Cameron Cipcic

  Top 8 boys performances in each outdoor event within the state of Virginia as of March 29th. Links to full rankings included. Anthony Williams and Potomac senior teammate Devin Brewer got out fast this spring in the 300 meter hurdles with the hurdler duo clocking the state's fastest two times in the event at their home invite, the Brian Watkins I-95 Invitational, last Saturday. Brewer finished second to his teammate Williams with a time of 38.44, while the New Balance Indoor All-American Williams won with a US #10 time of 37.83. (Photo by Ryan Kelly) 

  Photos by Ryan Kelly   The Peninsula District boys have been overshadowed and honestly dominated in track by their counterparts from the other side of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel over the past few years. However, the momentum may be shifting back across the tunnel to the Peninsula with individual stars such as Heritage's Daniel McFadden and Woodside's Malique Key. In Friday's events at the Suffolk Stars Invitational, McFadden showed his US #1 7.37 performance a few weeks ago at the New York Armory was not a one-time deal as he nearly matched that performance with a 7.39 clocking and win against one of his top challengers for the state title in Lakeland's JaQuan Demiel. Likewise for Key, the Woodside short sprinter needed to show his early season 6.45 55 meter dash clocking in a small district meet was not a timing malfunction but instead a result of his own speed. Key beat that time and the tough finals competition on Friday in tying Justin Burke as the co-state leader in the 55 meter dash at 6.43.     The Western Branch girls continued rolling through the competition this season on the first day of the Suffolk Stars Invitational with their top hurdler Desmonae Gray dropping her season best time to 8.23 in the 55 meter hurdles, Taranisha Taylor winning the 55 meter dash in a US top 25 all-time performance of 7.04, and Keilah Tyson improving to a state best height of 5'8" in the high jump.   Suffolk Stars Invitational - Day 1 Results     More to come from the Suffolk Stars Invitational including photo gallery from both day of events by Ryan Kelly.  

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.

Joanna Stevens of Blacksburg and Chris Foley of Chantilly wrapped up Saturday's events for Virginians at Nike Indoor Nationals posting some sizzling and historically impressive two mile times at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston with their All-American performances. Stevens finished fourth in the girls field with a time of 10:12.21 and right behind three of the nation's best runners in Foot Locker Nationals champion Megan Goethals (1st, 10:10), Emily Sisson (2nd, 10:10), and Aisling Cuffe (3rd, 10:11.65) in a breakaway group of top four finishers. Her race at Nike Indoor Nationals is the third fastest indoor performance all-time at the 2 miles or 3200 meter distance in Virginia high school history behind only a 9:57 and 10:07 races from all-time great Erin Keogh.   Meanwhile, the UVA recruit Foley held his own against as well as beating many national caliber distance runners and Foot Locker/NXN finalists from this past fall in his race tonight with a significant personal best run of 9:09.75 for a fourth place All-American honor. Foley's time converts to a 3200 time just over 9:06 and now ranks him just outside of the top 10 all-time in Virginia high school indoor history.   Click for more updates: The Western Branch girls (pictured left by Matt Shaukus) claimed the national title in the 4x200 meter relay and despite not getting the sub 1:40 performance they were looking for on a banked track for the first time, a national championship is a national championship with their time of 1:41.27. Western Branch jumped out to the lead on their opening leg with Shakia Williams and stayed out in first for good with a strong second leg from Keilah Tyson. With no seniors on their relay, Western Branch will be back and stronger in 2011 with an opportunity to become the greatest girls 4x200 all-time in state history and break the state record. (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch girls 4x200)   Virginia's other strong favorite to win a national title in a girls' relay on Saturday in the Blacksburg 4xmile had serious aspirations entering this weekend of breaking the national record and a sub 20 goal time with 3 sub 1600 meter runners including two sub 4:50 legs in Kathleen Stevens and Joanna Stevens. However, Blacksburg was not on their "A" game without their "A" team as Kathleen Stevens was unable to run due to sickness today. Not at full strength, they finished with a time well off their goal at 20:24.07 and were defeated by the school who had the national record they were chasing in Saratoga Springs with the Toga girls as champions at 20:15.06. Still a solid national runner-up performance for the young ladies from Blacksburg without Kathleen Stevens.     With all the talk about the Blacksburg girls trying to break the national record which they ended up taking second to Saratoga Springs, many forgot to talk about the Blacksburg boys, who became the Nike Indoor  Nationals champions in the 4xmile relay a time of 17:45.63. Their total time averages out to just over 4:26 per mile leg and sub 4:25 for 1600 meters. The relay team (pictured above by Matt Shautkus) consisted of George Carter, Matt Howard, Quinn Hull, and Zack Link. Despite the event being a 32 lap race, the top two teams had little separation for the final finish with Blacksburg winning by a thrilling 12 hundredths of a second over Shenendehowa (17:45.65) of New York. (Watch Video Interview w/ Blacksburg Boys 4xMile)     Western Branch boys are keeping up with their female counterparts in the All-American and now national titles count as the boys 1600 SMR relay of Jeff Lewis (200), Tevis Snellings (200), Cameron Cipcic (400), and Blake Theroux (800) won at Nike Indoor Nationals in a time of 3:30.71. The state of Virginia was well represented in the event with four of the top 8 teams including three All-American squads in Western Branch, Fork Union (3rd, 3:32.65), and Bethel (4th, 3:32.74). In vain with too much ground to make up, Anthony Kostelac of Albemarle split a 1:51.7 800 meter anchor leg to give his team an 8th place overall finish! (Watch Video Interview w/ Western Branch boys SMR)   More to come from Saturday's action at the Reggie Lewis Center for the 2010 Nike Indoor Nationals.

Updates: Midlothian 9th grader Sean Willard (pictured right by Matt Shaukus of https://nj.milesplit.com) ran a 10 second PR to win the freshmen mile title in a thrilling and narrow 6 hundredth of a second win over Rob Napolitano of New Jersey with his first place time of 4:31.29. His times converts to under 4:30 for 1600 meters, which Willard had a previous season best of 4:40. (Watch Video Interview w/ Sean Willard). Both Western Branch and Grafton rolled out fast times in the distance medley relay under 10:10 to conclude day one events, but only one team earned a spot on the podium among the top six All-Americans. Less than two seconds separated the top seven teams with Western Branch in fourth and Grafton in 7th at 10:09 each. With a 4:59 anchor split from Paige Kvartunas, the West Springfield girls were able to split into the top 6 to earn All-American honors in the DMR with a school record time of 12:08.18.   Preview for Friday's events at Nike Indoor Nationals, which has expanded the first day of events to include more than just the 5000 meter run and weight throw contested in 2009. The DMR has several Virginia squads with All-American aspirations including the Grafton boys (featuring AA 1000 meter state champ David Gunnerson-pictured above by Ryan Kelly), Western Branch boys, and West Springfield girls. Keilah Tyson of Western Branch aims to set the bar heigher than 5'8" and achieve an all-time best height in the girls' high jump. Meanwhile, Midlothian freshmen Sean Willard is ready for a big PR drop in the freshmen mile at the Reggie Lewis Center on Friday.   Friday Meet Preview, Schedule, & Updates   Meet Page w/ Results & Interviews   Photo Gallery by Matt Shaukus of https://nj.milesplit.com

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.

Photo by Ryan Kelly   Western Branch in past years has not always shown their full hand of cards at the regional championships and instead held out many of their key athletes or not tried to enter them in multiple events in preparation for the state meet. Possibly the snow storms and small number of major meets in the last half of the season has changed the usual routine for Coach Claude Toukene's squad as the Bruins came to compete at the Eastern Region Championships this weekend at full force and the result was demoralizing for the rest of the region's top teams. Western Branch swept both team titles and by a wide margin with a dominant and balanced team performance.   A total of six state leading times were produced at Virginia's most talented and competitive regional championship meet:   Boys 55 - Darreh Wesh (Landstown) US #1 6.35 Girls Triple Jump - Desmonae Gray (Western Branch) US #1 40'10" Boys Triple Jump - Kendrick Smith (Western Branch) US #2 49'5" Boys 4x200 - Woodside 1:31.60 Boys 4x800 - Western Branch 7:58.02 Girls Shot Put - Sydni Cobb (Western Branch) 40'4.50"   Photo by Ryan Kelly     More to come from the Eastern Region Indoor T&F Championships including full meet summary and photo gallery.   Complete Results   Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - Photos to be added Sunday & Monday. Meet Videos by Andy Paisley - 2o total added.