forbes

The Penn Relays are the oldest active Track and Field Meet in the Country, now in their 130th rendition. The High School events have always been a big part of t

Here are the all-time best field event performances by VA athletes at Penn Relays.

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

The All American Track Classic is Friday and Saturday at Spring Valley in Columbia. Here are the top 10 girls performances of the decade.

We take a look at the girls all-time database list for the All American Track Classic. Stay tuned for more coverage all week.

A state title in Virginia eluded Shakia Forbes often with her first state crown coming in her final high school state championship as a senior, but the 2007 grad of Bethel High School left with two national titles to showcase a great but short high school career in the state. Forbes transferred in the middle of her high school career to the Hampton city school, but outside of Francena McCorory has been one of the most decorated female athletes at Bethel this past decade. She won two national titles in the long jump in her senior year with a victory at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships and her personal best high school mark of 20'2.25" came at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in 2007. Showing her committment to excellence in her sport, Forbes had skipped her high school graduation in order to compete at Nike Outdoor Nationals.   The 2007 Penn Relays champion Forbes (pictured right by John Herzog) has excelled in college at Seton Hall as her 2008 freshmen season was a banner year for Forbes in winning the USATF Junior National title in the long jump and represted the United States at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland. She is now entering her third year of college after redshirting sophomore year due to injury. Read more for interview with Shakia Forbes...

Recent Bethel graduate Shakia Forbes was selected today as a member of the USA Today's All-American team in high school track & field for the 2007 year. Forbes, the Nike Outdoor Nationals champion and VHSL Group AAA state champion in the long jump, had a stellar senior campaign from the indoor to outdoor season. In indoors, Forbes won the long jump competition at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in New York to go along with a runner-up finish at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Maryland for two strong showings at the two high school indoor national meets. Her great indoor national performances carried over to this spring as she was consistently the state leader in the event all spring and found herself well up the national leaderboard. She claimed that elusive state championship that had been missing in June and then uncorked her first mark ever over 20 feet at the Nike Outdoor Nationals for her second national title in a US #5 mark of 20'2.25". Forbes was the only Virginian prep selected to the USA Today All-American team. USA Today All-Americans: Boys Team - Girls Team

Well it is not the trip to Brazil for the Pan Am Junior Championships that Bethel's Shakia Forbes had hoped she would be making this summer as she was unable to qualify for the US team at USATF Junior Nationals last week, but a trip to Puerto Rico is a pretty fair consolation prize for the graduated senior. Courtesy of a selection by the National Scholastic Sports Foundation, organizers of the Nike Indoor and Nike Outdoor Nationals, Forbes will be joined by fellow US prep stars in international competition at the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational in San Juan, Puerto Rich this Saturday, June 30th. Last year in the inaugrual event, Virginians Katie Doswell and Mike Morrison made the trip to Puerto Rico to compete for "Team NSSF" against athletes from the Caribbean nations. Forbes, the Nike Outdoor Nationals champion with a mark of 20'2.25", will be competing in the long jump at the Caribbean Scholastic Invite with 14 other US girls.

Video interview by Brandon Miles with Shakia Forbes of Bethel as the Seton Hall bound senior popped her first long jump ever over 20 feet to take the Nike Outdoor Nationals title in a US #4 mark of 20\'2.25\". Forbes will be attempting to make the US Junior Nationals team next week in Indianapolis, which should be a very competitive event with close to ten juniors over 20 feet this year.

Historical tidbits of facts and information on this weekend's AAA State Outdoor Championships in Newport News by regular MileStat.com message board contributor, the "Historian".  Holston: The next Triple Crown Winner at the State6'0 High Jump at the AAA State Meet?20' Long Jump at the AAA State Meet?

 Photo by Don Rich from Ashley Gatling's high jump win last year at Penn Relays. She did it again in 2007 with a top clearance of 5'7" (1.70 meters) at Franklin Field. Bethel's Shakia Forbes also won her first Penn Relays crown in the long jump with a mark of 19'4.25" (5.90 meters). Day 1 updates as results are posted online through http://pennrelaysonline.com as well as flashresults.com  Girls High Jump: Deep Creek senior Ashley Gatling became a Penn Relays champion for the second time as she repeated in the high jump with a clearance of 5'7". Gatling just recently signed with Norfolk State University. Asked by penntrackxc.com's Don Rich if she was happy with 5'7"? "No, I'm never happy with 5'7". I can't remember the last time I missed 5'7". But a win is a win, and I got another watch." said Gatling.  Its all about the watch at Penn Relays! Everyone wants one, but only a small few can have one!  Girls Long Jump: Bethel senior Shakia Forbes has a national title in the long jump and now she has a Penn Relays titles as well after putting up a top mark of 19'4.25" on Thursday at Franklin Field. Virginia had two of the top three in the event as two-time AAA state champion indoor champion Brittni Finch of Centreville was third over 19 feet at 19'1.50". While Forbes has a Penn Relays title over Finch, Finch has what Forbes wants in a state title in the long jump. The long jump should be a great event in June at Todd Stadium. Girls Triple Jump: Virginia had two in the top six of the triple jump, which had a total of 17 competitors. Western Branch junior Ermesha Fair (38'10") and J.R. Tucker sophomore Jasia Richardson (38'8")  both put up great marks well over 38 feet in fifth and sixth places respectively. It was the first time to Fair has achieved a mark over 38 feet, while Richardson was just off her personal best from the state indoor meet.   Girls 4x800: Without our top two relays from the indoor season in state meet record breakers Midlothian and previous US #1 indoor squad in Westfield, Virginia girls were overmatched in the 4x800 qualifiers for the Championship of American finals with none advancing. Potomac School improved upon their state leading time by five seconds to finish sixth in their section with a time of 9:30.89. The next fastes from VA was Langley at 9:38.72 as they finished ninth in their section.    Girls 4x100: Landstown girls post the fastest time among Virginia squads with a large schools heat #13 win in 47.64. Deep Creek (heat #7, 48.21), Bethel (heat #3, 48.50), Western Branch (heat #30, 48.87), Osbourn Park (heat #19, 48.96), and  Booker T. Washington (heat #27, 49.03) are also heat winners. Landstown's time tied them four the fourth fastest among the US high school squads with Rancho Verde at 46.67 and Long Beach Poly CA at 47.28 faster, while they shared the same time with Uniondale NY at 47.64. However, it appears when taking the times to the thousandth of the second, Unionadale gets the nod as the final team to qualify for the Championships of American finals. Oh so close for Landstown! The Virginia Beach girls will be in the large school finals with fellow Virginia squads Deep Creek, Bethel, Western Branch, and Osbourn Park, so that means 5 Virginia schools will be in the finals of 9 teams! Girls 4x400: Osbourn Park girls run the state's fastest time in a loaded heat with the Jamaicans (Holmwood Tech JA 3:44.78, Manchester JA 3:45.68) as they finish fourth in a time of 3:51.75. Osbourn Park's time is ninth fastest overall among all the 4x400 heats, thus puts them just short of qualifying for the Championships of America finals.. Deep Creek finishes fifth in the same heat at 3:57.30, while Landstown runs the second fastest on the day two heats prior in 3:52.56 as they finish third in their heat won by Eleanor Roosevelt MD in 3:43.95. The Booker T. Washington girls also break four minutes by winning their heat with a season best time of 3:55.71. Girls 3K: Northside senior Catherine White took a top 3 finish in the Penn Relays 3K for the second year in a row as she posted a nearly identical time of 9:49.10 from her 2006 time of 9:49.19. Her time converts to roughly a 10:32. W.T. Woodson senior Sarrah Hadiji also competed in the 3K and took ninth in 10:00.24, which would convert to a 3200 meter personal best of 10:44 for 3200 meters. More updates to come from Penn.

 Video interview by Brandon Miles with Bethel senior Shakia Forbes at the 2007 Nike Indoor Nationals. Forbes was a national champion and national runner-up over this past weekend in the long jump as she won the national title on Friday at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in New York and then took runner-up in the long jump on Sunday at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Maryland. (Photo by John Herzog)

Bethel senior Shakia Forbes won Virginia's first national title of the weekend on Friday at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. Forbes, who will be competing not too far from the New York Armory next year at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, won the long jump competition with a top mark of 19'4.75". She will be pulling double duty this weekend as she will also be competing in the other indoor national championship in Landover, Maryland for Nike Indoor Nationals in the long jump as well. More updates of performances by Virginians at NSIC's day 1 events to come...  NSIC Live Results!

Audio interviews by Brandon Miles from the 2007 Asics Invitational with Blacksburg\'s Peter Dorrell, Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes, and homeschooled Aurora Scott.

This weekend\'s Asics Invitational will be hosted at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg and will be hosted over two days on Friday and Saturday. The meet will feature four individual state leaders including the likes of Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes and Harrisonburg\'s Tim Beierle as well as the state\'s fastest 4x400 meter relay in the Osbourn Park girls. Events will start at 4:30 PM on Friday and resume again on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

The meet was off to a flying start on Friday in the first day of events at the Christopher Newport University High School Showcase in Newport News. There were three US top five performances recorded during the event and several state leading performances also posted.

Rising senior Tierra Brown of Hampton posted one of the fastest 100 meter hurdle times in Virginia high school history with a 13.70 clocking (0.4 legal wind) to finish third in the finals of young women age group at the AAU National Junior Olympic Games. The last Virginian to run faster in the event was Olympian medalist Latasha Colander back in 1994 in 13.30 at World Juniors in Portugual. Olympian Sheena Johnson, formerly of Gar-Field, had ran the fastest since Colander in 2000 at 13.73. 1984 Olympian gold medalist Benita Fitzgerald has the second fastest time at 13.53 in 1979, while LIsa Wells clocked a 13.57 at the 1988 US Junior Nationals as the third fastest all-time. A very elite and special class that Brown joined with her performance at Norfolk State University this weekend. More to come from AAU Nationals.

Several of the state\'s top athletes in track and field competed in this past week\'s USATF Junior Olympic National Championships held at Morgan State University in Baltimore. A total of two national titles, one national runner-up, and more than a handful of top eight finishes highlighted the six day of event for Virginia. Park View sophomore Natalie Baird had another monster 150 plus foot throw in the discus as her mark of 152\'2.75\" on day four earned her a national title in the intermediate girls age group. Her throw was a Junior Olympics age group record in the event. All-American jumper Marlon Woods, a recent graduate of Booker T. Washington and future member of the Norfolk State University track squad, won his second national title of the year in the high jump with a clearance of 6\'9.75\" in the young men\'s high jump.