New Balance Indoor Nationals - VA Friday Highlights

 

 

No All-American finishes from VA in the championship events on Friday at the Armory, but Sophie Chase and the Lake Braddock girls gave it a great run but were just off a sub 12 minute time and school record in the DMR. (Photo by Don Rich)

 

Meet summaries and highlights of the top 10 finishers by Virginians in Friday's events at the 2012 New Balance Indoor Nationals.

 

MileSplit US Meet Page, Results & Coverage

 

Elite Division Event Summaries

 

Only her miss in her first attempt at 5'5.25" kept Matoaca sophomore Brianna Hayes from breaking into the top 6 and earn All-American honors to add to her indoor state title in the high jump two weeks ago. (Photo by Don Rich)

 

Girls High Jump - Matoaca sophomore Briana Hayes cleared a height of 5'7.25", just a foot under her winning height at the AAA State Championships two weeks ago, to place 7th overall at the indoor nationals. An earlier miss in her first attempt at 5'5.25" (1.66 meters) prevented Hayes from joining three others in a tie for fourth place and top 6 All-American honors.

 

Girls DMR - Lake Braddock and Ocean Lakes girls finished 8th and 9th respectively with times just over 12 minutes. Lake Braddock, anchored by Foot Locker All-American Sophie Chase, ran a time of 12:02.06, which was 10 seconds off the state record set by Hidden Valley last year at 11:52.24 and only a second off their school record run of 12:01.86 in 2009. The time of 12:08.54 by Ocean Lakes is the fastest by a squad from the Eastern Region and moves them well inside the top 10 times in state history for the event.

 

Boys DMR - Great times posted by Colonial Forge (8th, 10:15.85), Oakton (10th, 10:19.69), and Atlee (11th, 10:21.62), but no All-American quartets in a fast event at this year's nationals despite VA #7 and VA #9 all-time runs from Colonial Forge and Oakton. Atlee's time was a bit of a surprise considering they do not have a sub 4:20 miler like Colonial Forge's David Pennesi and Oakton's Michael McNamee, but were led off by an All-State 1000 meter runner in Griffin Carmichael on the 1200 meter leg. 

 

Girls 5000m Run - Group A state cross country champion Hannah Rose had no problem shaking off race rust without an indoor season and picked up ahead of where she left off in the fall. The Wilson Memorial junior Rose bested her cross country 5K best from the fall at Foot Locker South (18:13) with an 18:08.05 PR in the 25 lap indoor event to place 17th in a field of 39 runners.

 

Boys 5000m Run - Coming off his first state title with a Group AA 3200 meter victory two weeks ago in Lynchburg, Cave Spring senior Cody Seymour kept it rolling in New York City. Seymour the  third fastest 5K time indoors in Virginia high school history with an 11th place effort of 15:08.19. A significant time drop from his previous 5K best in cross country at 15:34.

 

Colonial Forge's David Pennesi running just off one of the nation's best distance runners in Edward Cheserek of New Jersey as anchor legs in Friday's distance medley relay at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. Colonial Forge's time of 10:15 joins a short list of past Virginia relays who have ran under 10:20 indoors in the DMR. (Photo by Don Rich)

 

Emerging Elite Division Event Summaries

 

Girls Pole Vault - Just missing the cut-off for the elite championship division as the girls pole valut continues to improve in depth and quality at the national level, Fluvanna County sophomore and Group AA state champion Hannah Meador reached a new personal best height of 12'4" to win the emerging elite division at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. With her winning clearance on Friday, Meador now eclipses Group AAA state champion Felecia Majors of South County as the state leader for this indoor season and also moves her to being tied for VA #4 all-time indoors with former Atlee vaulter Emma Dejarnette.

 

Boys 60m Dash - A rising young sprint star from Chesapeake in Grassfield sophomore Vincent Lowe won the 60 meter dash in the emerging elite division with a meet record clocking of 6.88. Lowe recently placed as a state runner-up in the 55 meter dash finals at the AAA State Meet behind another sophomore in Forest Park's Mustaqeem Williams. His time of 6.88 ranks among the top five fastest times run by a Virginian in the rarely contested 60 meter dash event in the past 10 years. Fork Union's Denver Wright also qualified for the finals and placed 7th with a time of 7.03

 

Boys Shot Put - Grassfield's Austin Johnson was glad to finally not see Kempsville's Taylor Frenia sharing the same throwing circle with him on Friday at the Armory. After having a great indoor season with plenty of marks over 55+ feet, but taking runner-up to the eventual AAA state champion Frenia in many meets, Johnson finally got to visit the winner's circle in a meaningful meet this winter in the emerging elite division at NBIN. Johnson made it two champions on the day from Grassfield High School in joining teammate and 60 dash winner Vincent Lowe with a field best mark of 56'0.50". Johnson's winning mark came on his first throw and was never challenged for first seriously after that.

 

Girls SMR - The Battlefield girls quartet of Virginia Hill, Taylor Cockrell, Jasmine Hill, and Ellison Grove were event winners of the emerging elite race for the 1600 meter sprint medley relay in dominating fashion with their final time of 4:08.13.  They possibly deserved to be in the championship elite division instead after winning the lower division by a margin of 7 seconds.Only five other relay squads from Virginia have ran faster indoors in the past 10 years for the SMR.

 

Boys 60m Hurdles - Patrick Henry (Ashland) junior Travis Phillips is setting himself up to be the state's top returning hurdler for the 2013 indoor season. Following a PR performance of 7.59 and 4th place finish in the AAA state meet finals of the 55 meter hurdles, Phillips continued to excel at the national stage. Phillips made the finals in the 60 meter hurdles with the fourth fastest time in the prelims at 8.22 and ran a much cleaner and swifter race in the finals to drop down to 8.12 and more importantly moving up to finish second overall to earn a medal.

 

Boys Pole Vault - Lake Braddock senior Sean Daugherty seems to perform well when the stage is greater and the pressure is on. Daugherty was a surprise state runner-up in the pole vault last spring and then achieved a new personal best height of 14 feet at the recent indoor state championships. Daugherty took the bar to even greater heights on Friday at the Armory to a elevation of 14'8.25" to earn himself a  second place finish and medal in the emerging elite division. Daughtery will be in contention this spring for the Group AAA state title at this rate of improvement as well as his now established reputation as a championship meet performer.

 

Boys 2 Mile Run - Thomas Edison sophomore Louis Colson last year at the New Balance Indoor Nationals was challenging fellow Virginian in Ryan Thomas of Albemarle for the win in the freshmen mile. Colson ended up taking second in a breakthrough race for him and returned back as a sophomore to the Big Apple moving up to the emerging elite division at the 2 mile distance. After running a PR 1600 time of 4:19 to grab the sixth and final All-State spot, but having difficulty doubling back n the 3200 at the state meet, Colson got a fresh opportunity at the distance which produced a third place result for him and time of 9:26.85 to convert just under his season best 3200 meter time.

 

Boys 200m Dash - After being a state qualifier in Group A last spring in the 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash, Nelson County's Rodrell Smith will use his personal record 200 meter tying time of 22.46 to claim fourth place in the emerging elite division at the indoor nationals to spring board him to expectations of being an All-State finisher in the spring. Smith had a limited indoor season since there is no official Group A state indoor season or championships, but ran a solid 300 meter time of 36.35 at Virginia Tech.

 

Boys Triple Jump - Grassfield continued to add to their total medal count in the meet as Dominique Torress' fourth place in the triple jump added to the golds earned by teammates Vincent Lowe and Austin Johnson in the emerging elite division. The fourth place in the second tier division at indoor nationals was a nice redemption and consolation prize for Torress after fouling out on his three jumps at the indoor state championships.

 

Girls 2 Mile Run - Blacksburg's Kate Buss has a been a steady performer all year for her team in cross country and indoor track. Her consistency and improvements were rewarded with a medaling 6th place personal best run of 11:06.08 in the emerging elite race. A Group AA All-State performer at 1600 and 3200 meters two weeks ago, Buss' time in New York converts down to a 11:02 3200 meter performance which would be 6 seconds faster than her previous best.

 

Boys 800m Run - Norview senior Marquis Worsley ran only a second off his outdoor best at 800 meters with a 6th place run of 1:56.33. Worsley is one of the best distance runners to come of the Eastern District in many years and decades since Norview enjoyed the likes of the great Joe King (4:12 1600/1:50 800) at the start of the 1990s, who Worsley will try to give chase to some of King's school records this spring. Worsley was an All-State finisher in the 1000 meters with a PR of 2:34.08 and broke 4:20 for 1600 meters at last year's outdoor state championships.

 

Girls 200m Dash - Charlottesville sophomore Taylor Watkins was an All-State performer in the 300 meter dash (4th) and just missed making the finals of the 55 meter dash (10th) at the AA State Meet in Lynchburg two weeks ago. At the New Balance Indoor Nationals, Watkins was able to qualify for the finals of the 200 meter dash in the emerging elite division with a time of 25.58. She finished 8th in the finals with a time of 25.77.

 

Girls Shot Put - Top finishers from Virginia included Nansemond River freshmen Zakiya Rashid with a 9th place mark of 37'3.75" and Cosby senior Logan Edwards with a 10th place throw of 37'0.50". Rashid has had a succcessful first high school season and should be challenging for marks over 40 feet soon, while the VMI recruit Edwards looks to be one of the state's top performers in the discus throw this spring.

 

Boys 4x800 Meter Relay - Following a surprising 9th place finish of 8:08 at the AAA State Meet as one of the last seeded teams at the AAA State Meet with a previous season best time of 8:25, the Clover Hill boys' 4x800 matched their state meet time in the school's first trip to an indoor national meet in years. The quartet should challenge for a sub 8 minute time in the spring after a 10th place showing in the emerging elite division in a time of 8:08.95 as the top finishing VA squad in the race.