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DyeStat Virginia
March 3, 2001 at Virginia Tech U., Blacksburg, VA
AA State Meet
18 new meet records, 2 by Lockhart
by Brandon Miles
At this year's Group AA State Indoor Track Meet, if you won an event and didn't set a new meet record, people might ask what happened? The reason why they might ask that is that 8 boys' and 10 girls' Group AA State Indoor Track Meet records went out of the record books. 18 new records set the stage for an exciting meet.
BOYS
In the boys' team race, Appomatox County beat out a talented Spotsylvania squad as the scored 53 points compared to Spotslyvania's 43.50 points. The Spotsylvania boys' squad who were recently coming off a dominating performance as they won the Region I meet had a solid state meet as well. Matt Echols was a solid contributor for them as he was 4th in the 300 (36.22), 2nd in the 500 (1:06.41) and a member of the AA 4x400 state champion squad. Echols and his teammates performances proved to be just not enough as Appomattox was just too strong. The key to Appomatox County's success was the performances of sprinter Derrick Harvey and their strength in the field events. In the 300 meter dash, Harvey blazed the field with a time of 34.59. In the 55 meter hurdles, Harvey faced a stiff challenge from John Handley's star hurdler Sean Chambers, but Harvey proved to be the better man today as he beat Chambers by .10 of a second with his clocking of 7.65. Then in the 4x200 meter relay, Harvey once again gained his tea
The best distance runner in the state of Virginia besides Alan Webb, Bobby Lockhart had an exceptional meet as he repeated as state champ in the 1600 (4:15.57) and 3200 (9:10.97) which both times broke the previous meet records in those events which were set in last year's state meet by Lockhart himself. The meet wasn't a cruise in the park for Lockhart however. In the 1600, he faced a test in Stuarts Draft senior Evan Kays. Kays before the race said, "I'm going to make Lockhart work for it." Kays did just that. From the gun Kays stuck right on Lockhart's back. Kays looked very relax right behind Lockhart as they went through the 800 mark in 2:07. It looked as though if Kays maintained his close distance with Lockhart that he could pull off the upset, but with 150 to go Lockhart started a powerful surge that Kays was not able to counter and then Lockhart proceeded to cruise in the last few strides of the race and unintentional helping to pull Kays to a new PR of 4:17.01. A winded Lockhart after race said,
Nonetheless, Lockhart went out in that 3200 race like a man on a mission. Lockhart went through the mile at 4:36, then once he reached the 800 mark he started to pick up his pace and close quickly. Lockhart finished lapping the entire field as he passed sophomore sensations John Crews of Rockbridge County and Daniel Kane of Louisa County as he was coming down the final straightaway finishing his race. As Lockhart crossed the line, he went ran immediately to the scorer's table to ask his time and when he found out his time was 9:10.97 he showed signs of disgust with his facial and body expressions. No need for Lockhart to be ashamed with that time though as only a elite few can say they ran a 9:10 3200 indoors in high school. Lockhart's 9:10 shows all signs he will be breaking 9 easily come outdoor track.
With how fast Lockhart ran, you forgot about the "other guys" in the race. There was an intense battle of for 2nd between John Crews and Daniel Kane. The two were stuck to each other like glue during most of the race as Kane hung off of Crews, but Crews's superior leg speed over Kane proved to be the difference as he broke away from Kane the last lap and crossed the line in an impressive time of 9:45.42 with Kane following behind in 9:49.57.
An athlete that stood out during the meet was Louisa County's Steve Carlson. Every race he was in, you got to see Carlson's blazing kick as he either embarrassed someone on the final stretch or closed the gap significantly on another relay squad. The 500 was a prime example as Carlson and Matt Echols of Spotsylvania clashed. They went through the 400 around 50 and then as they went through the final curve heading into the homestretch, Carlson had a huge burst of speed and left Echols behind as he crossed the line in a time of 1:05.70. In the boys' 4x800, as his teams anchor leg Carlson got the baton with Lafayette well in the lead, but a hard charging Carlson and 1:56 split closed that to 4 seconds. He did the same in the 4x400, as he held off Christiansburg's Troy Meyer on the final stretch with a great kick to help his relay squad to a 3rd place finish. What was expected to be a three way battle between Lafayette, Western Albemarle, and Jamestown in the 4x800 turned out to just be utter dominance by the Lafayette squad. Jamestown got the early lead with Bryce Ruiz leading off but was nipped on the final stretch by Lafayette's Preston Wall as both came in around 2:00. Then Lafayette had the lead with Andrew Kuhn as their 2nd leg, but at the 200 mark was caught and passed by Jamestown's Jeff Magner. Hard on both runner's tails was Louisa County's Daniel Kane. The next lap however, Magner faded back as both Kuhn and Kane passed him on the 3rd lap and proceeded to battle it out for first. Kuhn was able to hold off Kane down the final stretch for a 2:03 leg and hand it off to Lafayette junior Jimmy Kohlman who opened up a gap on the Louisa County 3rd leg. Scott Tiernan put the icing on the cake with a solid anchor leg as they crossed the line in a national qualifying time of 8:06.90 as Carlson's 1:56 anchor leg was not enough to help the Louisa County 4x800 sq
The 1000 meter race was by far the most competitive of all of the distance races. The race had 9 guys under 2:40. For the most part of the race it was just a huge tight-knit pack jostling for position. Many of runner however were not as fresh as they would like as they had run other events such as the 1600 and 4x800. The winner of the race proved to be the one who was fresh and that was Rockbridge County sophomore John Crews. Crews lead the pack through a time around 2:00 at the 800 mark but with 150 to go, Crews had a huge burst of speed and left everyone behind as only Evan Kays of Stuarts Draft made a small move to try and keep up, but Crews opened up a huge lead on them as he crossed the line in a PR of 2:33.83 with Kays following in a time of 2:36.74. Crews's time beat the previous meet record set last year by Jeremy Cadle of Western Albemarle
The pole vault event had a good duel between Jimmy Stevens of Monticello and Richard Wingfield of Appomattox as Stevens won out on a tiebreaker at the heigh of 13'09.00". Teammate Mike Riso of Monticello just went an inch higher than his competition as he won the high jump with a mark of 6'04.00". There was a major surprise in the triple jump as Devin Canaday of Jamestown, who's previous indoor best was 42'10.00", won the event with a new best of 45'06.00". In the shot put, last year's state champ, Willie Walker of Greensville County, was upended as his throw of 52'11.50" (which was better than his mark of last year which was a meet record) by Roy Hubbard of William Campbell who powered his way to a throw of 54'11.00".
GIRLS
As predicted, Jefferson Forest ran away with the girls' team title with major contributions from Ebony Foster and the Saunders twins. With Foster dominating the sprints and jumping events and the Saunders twins racking up points in the distance events, Jefferson Forest was unstoppable as they scored 66 points, well ahead of second place Spotsylvania with 47 points. Jefferson Forest who won the state cross country team title this past fall and now have won the indoor track title have set themselves up for the rare trifecta of winning all 3 state team titles: cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. The outdoor track season looms ahead with optimism on the Jefferson Forest squad. Will they able to pull such an astonishing feat? Only time will tell.
Ebony Foster continues to leave her mark etched into the AA track and field history books with yet another impressive state meet from the Jefferson Forest HS star trackster. She broke her own 55 meter dash meet record of 7.32 in the preliminaries with a flying time of 7.29. She ran a slower, yet still impressive time in the finals as she won in a time of 7.43. She gained her squad another 10 points as she won the long jump with a mark of 18'04.50" which was actually not even close to her meet record jump of 19'01.00" set last year.
One distance running star is always great, but how about two of a kind. Coach Butler at Jefferson Forest has that luxury with the Saunders twins. Shannon and Kristin who are both juniors were able to score for their squad a whooping 31 points doing the 1600/3200 double. In the 1600, Shannon was knocked off by Shelley Slemp of Marion who came finished in a meet record time of 5:12.27, just ahead of Shannon who ran a time of 5:14.04. The other Saunders, Kristin placed 4th in the 1600 with a time of 5:32..40. In the 3200 race, the Saunders twins took care of business as they placed 1-2 respectively with Shannon winning in a time of 11:26.54 and Kristin coming across in 11:47.59 as runner-up.
Another sister combo, but not twins, can be found at Spotsylvania with the Nelms sisters. Jennifer (a senior) and Kurstin (a freshmen) helped lead their squad to a 2nd place finish. In the meet Jennifer placed 3rd in the 300 (41.17), 1st in the 500 (1:17.82), and 1st in the high jump (5'4"). Little sister Kurstin placed 3rd in the 500 (1:19.20) and along with big sister helped her 4x400 squad to a win with a clocking of 4:07.61.
In the girls' pole vault, Tabitha Schwartz of Appomatox County destroyed the competition and her own meet record with her vault of 10'06.00". It surpassed her old record of 10'03.25" that she set at last year's state meet.
In the girls' triple jump, last year's state champ and current meet record holder Joyce Johnson fell to 3rd place with her jump of 37'00.00" as Michelle Gardner of Western Albemarle took this year's crown with her jump of 37 feet 7.25 inches.
In the girls' shot put, Mildred Cooper of Gretna went over the 40 foot mark with her meet record breaking throw of 40'08.50".
DyeStat Elite Performances (68)
B-55: 6.61 p -- Boxley, Derone, 2002, King George VA
B-300: 34.59 MR -- Harvey, Derrick, 2001, Appomatox VA
B-300: 35.95 -- White, Irvin, 2002, Christiansburg VA
B-500: 1:05.7 MR -- Carlson, Stephen, 2002, Louisa Co VA
B-500: 1:06.51 -- Echols, Matt, 2002, Spotsvylvania VA
B-500: 1:06.56 -- Chambers, Sean, 2001, John Handley VA
B-500: 1:07.15 -- Johnson, Nathan, 2001, Christiansburg VA
B-500: 1:07.72 -- Wall, Preston, 2002, Lafayette VA
B-500: 1:08.34 -- Frasse, Eric, 2001, Jefferson Forest VA
B-500: 1:08.8 -- Ware, Randall, 2001, Brookville VA
B-500: 1:08.84 -- Wyne, Matt, 2002, Abingdon VA
B-500: 1:08.87 -- Hackney, Wayne, 2001, Matoaca VA
B-500: 1:08.9 -- Ferreira, Trey, 2001, Waynesboro VA
B-1000: 2:33.83 MR -- Crews, John, 2003, Rockbridge Co VA
B-1000: 2:36.74 -- Kays, Evan, 2001, Stuarts Draft VA
B-Mile: 4:17.17 MR -- Lockhart, Bobby, 2002, Handley Winch VA
B-Mile: 4:18.61 -- Kays, Evan, 2001, Stuarts Draft VA
B-2Mile: 9:12.57 MR -- Lockhart, Bobby, 2002, Handley Winch VA
B-55H: 7.65 MR -- Harvey, Derrick, 2001, Appomatox VA
B-55H: 7.75 -- Chambers, Sean, 2001, John Handley VA
B-55H: 7.82 -- Tarvey, Frederic, 2001, Fluvanna VA
B-LJ: 22' 2 -- Tamagni, T.J., 2001, Lord Botetourt VA
B-LJ: 21' 8.5 -- Ferguson, Emanuel, 2002, Appomatox Co VA
B-TJ: 45' 6 -- Canady, Devin, 2002, Jamestown VA
B-TJ: 45' 3.75 -- Gardner, Jamal, 2001, Robert E. Lee VA
B-TJ: 44' 8.5 -- Linkenauger, Matt, 2001, Lord Botetourt VA
B-PV: 13' 9 -- Stevens, Jimmy, 2002, Monticello VA
B-PV: 13' 9 -- Wingfield, Richard, , Appomatox Co VA
B-SP: 52' 11.5 -- Walker, Willie, 2001, Greensville VA
B-SP: 54' 11 -- Hubbard, Roy, 2001, Wm Campbell VA
B-4x200: 1:32.38 -- Boys Relay, , Jefferson Forest VA
B-4x200: 1:33.54 -- Boys Relay, , Appomatox Co VA
B-4x400: 3:29.03 -- Boys Relay, , Spotsylvania VA
B-4x800: 8:06.9 -- Boys Relay, , Lafayette VA
B-4x800: 8:10.4 -- Boys Relay, , Louisa Co VA
B-4x800: 8:14.31 -- Boys Relay, , W. Albemarle VA
G-55: 7.29 p-MR -- Foster, Ebony, 2001, Jefferson Forest
VA
G-55: 7.4 p -- Rose, Darwansia, 2003, Heritage VA
G-300: 40.37 -- Anderson, LaTonya, 2003, Caroline VA
G-300: 40.4 -- Rose, Darwansia, 2003, Heritage VA
G-300: 41.17 -- Nelms, Jennifer, 2001, Spotsylvania VA
G-300: 41.57 -- Franklin, Michaela, 2002, Charlottesville VA
G-500: 1:17.82 -- Nelms, Jennifer, 2001, Spotsylvania VA
G-500: 1:18.53 -- Mendoza, Evelyn, 2001, Massaponax VA
G-500: 1:19.2 -- Nelms, Kurstin, 2004, Spotsylvania VA
G-Mile: 5:13.87 c-MR -- Slemp, Shelley, 2003, Marion VA
G-Mile: 5:15.64 c -- Saunders, Shannon, 2002, Jeff Forest VA
G-2Mile: 11:29.94 c-MR -- Saunders, Shannon, 2002, Jeff Forest VA
G-2Mile: 8.68 MR -- Hovatter, Alesia, 2001, Central-Woodstock VA
G-HJ: 5' 4 -- Nelms, Jennifer, 2001, Spotsylvania VA
G-LJ: 17' 7 -- Gardner, Michelle, 2002, W. Albemarle VA
G-LJ: 17' 5.25 -- Polston, Veronica, 2001, John Handley VA
G-LJ: 17' 5.25 -- Moorman, Imani, 2003, Amherst VA
G-LJ: 18' 4.5 -- Foster, Ebony, 2001, Jefferson Forest VA
G-LJ: 17' 8 -- Hovatter, Alesia, 2001, Central-Woodstock VA
G-LJ: 17' 6 -- Anderson, LaTonya, 2003, Caroline VA
G-LJ: 17' 3 -- Mines, Marquita, 2001, Caroline VA
G-TJ: 37' 7.25 -- Gardner, Michelle, 2002, W. Albemarle VA
G-TJ: 37' 3.25 -- Moorman, Imani, 2003, Amherst VA
G-TJ: 37' 0 -- Johnson, Joyce, 2002, Charlottesville VA
G-TJ: 36' 5.25 -- Nelms, Jennifer, 2001, Spotsylvania VA
G-PV: 10' 6 MR -- Schwartz, Tabitha, 2001, Appomattox VA
G-SP: 40' 8.5 MR -- Cooper, Mildred, 2001, Gretna VA
G-4x200: 1:45.94 MR -- Girls Relay, , Caroline VA
G-4x200: 1:47.09 -- Girls Relay, , Charlottesville VA
G-4x400: 4:07.61 -- Girls Relay, , Spotsylvania VA
G-4x800: 9:53.64 MR -- Girls Relay, , Rustburg VA
G-4x800: 9:57.07 -- Girls Relay, , Blacksburg VA
