Preview

by Pearl Watts

The Northern Region boys and girls team champions from Lake Braddock lead
the area squads heading to the AAA state championships to be held at Sports
Backers Stadium in Richmond this Friday and Saturday.

The Lake Braddock girls squad, which convincingly won the region girls
title with 122 points, should field one of the top teams with Eastern Region
champion Bethel appearing to be the team to beat. The boys squad for the
Bruins, which won the regional title with 78 points, appear to have a larger
hurdle to overcome as Eastern Region champion Deep Creek and Central Region
winner Petersburg both come in with very strong teams.

The meet begins Friday at 12:30 p.m. with the start of field events for the
girls discus throw, long jump and high jump in addition to the boys long
jump. The boys will also contest the finals in the discus and high jump
following the girls finals in those events on Friday.

Trials in the running events for both boys and girls will also be held on
Friday in both hurdle events; the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes and also the
800 run, beginning at 3:00 p.m. and concluding at approximately 6:00 p.m.
Saturday's field events begin at 9:30 a.m. in both the boys and girls triple
jump, the girls pole vault followed by the boys pole vault and the boys shot
put followed by the girls shot put.

Running event finals will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the 3,200 relay and will
conclude at approximately 5:00 p.m. with the 1,600 relay. Scoring for all six
field events, the eight individual races and three relays for both boys and
girls is through eight places on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Bethel is the
defending boys team champion and Gar-Field the girls defending team titleist.

Last year only six points separated the top four teams with Bethel the
winner with 46 points followed by Potomac at 43, Deep Creek in third with 42
and Centreville fourth with 40 points. This year Deep Creek and Petersburg
look like the two teams capable of getting closest to the 50 point barrier
and possible victory.

Deep Creek won the Eastern Region title by 25 points with their 79 point
total and should get off on the right foot in the field events with Chris
Clifton as the top seed in the long jump at 23 feet, 11 inches and with
Quentin Matthews back as the defending champion in the high jump (7-0.25)
with additional points possible in the high jump from James Anderson.
Deep Creek is also sprinter strong and should score well in the dashes from
among the group which includes Antwain Carey, DeAndre Hyman and Jarvis Hyman.
They also have Luis Morales as possible points in the 110 hurdles and also
have the top seeded 400 relay at 41.59 seconds.

Petersburg's main hopes lie with sprinter and jumper Jerome Mathis, who won
five events at the Central Region meet in taking the long jump (22-10.5),
triple jump (47-8), high jump (6-6), 100 dash at 10.82 and the 200 dash in
21.24. Mathis will be the state favorite in both the 100 and 200 dashes and
is also expected to place very high in all three jumps in which he is entered
in addition to anchoring the 4x400 relay. Petersburg also has both the 110
high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles as a big key with their trio of
Terry Thornton, Tere George and Alan Sullins.

Lake Braddock has senior Garrett Brickner as their field event point
producer with Brickner coming up with a personal best at the regional meet of
6-10 in the high jump. The high jump should be one of the top events in the
meet with Brickner, Deep Creek's Matthews, Mathis of Petersburg, John Hubbard
from G.W.-Danville and top seed Keith Moffat of Menchville making for a
quality field.

Lake Braddock will have senior Frank Francois as their spark in the running
events. Francois will anchor both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays for the Bruins
and will also compete in the 800 run. Lake Braddock will also be looking for
points in both hurdle events from sophomore Craig Gallimore, who captured
both the 110 highs and 300 intermediates at the regional meet.

Oakton was the Northern Region team runnerup with 62 points and have two of
the top seeds in the 1,600 run in senior Matt Maline and junior Phil Gaeta
with Maline also one of the top entries in the 3,200 run as well. The Cougars
will also be looking for field event points from senior Teddy Presley, who is
qualified in all three jumping events and region third place finisher T.C.
Williams (58 points) has senior Chris Smith also qualified in all three jumps.

Webb Watch

Of course, the individual who will bear the most watching is senior Alan
Webb of South Lakes. Webb, fresh off his history making mark of 3:53.43 in
the mile in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday, has the 800 run as his lone individual
running event at states.

South Lakes coach Scott Raczko said that as of now, neither Webb nor his
teammate Richard Smith is scheduled to run on the top seeded 4x800 relay
(7:41.75) for the Seahawks and that there is more of a possibility that Webb
could run on the 4x400 relay than the 4x800 for South Lakes, although that is
not a certainty either.

What is certain is that Webb will line up in the 800 run and judging from
everything else he has run this year at any distance, it will be fast. The
state meet record is 1:49.61 by West Springfield's Sharif Karie from 1997.
Webb ran 1:49.53 in his Concorde District meet 35 minutes after winning the
400 dash in 49.29 which was 45 minutes after he had won the 1,600 run in
4:06.74 (2:14-1:52), so the lowering of the state mark seems inevitable if
the weather conditions are okay.

A bigger fish to fry would be to move into the top five all time in the
event and possibly come close to the national record
of 1:46.45 by California's Michael Granville in 1996 with only Granville,
Mississippi's George Kersh (1:46.58 in 1987) and Californian's Pete
Richardson (1:47.31 in 1981) along with Dale Scott (1:47.9 hand timed in
1972) the only high schoolers ever under 1:48.

Webb's trial heat in the 800 run is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Friday with
the 800 final set for Saturday at 3:20 p.m. and don't be surprised to see a
fast time possibly posted in the running trials by the Webbmaster if the
weather conditions are more favorable Friday than Saturday.

Other top local entries in the running events include Hayfield's Ron
Richards, who was the region champ in both the 200 and 400 dashes and will
also anchor the 4x400 relay for the Hawks; L.A. Snead of Robinson in both the
1,600 and 3,200 runs and Richard Smith of South Lakes in the 800 run.

In the field events, Robinson sophomore Steve Huntzinger is one of the top
seeds in the discus throw and could also place in the shot put while junior
David Sullivan of Centreville returns as the defending champion in the pole
vault in what should be a close competition among Sullivan, his Centreville
teammate Mark Kupets, Daniel Garrett of Great Bridge, Atlee's Val Osipenko
and Shawn Kole of Tallwood.

Other top performers from around the state include hurdlers B.J. Hancock of
E.C. Glass, Osbourn's Steven Garner, Nansemond River's Esteban Guzman, Kevin
Watson of Henrico and Bethel's Gemayel Hazard, who is the defending champion
in the 300 intermediates. Austin Smith of Midlothian returns as the defending
champion in the 3,200 run; Bethel's Domonick Richmond is the top seed in the
400 dash and also anchors their second seeded 4x400 relay; Alonzo Moore of
Phoebus is the top seed in the triple jump by over two feet at a best this
season of 49-11.25 and L.C. Bird could go one-two in the discus throw with
juniors Jim Tiller and Kevin Lyons.

Last year Gar-Field took the girls title with 79 points with Bethel the
runnerup at 56 points. However, Gar-Field lost a whopping 48 points from that
squad due to the graduation of one of the state's top performers of all time
in Sheena Johnson while Bethel returns two key members from that squad in
sprinters Ara Towns and Asia Carroll.

Towns is the defending state champion in the 100 dash and was also the 200
dash runnerup to Chantilly's Alyssa Aiken, who is now competing for the
University of Texas. Towns is also possible points in the long jump and will
run on either the 4x100 relay or 4x400 relay for Bethel, both of which come
in with the fastest times in the state. Carroll gives Bethel an excellent
one-two punch in the 100 and 200 dashes along with Towns and will also be on
either the 4x100 or 4x400 relay.

Bethel should get additional field event points in the shot put and discus
throw from Amanda Walker and could also place in the 100 dash with freshman
Britni Spruill and in the 400 dash with Jessica Cassell in addition to
fielding top flight teams in the 400 and 1,600 relays.

Lake Braddock will try and spread their points around in quite a few events
in their hopes of overtaking Bethel. Lake Braddock junior Alexandra VanHeuven
will be counted on to provide points in both the long jump and triple jump in
addition to both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles with VanHeuven also entered
in one of the relays.

The Bruins will also be looking for solid points in the 400 dash from
Sarah Beale, the 300 hurdles with Louis Beale, in the distance events with
Kelly Swain, Heather McCarthy and Cheryl Carr and in both the 400 relay and
1,600 relay.

Nothern Region runnerup Oakton has junior Keira Carlstrom as the top seed
in the 1,600 run by more than ten seconds with Carlstrom also entered in the
800 run. The Cougars also have Bonnie Meekins as the defending champion and
top seed in the high jump and expect to place well in the 400 relay with the
team of Sarah Kirtland, Eyang Nyambi, Jenee Moore and Kathleen Woody.
Region third place finisher Robinson has senior Shehara Chitty as one of
the top entrants in the 400 dash and as their 4x400 relay anchor; will look
to score in the 3,200 run with sophomores Joanna Rodgers and Sam Ference and
also have the top seeded 4x800 relay at 9:19.42 with Rodgers, sophomore
Lauren Hovland, senior anchor Michelle Gregory and either Ference or
Elizabeth Haight on that squad.

Jefferson may pose the biggest threat to Robinson in the 3,200 relay with
senior Kelley Otstott on achor for the Colonials and Jefferson also has
senior Krystle Moss as a threat to win the high jump.

Other top performers from the area expecting to perform well include
regional champs Fatima Shuler of Wakefield in the 100 and 200 dash,
Centreville's Sarah Lewis in the 300 hurdles and Alicia LaRoche of
Centreville in the pole vault along with Langley's Leslie Schultz in the 800
run and Westfield vaulter Kathryn Pettine.

Some of the rest of the state's top people in the field events include
junior Lindsay Neuberger of F.W. Cox and Salem sophomore Amy Seward.
Neuberger has a best of 49-6 in the shot put and is a threat to the long
standing record set by Menchville's Tracy Toon of 49-9 from 1982. Neuberger
has also been consistently improving in the discus throw and is the top seed
in that event by over ten feet at 138-5.

Seward comes in as one of the top sophomore jumpers in the country and
comes into the meet with the season's top marks in both the long jump (19-0)
and triple jump (39-6) in addition to running on the Salem 4x100 relay team
which is seeded second behind Bethel.

In running events, Nicole Cook of Petersburg looms as a large favorite in
the 800 run and could threaten the state meet record of 2:09.30 set last year
by Hayfield's Nikeya Green. The 100 hurdles look to be a clash between senior
Kellie Wells of James River and sophomore Jelyn Quick of Menchville with
Quick coming in with the fastest seeded 300 hurdle time and Wells the number
two seed.

Tallwood freshman Faraign Giles comes in with the fastest time in the 400
dash after winning the Eastern Region title in 57.10 and the 3,200 run could
become a battle between Kristyn Shiring of North Stafford and the distance
duo of Jeannie Addison and Ashley Seaton from Thomas Jefferson Governor's
School of Richmond.

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