By: Brandon Miles - [email protected]

NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- Saturday at the CNU Showcase held at the Freeman Center in Newport News had three state leading performances and more importantly gave some early indications of what to expect from top teams, relays, and athletes this season. Two teams who looked sharp after the completion of the meet in the Eastern Region were the Bethel girls and Western Branch boys.

 

Bethel girls sweep relays

Bethel girls kept the momentum going from day one wins from Shakia Forbes in the long jump and 55 meter dash and Kayla Campbell in the shot put with more first place finishes on Saturday. The wins came in the events that have been the backbone of past Bethel state championship runs in their sprint relays with the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relay.

Featuring the top two finishers in Friday's 55 meter dash with Shakia Forbes and Crystal Carrington, the Bethel girls won the 4x200 meter relay in one of the state's fastest times in 1:46.48, while their 4x400 meter relay squad held off a tough challenge from a Menchville squad (4:07.59). competing without Nicole Saunders in 4:07.07.

Tobin holds off Miller and Potasinski in 1000

The 1000 meter run for the girls featured some of the state's top returning middle distance runners with Great Bridge's Kristy Tobin, Midlothian's M.C. Miller, and Westfield's Tasia Potasinski. Similar to her win in the 1600 meter run on Friday night, the defending 1600 meter state champion Tobin shot to the lead early and stayed there as she had opened up some breathing room on the competition and herself by the time she entered the bell lap. However, Miller and Potasinski made it a race in the final 200 meters closing well with Miller nearly running down Tobin at the end. The Great Bridge senior won in a state best time of 3:02.43 with Miller not far behind in 3:02.65 and Potasinski finishing right behind in third at 3:03.01.

 

Deep Creek so Barr surprises Jordan out of slower section of 300

Woodside's Dominique Jordan had a solid opener with a 41.45 clocking in the fast section of the 300 meter dash, but she was upstaged by Deep Creek sophomore Myesha Barr, who put up a personal best of 41.26 in a slower section to win the sprint event. As a freshmen, Barr ran 57.89 for 400 meters, but Saturday's win over Jordan was a bit of surprise with the Woodside senior having a 400 meter best over three seconds faster at 54.53.

 

Midlo girls take 3 of 5 in 3200 with 11:02 winner

The Midlothian girls put on another impressive show in the distance races following their 1-2 finish with their "A" and "B" teams on Friday evening with three of the top five finishers in the 3200 meter run including race winner Leia Lautzenheiser. The Midlothian freshmen was simply a machine in her race clocking off near even splits throughout the race as she hit 1600 meters in 5:29 and finished up with a personal best and state's second fastest time in 11:02.59. Only Catherine White has ran faster for 3200 meters in the state this season so far at 10:52. The Lady Trojans were well represented beyond Lautzenheiser with a runner-up run from Samantha Dow (11:18.72) and fifth place finish from Erin Stehle (11:30.3). Stehle was Midlothian's eighth runner in cross country to show the talent extended beyond their top seven this fall.

Neither Deep Creek's Ashley Gatling nor Booker T. Washington's DeShana Briggs had their "A" game for the high jump with both coming in with all-time bests of 5'10", but Gatling did pick up a key 5'6" win over one of her biggest challengers in Briggs (5'4") as the Deep Creek senior will be looking to defend her state championships in both indoor and outdoor track in the event.

Briggs' teammate Elaine Rhoades pulled out a close victory over Kellam's Jenn Healey in the triple jump with only a inch separating the best jumps of the top two competitors in the event with Rhoades posting a mark of 36 feet and Healey right behind her at 35'11".

Western Branch boys make statement with day 2 wins

Western Branch boys could be one of the stronger teams in Eastern Region this year as the Bruins had an excellent final day of events at CNU. Western Branch won both sprint relays with a 1:32.83 victory in the 4x200 meter relay and state best of 3:27.53 in the 4x400 meter relay. The final section of the 4x200 meter relay featured top seed and state leader Manchester at 1:31.10, but a bad handoff exchange between their second and third leg with their third leg hitting the track cost the Lancers dearly.

Daniel Nix, anchor leg for Western Branch on their state best 4x400 meter relay, also won the 300 meter dash with a time of 35.97 from a slower section as a result of a disqualification of fast section winner Anthony Chesson of Manchester, who had dipped well under 36 seconds. It was definitely a day that the Manchester boys would like to forget between Chesson's disqualification and their botch relay handoff.

Western Branch may have the ingredients of a team able to make a state championship run at the Virginia AAA State Meet. Especially after Western Branch sophomore Kelvin Griffin uncorked a state leading and personal best mark of 47'8.50" in the triple jump to win a fairly new event for him over the returning outdoor state champion in the event in Manchester junior Antonio Miller (2nd, 46'9").

Mearns back to top form in 3200 win

Jamestown's Andrew Mearns ran his personal best for 3200 meters in mid-spring last April at the Dogwood Track Classic with a time of 9:35, but had been up and down in the event following the race last April as well as into the cross country season. The Jamestown senior got back on track Saturday at CNU as he closed strong over the final lap to take the lead from James River's Charlie Schmitt (2nd, 9:41.42) for a 9:38.12 win, which is fastest among all Group AA runners this season.

Oakton junior Joe LoRusso had another outstanding finishing kick for another victory as swung right on the homestretch to overtake Hermitage's John Vial (2:41.61) for a 2:41.19 victory in the 1000 meter run. Two weeks ago at the F.I.T. Invite, LoRusso rallied late as well for a personal best 9:39 win in the 3200 meter run.

With top seed Matthew Anderson of Westfield scratched from the event, the 500 meter dash became Kevin Wilson's to win as the next best entry in the event. The Landstown senior did not disappoint with a 1:07.03 win.

Spellman answers challenge from Brooks in SP

The shot put saw a great competition with Frede Spellman of Oscar Smith and Jaymes Brooks of Denbigh, Virginia's top two ranked throwers in the event. Brooks launched a throw of 56'3" to put himself into the lead, but Spellman answered on a following attempt with a 56'7" to secure himself the victory.

Lake Braddock's Ian Prohaska and Denbigh's Rodrigues Johnson both cleared 13 feet in the pole vault with Prohaska as the winner.

NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- The meet was off to a flying start on Friday in the first day of events at the Christopher Newport University High School Showcase in Newport News, Virginia. There were three US top five performances recorded during the evening and several state leading performances also posted.

Coach Eddie Williams has his Bethel girls looking sharp and ready to make another state championship run to show the tradition never ends even after Francena McCorory's graduation. In the finals of the 55 meter dash, the statement was made with the top two finishers coming from Bethel with Shakia Forbes and Crystal Carrington clocking the top two fastest times in the state this season at 7.19 and 7.20 respectively. Forbes also uncorked a US#3 and state leading mark of 18'9.50" in the long jump for her second win of the night.

Bethel also had a winner in the shot put with Kayla Campbell throwing for a personal best throw of 38'4.50". With only two other throwers in the Group AAA currently over 40 feet in the event, Campbell has positioned herself to pick up considerable points for Bethel at the state meet.

While Bethel girls have traditionally been the most dominant sprint program in the state over the past years, the Midlothian girls appear to be starting the same in the distance events as it was never more apparent than the performance that two of their relays put up in the 4x800 meter relay.

Meet management allowed for an exception in having the Nike Team Nationals representatives from the Southeast Region in Midlothian to enter a "B" team into the 4x800 meter relay event on the merit of their amazing depth with distance girls and they did not disappoint. The "B" team for the Lady Trojans actually led through two and a half legs until the "A" team finally seized the lead and finished as the winners in a state best time of 9:37.68. The "B" team did not finish far behind though in second place with a time of 9:43.57 as the time ranks them second in the state and under the automatic state qualifying time for the AAA State Meet. Unfortunately, the state meet does not allow for more than one relay per team. Midlothian's fastest leg among the eight relay members on the two teams was 2:20 from Samantha Dow and slowest leg was 2:30 from Christine Selander in exhibiting a simply dominant showing to other potential relay contenders.

The most anticipated matchup of the evening came in the finals of the girls' 55 meter hurdles with three All-Americans taking up the middle lanes with Hampton's Tierra Brown and Menchville's Kali Watkins and Nicole Saunders. Brown came out on top in the battle of the Eastern Region and state's best in a US#5 and state leading time of 8.01, which is also a new personal best for the Hampton senior. Watkins, the defending AAA state champion in the event, finished second in a personal best time as well of 8.08. Saunders, more geared towards the long hurdle and sprint events, took third in 8.31.

Saunders showed her strength is in the longer events as the 58 second 400 meter hurdler put up a US#5 time of 1:18.08 in the 500 meter dash. Her time now ranks her first in the state in an event that she has competed in sparingly in the past with the 300 meter dash being her focus last indoor season.

Great Bridge senior Kristy Tobin put forth a good effort in the 1600 meter run as the defending AAA state champion in the event led wire to wire in the event without anyone pushing her for a final time of 5:06.61. Look for the Virginia Tech bound Tobin to start cranking out a sub five minute race by the end of the month and especially when she races on her future home track at the end of the month in Blacksburg.

Betsy Alter of Westfield and Annie Powell of Patrick Henry both cleared 10'6" in the pole vault, but the win ended up going to Alter. For the Patrick Henry senior Powell, Friday night's clearance was six inch improvement on her all-time personal best.

Kevin Nichols had a similar close win in the high jump for the boys as the Hickory senior and Chris Copeland of Lakeland both cleared 6'6" and were unsuccessful at clearing three attempts at 6'8". Earlier misses by Copeland allowed Nichols to pick up the victory though as the tiebreaker.

Kempsville's Trenton Hughes beat state leader Predist Walker of Lakeland in the long jump and also bumped him off the state leaderboard with a leap of 22'9.50".

While Walker did not have the day he hoped for in the jumps, he certainly came back in the finals of 55 meter hurdles with a little extra fire to his steps as he blazed a personal best and state leading time of 7.58 to win the event and avenge an earlier season loss at CNU to Western Branch sophomore Kevin Newsome.

The finish in the finals of the 55 meter dash was way too close to call between Manchester's Reggie Hill and Indian River's Thomas Speller by the naked eye. Speller celebrated after the race as if he had won, but the finish line camera showed by hundredths of a second, Hill to be the winner with both timed a 6.49.

Atlee sophomore Ben Dejarnette broke away from the field in the last half of the race to win the 1600 meter run convicingly in a near personal best time of 4:27.84. Friday night's time was a personal best for Dejarnette in indoors though.

Hermitage boys rolled to victory in the 4x800 meter relay with no signs of a weak leg through all four as they took the lead midway and never looked back. The Panthers were anchored home by John Vial for a final time of 8:11.05 to win by 11 seconds.

With a no show from Matthew Anderson of Westfield, Landstown's Kevin Wilson stepped up in the fast section of the 500 meter dash and powered his way in for a 1:07.03 win in the final running event of the day one.

Both running and field events start up again tomorrow at 9 AM with the meet scheduled to end at approximately 3 PM.