Performance list for the 2009 Region IV Indoor Championships to be held Saturday, February 14th at the Rector Fieldhouse in Blacksburg, VA.
The Blacksburg boys joined the Albemarle boys as the only other 4x800 meter relay in Virginia to break 8 minutes this season and possibly are the first Group AA school to ever dip under the time indoors ever. The team of Brian Hencke, Matt Howard, George Carter, and Quinn Hill ran a US #12 time of 7:58.95 at the Region IV Championships held Saturday at Virginia Tech. It was a solo effort for the relay with 50 seconds to spare on the runner-up team. Three of the four relay members came back to win individual regional titles with Hencke in the 1000, Carter in the 1600, and Howard in the 3200 while Hull was a runner-up in the 500. Blacksburg decisively won both team titles with the boys' team tallying 142.50 points and the girls' team scoring 137 points. Joanna Stevens led the Blacksburg girls with a sub 5 PR effort in the 1600 at a US #18 4:58.94, while running under 3 minutes for the third tme this season in the 1000 for a fine double in 2:59.18. Region IV Championships Results
It is regional week in Virginia with 8 indoor regional championships being contested for the Group AAA and Group AA classifications. All of the regionas from the largest classificiation (Group AAA) are being held this weekend on Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday evening at the Region II Championships, Western Albemarle senior Tyler Stutzman (pictured left by David Fleenor) posted an impressive performance on a short 10 laps to a mile indoor track at Fork Union Military Academy's Estes Center. Stutzman won the 1600 meter run in a time of 4:14.33, which easily breaks the facility record of 4:17 held by 2007 Nike Indoor Nationals 800 meter champion Axel Mostrag. Mostrag had broken a record previous held by former prep great Seneca Lassiter at 4:19 to put Stutzman's performance further in a historical perspective. Stutzman is currently the national leader at 3200 meters in 9:05.58. VA 2A Region II Championship Results The Region IV Championships were the earliest held regional meet in Virginia this past Saturday at Virginia Tech and the top performances came from the Blacksburg High School distance runners with their boys 4x800 meter relay team breaking 8 minutes to join roughly a dozen other squads in the country to have dipped under the barrier in 7:58.98. Meanwhile, Blacksburg junior Joanna Stevens broke 5 minutes in the 1600 meter run in 4:58.94 with twin sister Kathleen trailing close behind at 5 flat. VA 2A Region IV Championship Results