Performance list for the 2008 VHSL Group A State Outdoor T&F Championships to be held Saturday, May 31st at Radford University in Radford, VA>
A handful of teams seem to be positioned better than the rest for this Saturday's VHSL Group A State Championships at Radford University with Lebanon High School out of Region D as the favorite with three individuals who can score double digit points on their own with Jakob Maidens in the distance races, Skyler Musick in the sprints, and Robert Coleman in the hurdles. Clarke County has an opportunity to win their third straight Group A state track championship thanks to a jolt in the return of distance runner Ben Veilleux back to racing action after going MIA for a while. Appomattox County wishes the pole vault was contested in Group A or they would be a serious challenger with the top two pole vaulters in Group A with Jonathan Ford and Dustin Boyce. James River of Buchanan will not be hurting coming out of the field events with DaVon Ross in the jumps and Sawyer Russell in the throws as contenders for individual state titles in two events. Chatham's David Dixon will likely anchor the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays for his school and also try to bring home a state title in the 400 meter dash. View full rankings with 40 teams scoring and see where each team may be getting their points at the state meet this weekend.
It could be a Region B show at the VHSL Group A State Championships with the Clarke County, George Mason, and Chatham girls as the top three ranked teams in Group A currently all coming from the same region. The number of potential individual scorers for Clarke County is nearly double the number of any other school coming into the meet at nine with distance runner Sophia Holmes and hurdler Amanda Reap as their top individuals. George Mason will be relying on a distance runner and hurdler combination with Susanna Sullivan and Karina Robarge. Chatham has one of the top track and field athletes in Group A with Marissa Thompson expected to score in four events and contend for a state title in the long jump as a top seed. Lancaster's Andrea White could put her team into the top three or at least top five by herself as a #1 seed in the high jump and triple jump, #2 seed in the long jump, as well as coming in with some of the faster Group A times in the 100 and 200 meter dashes.Only a freshmen, Sharese Roberts of Manassas Park is a rising star of the small schools after winning all three sprinting events at the Region B Meet and will attempt the same sweep this weekend in Radford. View full rankings with 38 teams scoring and see where each team may be getting their points at the state meet this weekend.
The boys' discus throw and shot put will be some of the featured events at the Group A State Outdoor Track & Field Championships as four of the state's top ten ranked discus throwers happen to compete for Group A schools including Sawyer Russell (pictured above by John Herzog) of James River with the state's #3 mark at 168'8". In MileStat.com's list of the Ten Athletes to Watch at the Group A State Meet, the small school of James River has two field events athletes mentioned among the ten with Russell in contention for two state championships in the shot and discus, while teammate DaVon Ross (pictured below by Andy Paisley) will look to win a title in both the high jump (6'6" best) and triple jump (45'10" best) after finishing as a runner-up one year ago in both events.
There will be several female athletes at Saturday's VHSL Group A State Outdoor Track & Field Championships who could simply take over the meet and rack up 20, 30, and even 40 points by themselves. Lancaster's Andrea White (pictured above by Scott Rigler) happens to be one of those individuals as a favorite and top seed in the high jump and triple jump, a close second seed in the long jump, and a likely scorer in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. White happens to also be the state leader in the high jump with a 5'9" season best. She is not the only Group A athlete who has been an emerging name on the state level this spring as Manassas Park freshmen Sharese Roberts will be around for quite a few years and has a realistic shot of pulling off the sprint triple with victories in the 100, 400, and 200 meter dashes after pulling the feat off in her regional meet. Three state champions are back to defend their state titles including Susanna Sullivan, a 2007 champ in the 1600 and 3200. Despite being a returning champ, Sullivan will likely be considered an underdog to Glenvar sophomore Megan Marsico, who has had a sensational spring and is knocking on the door of sub 5 and sub 11. Read more on MileStat.com's Ten Girls Athletes to Watch at the VHSL Group A State Outdoor T&F Championships.
Complete results are now posted from the VHSL Group A State Championships held Saturday at the Radford University. Photos also to be posted soon. VHSL Group A State Championships - Complete Results VHSL Group A State Championships Photo Gallery by Scott Rigler - More photos to be added. Upload Your Videos From The VHSL Group A State Championships Photo by Scott Rigler The Lebanon boys and Clarke County girls were crowned as 2008 Group A team champions. Out of Region D, the Lebanon boys had two individual athletes really excel for them in state competition in the distance runner Jakob Maidens and sprinter Skyler Musick. Maidens took second in a close 1600 meter race with Ben Veilleux (4:27.31) at 4:27.45 and later came back to win the 800 meter state title with a time of 2:00.35. Musick had to settle for second behind Radford's Jon Thompson in both 100 and 200 meter dash races, but his 16 points were very critical in helping Lebanon reach their final point total of 66 points. Maidens and Musick finished the meet on Lebanon's 4x400 meter relay, which placed second in 3:33.59 and helpd further distance themselves from the second place squad Radford (49 pts). While the Clarke County boys were unable to win a third straight outdoor track title, the Clarke County girls kept the streak of at least some first place hardware coming back to Berryville as they ended up 25 points ahead of Bull Run District and Region B rival George Mason (49 pts) with a final team score of 74 1/2 points. Clarke County had many top six finishers throughout the meet to help add to their team score as they only had one individual champion with Sophia Holmes taking the 800 meter title in 2:23.03. Holmes also ran on the victorious 4x400 meter relay team, which ran a solid time for a Group A school in 4:09.39 to win the event comfortably by four seconds. The performances of the meet though belonged to Lancaster's Andrea White in the field events and Glenvar's Megan Marsico in the distance races. White won state titles in all three jumping events including a state meet record clearance of 5'7.75". Her winning marks in the long jump and triple jump were solid as well at 17'7" and 35'4" respectively. White also placed fifth in the 100 meter dash and fourth in the 200 meter dash to score 43 points by herself and allow Lancaster to finish third as a team in the points standings albeit with only one individual scoring. Photo by Scott Rigler White was not the only athlete setting meet records as Glenvar sophomore Megan Marsico became only the third girl in Virginia this outdoor season to break five minutes in the 1600 meter run as she just snuck under the time barrier with 4:59.97 state meet record performance. Marsico dominated the race as she won by over 20 seconds and was just as dominant later on in the 3200 meter run with a 39 second victory in a near sub 11 minute performance at 11:00.76. Photo by Scott Rigler A star was born on Saturday in Manassas Park freshmen Shareese Roberts as she simply ran away from the competition in Group A as she completed the triple crown in the sprinting events by crossing the line first in the 100 (12.28), 400 (57.57), and 200 (25.84) meter dashes. Her times would be competitive at the Group AA and Group AAA levels, yet she is still only a ninth grader with three years to go to see if she can haul in a total of 12 championships. Covington's Emanuel Alfred was the king of the throwing events this Saturday as the returning shot put state champion not only won a straight consecutive state title in the shot with a mark at 52'9", but also made it sweep of victories as he threw for a mark of 166'7" in the discus to better his nearest competitor by ten feet. More to come from the VHSL Group A State Championships...
Newspaper coverage across the state of the VHSL State Championships this past weekend: Daily Press: Watch and Learn Daily Press: York's White tops 100 Daily Press: Seventh isn't heaven for Peterson Daily Progress: Western takes state title Richmond Times-Dispatch: Witt beats heat, field Roanoke TImes: Dorrell short of triple Roanoke Times: Hart aids Byrd's relay win The Virginian-Pilot: Landstown girls, Western Branch boys complete indoor-outdoor sweep The Washington Post: Oakton's Lorusso seizes 1st outdoor championship The Washington Post: Afriyie wins discus for T.C. Williams The Washington Post: Amid controversy, Tigers shine
Photos taken by Scott Rigler from the 2008 VHSL Group A State Outdoor Track and Field Championships held Saturday, May 31st at Radford University in Radford, VA.