Running a 1:57 800 as a freshmen and then 1:55 as sophomore, Woodside's Brandon Burton (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) seemed destined to state championship glory based off his performances as an underclassmen. However, a junior year marred by injury and disappointment had set Burton back from developing to the next level as the state's best. While competing in the 500 meter dash during the indoor track season as his primary event for the winter, Burton reminded all other half milers in the state of his ability to rise to be one of the best again with his personal best 1:53.90 performance in an All-American fifth place showing at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships on Sunday.

An 800 meter state title certainly will be no easy feat for the Woodside senior, especially when that field could include indoor state record holder and Nike Indoor Nationals champion Anthony Kostelac of Albemarle, but a first place finish on the first weekend of June at Sports Backers Stadium would complete Burton's high school career and bring it full circle from his stellar start as a freshmen. After dropping two seconds off his 800 PR at NSIC, Burton has opened the door potentially for more colleges knocking on his own door and to become a darkhorse challenger for championship glory this June. Read more for interview with Brandon Burton...

This past weekend at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships, Churchland senior Cydney Robinson ran the fastest 800 meter time indoors by a Virginia high school girl since 2006 Nike Indoor Nationals champion Katie Doswell. Winning a slower section of the event, Robinson (pictured left by Nicoll Knudsen) placed third overall to earn All-American honors with her time of 2:11.95.  It was her second swift 800 meter performance of the weekend after anchoring Churchland to an All-American fifth place finish in the sprint medley relay on Friday night with a 2:12 split.

Robinson was primarily a quarter miler and sprinter as an underclassmen at Churchland High School in Portsmouth but after running a 4x800 meter relay leg for the first time in a summer track meet following her sophomore year, the Hampton University recruit has embraced the middle distance events for the past two years which highlight races have included an Eastern Region 1000 meter title last month and challenging for the 800 meter state title last spring. Her two stellar All-American races at the Armory to conclude her indoor season should be a great springboard for a successful outdoor track campaign as one of the favorites for AAA state 800 meter crown. Read more for interview with Cydney Robinson...

Shelby Ashe GA won the girls Weight throw with a National Record perfomance of 65-4.  (Photo by Don Rich)

A complete list of Virginian's national champions and All-Americans this past weekend at the Nike Indoor Nationals and National Scholastic Indoor Championships. The state had a dozen national champions between the two national meets and had a total of 85 All-American honors earned (including relay legs).

Look for many featured stories over the next week of those Virginians who represented the state so well at the highest level in Boston and New York City.

Sheroid Evans said he knew. He knew for sure. Which means he either has an excellent internal clock or he should buy a lottery ticket on his 18^th birthday.

There was a point in the race, just off the last curve in the 200 meters, where Ashton Purvis showed that no matter what happened she refused to relent. It was when Whitney Fountain came barreling off the turn and into Purvis’s vision.

Ocean Lakes senior Justin Hunter (pictured above by Don Rich) finally showed the rest of nation what we have known all along in Virginia about his talent and jumping ability. Competing in his first high school track nationals, Hunter became a national champion in all three jumping events. Two of the events in the long and triple jump, Hunter actually placed second in the competition but was the first US finisher behind winners from Canada to make Hunter as the national champion in both events. In Sunday's triple jump, Charles Akomolafe from Brampton, Ontario overtook Hunter in the finals with the leading mark of 50'6.25". Hunter became the US champion with his runner-up and US #3 mark of 49'9.25". Checking to see if the feat of winning national titles in all three jumping events has ever been accomplished ever by not only a Virginia high school athlete, but any athlete in meet history.

Jamestown senior Colin Mearns (pictured above by Don Rich) was not considered as a favorite to win the boys' mile at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships with a 1600 PR which converts to around 4:20 for a full mile. The recent VA 2A 1600 and 3200 state champion made a huge drop in time to pull out the upset national title against a field of more proven sub 4:20 milers with a 7 second PR victory at 4:13.08! His time converts not only to a state leading 4:11.66 1600 meter time, but ranks him #12 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.

Churchland senior Cydney Robinson dominated her section of the girls 800 meter run on the final lap to pull away to win her slower section in a time of 2:11.95. Her time ended up holding up to place her third overall following the fast section and earn her second All-American honors of the weekend after anchoring Churchland to a fifth place SMR finish on Friday with a 2:12 split. Her time at NSIC is the fastest by a Virginia girl indoors at 800 meters since Nike Indoor Nationals champion Katie Doswell back in 2006.

First Colonial's Teiara Denmark became the second All-American in the girls' field events from Virginia at NSIC (Lizzie Powell - Pole Vault) with her fifth place leap of 39'0.25" in the girls triple jump.

The future of Virginia distance running looks bright as Lake Braddock 9th grader Sophie Chase (pictured left by Don Rich) became the state's second freshmen mile champion this past weekend in her dominant six second victory on Sunday at the National Scholastic Indoor

Championships. Chase, who anchored Lake Braddock's DMR on Friday nearly to a national title with her sub 5 minute 1600 meter leg, clocked a time just above 5 minutes for the full mile in her 5:01.67 victory for the Virginia 3A state 3200 meter champion. Chase's time nearly beat the time of the seeded championship mile race later on Sunday, which had a winning time of 4:59. Landstown's Stephanie Frenchik took charge midway through to break up a slow early pace and then held on for fourth place and All-American honors in 5:04.72.

Henrico's DreQuan Hoskey earned All-American honors in the finals of the 60 meter hurdles with a fifth place finish, while Chris Dobbins of Christiansburg just missed a top 6 finish by thousandths of a second as his time of 8.21 was equal through the hundredth of a second with the sixth place finisher.

In field events action today, Ocean Lakes senior Justin Hunter will be attempting to make a national titles sweep of the jumping events as he is slated to compete in the triple jump after winning national titles on Friday in the long jump and high jump. Hunter is a favorite and one of the top seeds in the triple jump.

Three boys' pole vaulters from Virginia have advanced onto today's finals after vaulting career bests yesterday in the preliminary flights with Lake Braddock's Matt Hoogland at 15'1.75" and Jefferson Forest's Josh Drablos and Mills Godwin's Eric Zwarycz both clearing 14'10". Hoogland is ranked fourth heading into today with his performance yesterday.

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Nick Vena already locked up his third straight national title. The pressure faded. He found a familiar place. The Morristown junior imagined himself alone at practice.

Click for more updates:  Marques Atkinson used an impressive last lap kick in the final event of the boys pentathlon in the 1000 meter run to go from barely inside of the top 10 entering the event to coming out as a national runner-up in the final scoring for the multi-event. The Atlee junior amassed a total of 3,556 points and finished just 34 points behind the champion from Pennsyvalnia. Atkinson earned 893 points to his cumalative score in his 2:38.34 closing performance in the 1000. Christiansburg junior Travis Hudson had built up enough cushion of points entering the final event of the 1000 which would be his most difficult event for the high jump/hurdles specialist to maintain a top six final standing and earn his second All-American honor of the meet (high jump All-American on Friday) with a total score of 3469 points for sixth place.

For the second straight year, Lizzie Powell of Patrick Henry is an All-American in the pole vault at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. She finished just under her height from a year ago at the Armory with her sixth place clearance of 12'5.50" (3rd in 2009 at 12'6") in a more competitive field from a year ago.  The performance is her third best ever indoors behind only her 2009 NSIC performance and her state meet record 12'7" clearance two weeks ago.

Group AAA state 55 meter hurdles state champion DreQuan Hoskey of Henrico can feel a national title in reach after his semifinal performance in the 60 meter hurdles where he clocked the second fastest time among all finals qualifiers at 7.98. The Henrico senior was only one hundredth of a second slower than the fastest qualifier for the finals.Joining Hoskey in the finals and creating the possiblity of two All-Americans from Virginia in the event was Christiansburg's Chris Dobbins who posted the fiourth fastest time in the semifinals round at 8.05.

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Marielle Hall didn’t look at the clock once. That’s what she said. She didn’t look at the clock until she realized that she had a shot to break 17 minutes in her first indoor 5,000 meters.

Richmond Ahadzi and his looked up at the JumboTron hovering above the track, waiting for a time to show up.

Photo by Don Rich

Friday Meet Preview, Schedule, & Updates - Nikki Nunn on her final jump in the finals, uncorked a 19'9.75" to move herself into second place and finish as a national runner-up in the girls long jump. Her performances ranks her #6 all-time in VA high school indoor history.

Another athlete representing Virginia very well on the national stage was Justin Hunter (pictured right by Ryan Kelly) of Ocean Lakes notched the state's first national title of the weekened by clearing a US #1 height of 7'0.25" in the high jump, which ranks him also #4 all-time in state indoor history. Add another national title for Justin Hunter as his second place showing in the long jump makes him the national champion in that event as well since first place was an high school athlete from Canada. His mark of 24'7" ranks him #8 all-time in state history, while ranks him #2 in the US this season. Not a bad start in his indoor nationals debut with a triple jump competition to go on Sunday.

The Lake Braddock relay of Casey Lardner, Kelly Ball, Kelly Hagan, and Sophie Chase finished as national runners-up in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:06.46, which is a remarkable accomplishment considering Braddock lost their top leg Liana Epstein to a stress fracture injury prior to the regional meet. AAA 3200 state champion and freshmen Sophie Chase anchored their DMR with a sub 5 split and will be coming back this weekend to attempt to win the freshmen mile title at NSIC. Makes one wonder how much faster they could have gone and potentially won a title with Epstein healthy and competing.

MileStat.com will be providing updates on performances by Virginians on Friday at National Scholastic Indoor Championships. A quick preview below of who are the top competitors from Virginia in Friday's events at NSIC including Justin Hunter of Ocean Lakes. Hunter (pictured right by Nicoll Knudsen) is competing in his very first national championship meet, but his incredible athletic ability and talent should override any lack of national meet experience as his best marks rank him as one of the favorites in both the high jump and long jump on Friday.

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Quite a few big names from Virginia high school track & field will competing for national titles and All-American honors at the 2010 National Scholastic Indoor Championships. Below are just a few of the top athletes from the state who will be at the New York Armory this weekend. More to come including meet preview and final meet performance list. More coverage including a live webcast of the meet will be found later this week on the meet page.

Lizzie Powell (Patrick Henry) - Girls Pole Vault

Justin Hunter (Ocean Lakes) - Boys Long Jump & Boys Triple Jump

Nikki Nunn (Manchester) - Girls Long Jump

Travis Hudson (Christiansburg) - Boys Pentathlon

Colin Mearns (Jamestown) - Boys Mile Run

Marques Atkinson (Atlee) - Boys Pentathlon

Eric Zwarcyz (Mills Godwin) - Boys Pole Vault

Stephanie Frenchik (Landstown) - Girls Mile Run

Cydney Robinson (Churchland) - Girls 800 Meter Run

Dominique Graham (McLean) - Girls High Jump

Tania Minkins (Menchville) - Girls 200 Meter Dash

Subscribe to watch the National Scholastic Indoor Championships replay.  You can choose the $5.00 option, which will give you access to all three days of the Live Webcast and access to ALL the 2010 Armory Video Archives for one week, or the $36 subscription option, which gives you access for one year.