NIN Day One: Virginia Highlights

LANDOVER, MD -- Virginians kicked off the first day of competition at the Nike Indoor Nationals in impressive style as they picked ten All-American honors, which included a national championship by the Michael Chapa anchored J.R. Tucker boys\' distance medley relay (10:20.26). Held at the Prince George County\'s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland, day two should have even greater performances from Virginians.

Possessing two of the best hurdlers in Group AA with the Gregory twins, Tierra and Kierra, Jamestown added fellow senior hurdlers Urshilla Williams and India Lee to make for an All-American caliber 4x55 shuttle relay squad in Landover as the Lady Eagles finished third overall in the event with a time of 35.08.

The Peninsula District was well represented in the girls\' 400 meter dash as two qualifiers from Saturday\'s preliminaries reign from the district in Woodside freshmen Dominique Jordan and Bethel senior Shakirra Pinnock. Jordan and Pinnock ran the fourth (58.20) and seventh (58.42) fastest times overall respectively on Saturday.

Potomac Senior\'s Fallon Hutcherson was the sole finals qualifier from the state out of Saturday\'s prelims for the 200 meter dash as the senior posted a time of 25.44 to win her heat. Hutcherson\'s time was the fifth fastest out of the eight qualifiers in Saturday\'s prelims and will need to finish in the top six in Sunday\'s finals to earn All-American honors. Heritage (Newport News) senior Octavia James just missed qualifying for the finals as she posted the ninth fastest time (25.63) on Saturday.

The Midlothian distance girls carried their momentum from Group AAA state championship win in the 4x800 meter relay last week to earn All-American honors on Saturday in the distance medley relay. Using the same four from last week\'s relay with Christine Selander, Jessica Oakley, M.C. Miller, and Amanda Patterson, the Lady Trojans finished third overall in a time of 12:16.91. Patterson will be coming back tomorrow to compete in the two mile run, which she earned All-American honors in the event last year.

Ther Herndon girls\' sprint medley relay of Karen WIlson, Hannah Green, Allison Elaesser, and Paige Bryan won their heat in a time of 4:19.93, but finished four places and two seconds shy of All-American honors.

The Virginia girls dominated the triple jump event with seven athletes in the top ten and three of which earning All-American honors. Hermitage junior Queen Harrison, who finished third at last week\'s Group AAA State Meet after coming in as the top seed and favorite, returned back to top form at Nike Indoor Nationals by finishing second overall in the event with a mark of 39-07.25. Finishing one place and just over a foot behind Harrison was last week\'s Group AAA triple jump state champion, Nakeisha Wineglass of Hayfield as she finished third with a leap of 39-06. Buffalo Gap junior Angela Jenkins, competing at Nike Indoor Nationals despite the fact that Group A schools do not hold an official indoor season to prep her for the meet, finished a strong fourth overall (38-8.25) to earn her second All-American honor in her career.

No Midlothian boys\' 4xmile relay team this year to try for a national championship three peat, but the Colonial Forge boys kept the streak of All-American honors from in the state in the event by finishing sixth overall in the event with a time of 18:18.36. Making up the All-American lineup were Nicky Oltman, Dan Leyh, Tony Nowotarski, and Arny Dieckmann. The Oakton boys finished one place shy of All-American honors in seventh with a time of 18:22.81.

Bayside junior Charles Clark, a state runner-up last week in both the 55 and 300 meter dash, advanced out of the preliminaries of the 200 meter dash at NIN with a clocking of 22.26. His time is fifth fastest out of the eight qualifiers for Sunday\'s finals.

The highlight of the day for Virginians was the national championship win by the J.R. Tucker boys in the distance medley relay. Tigers anchor leg Michael Chapa was given the baton with a slight lead on the competition but opened that gap to give Tucker a seven second victory of the second place finisher with a winning time of 10:20.26. Joining Chapa on the national champion podium were Thuom Mathaing, Mason McElroy, and Marcus Harper.

Ther Herndon boys\' distance medley relay team of Danny Gordon, Andy Smith, Ermin Mujezinovic, and Abe Dagnachew also earned All-American honors in the event as they finished fourth overall in a time of 10:31.65.

After leading the Lafayette boys to the Group AA state title a few weeks ago in Blacksburg, Rams senior Dakari Taylor-Watson led himself individually to All-American honors. Watson finished fourth overall in the triple jump with a leap of 47-3.50.

While not coming close to hitting his season best height of 16-2, Great Bridge junior Michael Morrison earned All-American honors in the pole vault for the second consecutive year with a clearance of 15-6.25.