VHSL Group AAA State Indoor T&F Championships 2010

Booker T. Washington 3:26.21

Bethel 3:55.68

State Champion - Yazid Zouaimia (Centreville) 9:15.67

Jordan White (Great Bridge) 9:38.02 - 8th overall

State Champion - Sophie Chase (Lake Braddock) 10:48.39

Claire Benjaman (Midlothian) 11:13.83 - 11th overall

State Champion - Darrell Wesh (Landstown) 34.44

Section 1 - Allan Meyer (Oakton) 37.13 Section 2 - Fabian Jarrett (Salem) 36.32 Section 3 - Dythaniel Lewis (Warwick) 36.00 Section 4 - Anthony Finney (Varina) 35.18

State Champion - Shakeela Saunders (Great Bridge) 39.83

Section 1 - Felecia Majors (South County) 43.25 Section 2 - Lora Wilson (George Washington) 41.44 Section 3 - Mary Allen (John Marshall) 40.49 Section 4 - Tanisha Greene (Landstown) - 40.12

State Champion - Anthony Kostelac (Albemarle) 2:30.20 Video by Andy Paisley

Section 1 - David Klimek 2:37.72 - 8th overall Section 2 - Ahmed Bile (Annandale) 2:39.41 - 10th overall

State Champion - Ariel Karabinus (Osbourn Park) 2:59.56

Kelsey Newcomb (Dinwiddie) 3:05.86 - 9th overall. Video by Andy Paisley

Video by Andy Paisley

Event previews to be added throughout Friday. Currently posted are previews for the 4x200 and 1600.  500, 1000, 300, 3200, and 4x400 previews to be added soon.

  Coach Eddie Williams at Bethel has had some great pairs and depth of stars at once in the sprint events during his coaching career, but never has he had a pair of hurdlers or quite possibly any high school coach in Virginia as fast as Samantha Scarlett and Courtni Pannell (pictured above by John Herzog). Both are ranked on the state's all-time top 25 list in the 55 meter hurdles with Scarlett as the current state leader and US #7 performer at 8.09, while Pannell is working herself back into her 8.08 Boo Williams facility record form from a year ago after suffering an emergency appendicitis surgery just before the season.   Pannell grew up in the Hampton track scene through summer track and middle school feeding into Bethel, while Scarlett came from out of the country (Jamaica) at the start of her junior year when her stepfather took a job as the hurdles coach at Hampton University. There is a strong shot of a 1-2 finish at the state indoor championships from the Bethel pair in the 55 meter hurdles and a chance to establish themselves as the outright best short hurdles duo in Virginia high school history. Read more for interviews with Scarlett & Pannell..  

Prior to this indoor season, Matt Hazelgren's claim to fame on MileStat.com was being the belly flop champion at the 2007 Blue Ridge Running Camp. Thankfully, Hazelgren (pictured above by John Herzog) has developed a few more skills and talents since then including become one of the state's pole vaulters this year. Hazelgren (pictured right by Nicoll Knudsen)  is coming off a personal best and state leading clearance of 15'3" at the Northwest Regional Championships and will be favored at the AAA State Meet against another 15 plus foot vaulter in Matt Hoogland of Lake Braddock, who Hazelgren has defeated twice in head-to-head competition this season. Read more for interview with Matt Hazelgreen...

Meet preview for Friday's running events (including prelim events which finals carry over to Saturday). The Lake Braddock and Midlothian girls will pick up from where they left off at Great Meadow in the 4x800 meter relay. The sprint relays are no longer the strength for Western Branch boys, but the 4x800 instead with the addition of a quarter miler to a solid trio of distance runners from the fall.   State leader Daniel McFadden's hamstring injury has opened the door for others to take the title in the boys hurdles, while the Bethel duo of Samantha Scarlett and Courtni Pannell attempts to go 1-2 and become one of the great hurdle pair of all-time in state history. Western Branch's fourth fastest girl in the 55 is faster than all of the regional champions from the other 3 regions led by Keilah Tyson (pictured left by Brandon Miles) shooting for Monique Everett's 23 year old state meet record. Four under 6.40 in the boys 55 dash, but Wesh's consistency keeps him as a heavy favorite.   Preview for Saturday's running events to be posted late Thursday/Friday morning.

An in-depth preview for all field events at the 2010 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor T&F Championships. Preview for the running events to be posted later on Thursday. Meet records are in jeopardy in the girls pole vault and boys high jump. Justin Hunter (pictured left by Ryan Kelly) of Ocean Lakes is capable of winning all three jumping events which he nearly achieved at last May's outdoor state meet. Meanwhile, defending 55 meter dash state champ Keilah Tyson of Western Branch is in position to win three titles individually with her development in the high and long jump.

Photo by Don Rich   The most feared and respected middle distance runner in the state of Virginia, Anthony Kostelac of Albemarle, will be competing this weekend in the 1600 and 1000 at the VHSL Group AAA State Championships. If Kostelac were to win both events, he would be the first male athlete to win both since Alex Tatu of Thomas Dale in 2003 and join a small list of half dozen able to achieve the double in the meet's history. After running on the national record breaking 4x800 meter relays, the attention and focus on Kostelac this year is competing in individual events. The Millrose Mile runner-up Kostelac has stated goals of 4:05 in the 1600 and 1:48 in the 800 which if reached would cement him as arguably the second best high school middle-distance runner in state history behind only mile national record holder Alan Webb. Read more for interview with Anthony Kostelac...

With a defending state champion in the 500 meter dash in Genamarie McCant of James Robinson and returning state runner-up in the 300 meter dash in Shakeela Saunders of Great Bridge both back after sensational freshmen seasons, it appeared at the onset of this season that  there would be little room for anyone else to step up into the mix as a state title contender in those two events. Green Run junior Monica Williams (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) changed that mindset in early December when she became the first athlete in the country at that point of the season to break 40 seconds on a flat track in the 300. Considered as more of a 500 meter runner last year, Williams has made great strides this year in the shorter event of the 300 to have knocked off 2-3 seconds from where she was consistently at last year. Williams will be attempting the difficult 500 and 300 meter double on Saturday against defending champ McCant and 300 runner-up Saunders, but is certainly riding high after an undefeated season which included a recent Eastern Region 300 title and US #8 39.32 win over Saunders. Read more for interview with Monica Williams...

The top two seeds in the boys 3200 meter run at this weekend's Group AAA State Championships are very familar with each other in Centreville's Yazid Zouaimia (pictured above by Ted Plunkett) and Chantilly's Chris Foley. Both Concorde District distance runners had aspirations of state championship glory or a Foot Locker Nationals berth in this past fall's cross country sesaon. Neither was able to claim victory at Great Meadow and both ended up shutting down their seasons before Foot Locker South. Zouaimia like Foley will be seeking a nice consolation prize and justification for not attempting to race at Foot Locker South by winning the AAA indoor 3200 state title. Zouaimia ran a personal best of 9:16 earlier in the season in a solo effort at Liberty University, but the Virginia Tech recruit will have plenty of company in the state meet showdown with Foley and his future UVA teammate Drew Paisley. Read more for interview with Yazid Zouaimia...

Landstown senior Darrell Wesh (pictured above by Ryan Kelly) heads into the 2010 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Track & Field Championships as the top seed and US leader in the 55 meter dash (6.35), which includes one of the fastest fields in recent meet history with four entrants having clocked times under 6.40 this season. Against a loaded field, Wesh will be attempting to win the 55 meter dash state title last year which eluded his older sister Marlena Wesh's attempt in the sprint triple. As the state runner-up last spring in the 200 meter dash and top returnee from the 100 meter dash, Wesh has really stepped up after his sister's graduation and exceled in the short sprints this winter by consistently running 6.40 or faster in the 55 dash. The Virginia Tech signee also will be featured on the state leading 4x400 meter relay (3:25) on Saturday at Boo Williams. Read more for interview with Darrell Wesh...

  Atlee junior Marques Atkinson leads the Central Region team champions into this weekend's Group AAA Indoor State Championships as one of most versatile athletes in the meet. Atkinson this season has competed in the hurdles, high jump, long jump, sprints, mid-distance, and relays. He will likely be the book end on both of Atlee's state qualified relays in the 4x800 and 4x400 along with competing in the high jump and long jump. The Central Region 500 champion will be featured in the fast section of his specialty event alongside twin brother Michael as they will attempt to score big points in the 500 against favorite and US leader Taylor Sykes for an Atlee squad looking to break into the top three and build towards an even stronger squad in 2011 with several key returnees. Read more for interview with Marques Atkinson...

The point scoring machine that is the Western Branch girls has many key pieces and individuals which make them as the heavy favorites to win the Group AAA state title this weekend in Hampton. One key individual who has been with the Western Branch girls over the last three years when they competed in the shadows of their more successful boys programs is senior captain Sydni Cobb. Last June, Cobb was placed in the "emerging elite" division last year in the Nike Outdoor Nationals shot put, which she won that event in a personal best mark of 40'11". Cobb (pictured left by Ted Plunkett) is no longer emerging to be elite as the state's top performer in the shot put with a most recent season best of 40'4.50" at the Eastern Region Championships. Cobb will be attempting to win her first state title and kick start Western Branch's state championship run on Friday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex. Read more for interview with Cobb..

These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and relay rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.   Boys Top 3 1. Western Branch 58 pts 2. Ocean Lakes 41.50 pts 3. Atlee 30.83 pts   Girls Top 3 1. Western Branch 99.50 pts 2. Great Bridge 42 pts 3. Midlothian 38 pts

Group AAA depth team rankings through the regional meet results. These rankings were calculated by scoring the top 20 rankings as a meet. We scored 20 deep for individuals and 20 deep for relays. For example, for individuals 1st place received 20 points for their team, on down to 1 point for 20th place.