LANDOVER, MD - Many of Virginia\'s top athletes traveled to compete at the same facility which will host this year\'s Nike Indoor Nationals once again at this past weekend\'s Montgomery Invitational held at the Prince George County\' Sports & Learning Complex.
The meet served as a Milrose Mile qualifier with an invitiational mile division for both the boys and girls and two Virginians definitely improved their chances with victories at PG. Foot Locker All-American Catherine White of Northside took the girls\' mile in a time of 5:08.79 to win over fellow Virginian Kristy Tobin of Great Bridge at 5:11.10. White pulled off a successful double win in the distance events later in the meet as she became the first Virginian girl to break 11 minutes this season with a 10:51.56 clocking to break her own meet record (11:02.56) from a year ago.
Meanwhile, West Springfield junior Mike Spooner won a thrilling race over Northern Region rival Brad Siragusa of Chantilly in the boys\' mile race. Spooner who saw Siragusa upset him at the state meet and then go onto qualify for Foot Locker Nationals as Spooner sat home, showed that he is hungry to redeem himself this track season as he countered a kicking Siragusa down the homestretch to win narrowly in a time of 4:21.30 over Siragusa at 4:21.48. Spooner\'s converted 1600 meter time of 4:19.70 currently stands as the state best. Colonial Forge senior Dan Leyh also had a strong race to finish third in a time of 4:22.09 for the full mile distance.
Leyh was also a member of the winning Colonial Forge distance medley relay as they posted a time of 10:54.29 to defeat Salesianum of Delaware (10;58.11). The Colonial Forge boys also ran a solid time to finish third in the 4x800 meter relay at 8:20.33.
After starting off his indoor season with a 15 feet clearing at CNU last weekend, Great Bridge senior Mike Morrison is slowly but surely working himself into his usual over 16 feet form as he won the pole vault competition at Montgomery with a state leading clearance of 15-6.
The James Robinson boys may have finished third in the 4x400 meter relay, but they have established themselves as the top relay in the state currently with their 3:25.54 clocking. Huguenot (5th, 3:27.83) and Westfield (6th, 3:29.28) also had strong showings in the race going under 3:30.
Despite being severely under the weather and almost unable to attend school on Friday, Midlothian junior M.C. Miller did pretty good given the conditions as she posted a swift 800 meter time of 2:17.45 to finish second overall in the event. The Midlothian girls finished third in the 4x800 meter relay at 9:51.44 without Miller and Sammy Dow and took runner-up honors behind Tatnall of Delaware in the distance medley relay at 12:49.34).
The Salem girls from Virginia ran a the second fastest time in the state in the 4x200 meter relay to finish second in the relay event with a time of 1:42.44. Meanwhile, Menchville showed they will be contenders in the sprint relays at states by finishing third in the 4x200 (1:42.96) and second in the 4x400 (4:03.43) meter relays.
Salem\'s top sprinter Shamika Kentish won the 55 meter dash with a 7.11 clocking over a loaded field with all six girls in the finals running under 7.30.
Menchville junior Kali Watkins took runner-up honors in the 55 meter hurdles at 8.22, while Huguenot senior McArthur Henley was the top Virginian finisher in the boys\' hurdles in third place at 7.65.
In rarely contested 400 meter dash indoors, Chris Richardson of Hayfield finished second in the boys\' race with a 50.29 clocking, while Dominique Jordan of Woodside took a third place finish with her time of 57.81.
The boys\' 3200 meter run saw an exciting race in which Northside senior Zac Edwards (9:38.74) doubled back from the mile race to beat fresh runners in Jason Witt of Midlothian (9:41.98) and Simon Biddle-Snead of Clarke County (9:43.51).
Chantilly senior Nicole Kazuba definitely has be considered in contention for the Group AAA state crown in the pole vault this season and especially after winning the event at PG with a clearance of 10-6.
Woodside senior Ryan Gordon currently has bragging rights over the rest of the state\'s throwers as he defeated current state leader Jaymes Brooks of Denbigh (3rd, 52-2) and Austin Lester of Great Bridge (2nd, 53-5) with a toss of 53-7 to win the event.
One of the Northern Region\'s top field event athletes, Aimee Kodat of Westfield won the shot put competition on the girls\' side with a throw of 39-6.75 as she nearly reached the 40 feet mark.
While Brooks was unable to come up with the win in the shot put, Denbigh teammate Terrence Riggins garnered a first place finish with his leap of 44-2.50 in the triple jump.
West Potomac sophomore Katherine Lee won a close long jump competition as she won by just over a foot with her mark of 17-10.25. Meanwhile, Forest Park\'s Cameron Perry had a few more feet to spare in his 22-3 win in the boys\' long jump.
With four other athletes clearing 5-2, April Sinkler of Brooke Point was able to clear 5-4 to win the girls\' high jump.