VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships 2012

Hampton, VA
Hosted by Bethel

Coverage

Athlete Spotlight: Adam Visokay Mar 05, 2012

  Photo by Ryan Kelly   Adam Visokay did not start taking running seriously until his junior year and the rest of Virginia is grateful for his late start or he would have left many more runners in his wake of his furious final lap kick at 3200 meters. After catching everyone off guard last indoor season with a surprise runner-up finish in the 3200 meter run, the UVA recruit Visokay has turned it on at the end when it matters each following season. With a sub 60 second last lap in last spring's VHSL Group AAA State Outdoor Championships, Visokay was able to run down the two pre-race favorites for his first state championship in a 9:09 PR. This fall, Visokay ran for team instead of individual glory for much of the season with one of the top ranked cross country teams in Virginia. However, after a second place team finish and third place individual finish at the state cross country meet behind two eventual Foot Locker finalists in Ahmed Bile and Sean McGorty, Albemarle coach Buz Male let his star runner loose at the NIke Cross Nationals Southeast regional in Cary, North Carolina. Visokay unleashed a 5K PR of 15:10 at the Southeast Regional to place second and earn the trip to Oregon for the national race. In Portland, Visokay showed that he had another level of performance or gear in him as he placed 10th (15:37) in a field including many of the nation's best distance runners to rival the top 15 performances by McGorty and Bile at the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego. This weekend at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, Visokay once again gets an opportunity to measure up against the nation's elite at the two mile distance following a second state title in his high school career with a 9:15 3200 PR run at the indoor state championships on February 25th. MileStat.com interviewed Visokay, the two-time state champion at 3200 meters, prior to his indoor nationals race.

Athlete Spotlight: Felecia Majors Mar 03, 2012

  Photo by Ryan Kelly   South County junior Felecia Majors is becoming the Queen of Versatility in Virginia high school track & field. Majors, who has dominated the Northern Region in their past two championship meets indoors and outdoors, has taken her winning to the state level. At last weekend's VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships, Majors took home a pair of individual state titles in the pole vault and long jump to become her school's first state champion in any sport. She nearly won a third state championship in the meet with a close runner-up finish in the 500 meter dash. Majors also became the first girls' vaulter ever from the Northern Region to clear over 12.  After being just one of the legs on South County's great relays from a year ago, Majors has really elevated herself individually to be considered as one of the state's best returning track athletes for 2013. As a freshmen, her coaches did not initially think she could do much for them in the field events, but fast forward two years later and Major is the first pole vault-long jump girls' champion in AAA state meet history. MileStat.com interviewed Majors following with her double state title performance.

Group AAA State Indoor Championships Race Videos & Photos Feb 27, 2012

    A gallery of champions from the 2012 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor Championships and links to photo and video coverage of each event. A total of 5,948 photos by Ryan Kelly are now posted along with race video clips by Ron Bayton of every section and heat for every running event this past weekend. Field events videos still to be added (by Tuesday at the latest). Oscar Smith junior Michael Cherry was the only double event champion in the boys' meet with his sprint victories in the 500 and 300 meter dash, while Cosby senior Megan Moye (1600 & 3200 meters) and South County junior Felecia Majors (pole vault & long jump) both a pair of state titles for girls.

Updates to Group AAA State Meet All-Time Lists Feb 26, 2012

Mountain View senior Kimberley Ficenec stands alone as the only athlete or relay from this past weekend's Group AAA State Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton to have set a new meet record. Ficenec's winning time of 2:51.46 (also US #7 in 2011-2012 season) took down a 12 year existing meet record held by Kecoughtan's Elizabeth Bayne from the 2000 State Championships at 2:53.90. After doubling back from a sub 5 minute runner-up 1600 meter performance to Megan Moye, Ficenec had plenty of competition to press her to the record time as the race turned out to be the fastest ever in meet history. A total of five runners in the fast section broke into the top 15 all-time performances in meet history with Ficenec, Indian River's Shannon Morton (#2 at 2:52.67), Midlothian's Skylar Evans (#5 at 2:54.58) and Marie Johnston (#9 at 2:55.17), and West Potomac's Sarah Jane Underwood (#15 at 2:56.49).   Speaking of Megan Moye, the Cosby senior had one of the best distance triples ever in meet history starting on Friday with a 2:07.41 F.A.T. anchor leg split to give her 4x800 meter relay team the victory in a #5 all-time meet performance of 9:16.65. She followed on Saturday with a pair of individual wins in the 1600 and 3200 meter races producing remarkable times of 4:53 and 10:25 respectively. Both races ranked her #2 all-time in meet history behind the great Erin Keogh of Langley, who was a former two mile national record holder and Foot Locker/Kinney Nationals cross country champion in the 1980s. Lake Braddock's Sophie Chase made Moye work hard for her third win of the meet and her efforts resulted in Chase moving to #4 all-time in meet history with her second place time of 10:29.66.   No meet records were found in the boys' results for this year's meet, but some athletes and relays positioned well inside the top 10 on many all-time lists. Annandale senior Ahmed Bile's virtually time trialed run in the 1000 puts him only behind American mile record holder (both professional & high school) Alan Webb with his sizzling time of 2:26.44. Bile has two of the top three times in meet history at 1000 meters when including his win last year in the event.    Prior to this year, only four girls had gone under 8 seconds in the 55 meter hurdles at the AAA State Meet. After Saturday's finals, that number almost doubled. Western Branch had a pair making names for themselves in meet history with a 1-2 finish from Taranisha Taylor (#5 at 7.95) and Tiffany Ellick (#6 at 7.97), while Hampton sophomore inserted herself into the top 10 list with her 7.99 clocking for third place.   The high jump state champions from the Central Region tied with several other past great jumpers in their winning clearances this weekend. J.R. Tucker's Nick Simmons is now tied with 7 others at the #3 spot with his victorious height of 6'10", while Matoaca sophomore Brianna Hayes will be inserted on the all-time list with 10 others at 5'8" for the 4th best performance in meet history.   Oscar Smith junior Michael Cherry was the lone sprinter for boys to make a major dent into the all-time meet list. In his extremely difficult and impressive double of winning both the 500 and 300 meter dash state title, Cherry is now ranked 13th in the 500 at 1:04.30 and 8th in the 300 with a 34.08 clocking. Read more athletes and relays performances making their way into the Group AAA State Indoor Championships all-time list below.   All-Time State Meet Performances from Day 1 All-Time State Meet Performances from Day 2 

VHSL State Indoor Championships On-Site Coverage Feb 24, 2012

Look for videos and photos to be uploaded to website from both championship meets starting late Saturday night and all day Sunday.   Group AAA State Championships   2012 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor T&F Girls Team Champions Cosby High School The Cosby girls needed more than arguably one of the best distance triples ever in the VHSL State Indoor Championships history from Megan Moye in order to knock off the heavily favored and defending state champions from Western Branch. However, Moye did her part with a 2:07 anchor leg on the 4x800 meter relay to bring her squad from 7th to 1st place in making a gap of over 80 meters. The 64 second first 400 meter split from her 4x800 leg showed little effect or fatigue for Moye in her races on Saturday as she defeated a 800 meter national champion in Kimberley Ficenec for the 1600 meter title in 4:53 and a Foot Locker Cross Country All-American in Sophie Chase for the 3200 meter title in 10:25. Cosby added 6 points with a third place finish in the 4x200 and Moye got more help from teammates Logan Edwards in the shot put (6th) and Alex Moseley in the 500 meter dash (4th). They needed more points to clinch it for the Titans and they got it from their 4x400 meter relay with Moseley on anchor. Cosby held off a late charge from top seed Bethel and 500 meter state champion Maya Moore to win the event in 3:53.36 and become the first Central Region girls 4x400 indoor state champions since John F. Kennedy High School in 1995. Cosby becomes only the fifth Central Region school to win the indoor state track girls' team title.  Final score: Cosby 54, Western Branch 50. (Photo by Ryan Kelly)   2012 VHSL Group AAA State Indoor T&F Boys Team Champions Western Branch High School Western Branch boys set the tone for the rest of the meet in the 55 meter hurdles prelims on Friday when they had heat winners in the first 3 heats of the event with Jamal Burris, Aaron Simpson, and Christopher Crawford. With four of the 12 finalists in Saturday's hurdles finals, the Bruins were bound to rack up some points and they did with a total of 13. Their fast start in hurdles allowed them to have the team title already well in hand before the 4x400 meter relay which their top seeded relay didn't even get a chance to race and add more points after a false start. Runner-ups Chris Crawford in the long jump and Byron Robinson in the 500 as well as third place from Josh Marriner in the 55 dash finals were their top individual performers along with a big 10 points from their state champion 4x200 relay which clocked the state's fastest time of the year at 1:30.16. Every point counts at a state championship and Western Branch received a single point from 8th place finishes in the sprints from Mondryl Glover in the 55 dash, Devante Cherry in the 300, and Corey Jones in the 500. Under head coach Claude Toukene, Western Branch has won four of the last six indoor track boys' team state titles - 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012. (Photo by Ryan Kelly)   Meet Page w/ Coverage COMPLETE RESULTS - Team Champions: Cosby girls & Western Branch boys Photo Gallery by Ryan Kelly - Day 1 photos uploaded. Day 2 photos being added Sunday. Photo Gallery by Scott Reid - Day 2 photos only. Race Videos by Ron Bayton - All videos to be uploaded by late Sunday night.   Group AA State Championships   2012 Group AA Girls Indoor T&F Team State Champions Blacksburg High School     2012 Group AA Boys Indoor T&F Team State Champions E.C. Glass High School Photos by Andrew Kicinski   Meet Page w/ Coverage COMPLETE RESULTS - Team Champions: Blacksburg girls & E.C. Glass boys Photo Gallery by Andrew Kicinski - Over 2,400 total photos posted. Race Videos by Brandon Miles - 39 video clips total for all running events.