It took Louisa County all of about five minutes after winning the Group AA indoor title to set its sights on the outdoor championship.
“It was like, we’ve got the indoor title but now that’s gone,” said Louisa senior Corrinn Harris. “Let’s get the outdoor title, that’s the one that really matters.”
Saturday afternoon, Louisa dominated the outdoor state championships in much the same fashion it had at the Region II and Jefferson District meets, rolling up a title with 74.5 points, well outpacing Loudoun County in second place with 46 points.
The Lions built on the 22-point lead (fueled by Tony Green and Corrinn Harris’ two-three finish in the triple jump) that they leapt out to on Friday, starting with Tony Green’s individual state title in the 110-meter hurdles, and, soon after, his final leg in Louisa’s 4×100. But Green couldn’t carry the Lions by himself, particularly with how he was feeling. The senior labored through much of the meet, struggling mightily in the high jump and placing sixth in the long jump. And the already grueling 300-meter hurdles?
“Yeah…I just had to give it my all,” Green said.
Green still managed a third place finish in the 300-meter hurdles, piling up more points for the Lions.
Lucky for Green, while he was having — only by his standards — a slow day, Harris and the rest of the Lions made sure that it didn’t matter much. After Lorenzo Henson and Marcus Burley ran the opening legs, Harris erased the distance Louisa trailed by in the 4×100, setting the table for an easier final leg in the race for Green. Harris then won the long jump, edging out Prince Edward’s Rashaad Walton by a quarter inch. It was a role reversal for the tandem from the indoor championships earlier this year.
“I was good today, but (losing his legs) happened to me in indoor,” Harris said. “So we kind of flip-flopped I guess, he picked up my slack in indoor.”
It makes sense that’d one would pick up the other considering the bond the two have built in such a short time with Green arriving only this year at Louisa. Harris embraced the newcomer and has thrived while winning alongside him.
“We’re really close — we’re like brothers basically,” Green said. “I wish I’d have come earlier.”
Those good feelings rubbed off on a deep, resilient Louisa team. Jake Scott grabbed sixth in high jump. Henson came out of the heat before the final heat in the 300 hurdles to run an incredible fifth place time.
With the championship already sealed up, the 4×400 team hardly took the race off, with the quartet of Greg Dixon, Cory Osborne, Raeshawn Bishop and Jake Scott rolling to a third place finish behind Broad Run and Christiansburg.
On Friday, Andre Mealy scored in the shot put and Robert Davis, with just sixth months participating in the pole vault, finished third with a vault of 13-6. Lucas Roumillat took seventh in the vault.
“Very few people young people didn’t perform near their best performance in (today’s) meet,” said Louisa coach Jerry Cutright. “You could say 90-95 percent of them stepped up to another level and that’s all you can ask for. They came to compete. I think they did a real good job of knowing what they had to do and taking care of business.”
Charlottesville’s Johnson puts together monster meet
While the Lions were wrapping up the team title with incredible performances in the jumps, Harris and Green spent a lot of time going toe-to-toe with Charlottesville’s David Johnson. The Black Knights’ junior standout won the state triple jump title Friday night, then took fourth in the long jump.
His 48 foot, two inch jump in the triple outpaced the field by 20 inches, with Louisa’s Green in second and Harris in third.
The performance improved on an 18th place in the long jump as a sophomore and a runner-up spot in the triple jump. Johnson shook off shin and hamstring problems as well as a bout of fouling problems that required him to adjust his run three or four times.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming in and it seriously was just beautiful,” Johnson said. “That first jump was a 48-2 and after that pretty much everybody was behind me.”
Johnson also ran a leg on the Black Knights’ eighth place 4×100 team.
Burruss wins two state titles
Louisa County’s Javanique Burruss had a frustrating Thursday with a tough mark in the triple jump, but she wasted no time taking center stage Saturday by winning a title in the day’s opening event, the 100 hurdles, just a year after taking on the hurdles for the first time. It was far from her final impact.
Burruss ripped off a 19-foot, 5-inch jump in the long jump during the preliminary rounds to set a new Group AA record and win the long jump title. The jump would’ve won the Group AAA meet also held this weekend by seven inches.
“I felt pretty good going down the runway,” Burruss said. “I really didn’t expect 19, let alone 19-5, but when I jumped it felt good and when I looked back it looked like I was out there.”
Burruss also ran the third leg of Louisa’s 4×100 relay, which placed fourth. Imani Callen, Monica Mallory and Natese Ragland rounded out the squad.
Fluvanna freshman takes pole vault
Fluvanna County freshman Hannah Meador didn’t take long at all to find her way to the top. The Flucos’ pole vaulter cleared 11 feet, six inches to outpace region and district rival Western Albemarle’s Kelsey Grupp.
Meador was quick to credit the meet conditions for her performance that fell just three inches below her seed time.
“Today was a very relaxed atmosphere, the temperature was so great…regionals it was very hot,” Meador said.
Grupp cleared 10-9 to stay ahead of Louisa’s Imai Callen who took third. Monticello’s Molly Relken and Western’s Chandler Legard also placed in the vault.
Meador wasn’t the only Fluvanna vaulter to make an impact at the meet. Fluvanna’s Chance Parmly took second in the boys event.
Other Group AA finishers
Monticello’s Taylor Ecenrode took third in the boys discus throw. The senior wrapped up a solid career that included a pair of state medals the last two years. …Western Albemarle junior Colin Williams finished sixth in the men’s 800-meter. The Warriors’ Derek Armstrong took fourth in the 3200-meters. Nathaniel Hermsmeier of Monticello grabbed fifth in the 3200 while Armstrong’s teammate David Taylor took sixth…Western’s Maggie Kooken took eighth in the shot put Saturday and seventh in the discus on Friday night. The sophomore could be a state title contender next season….Fluvanna’s Greer Brown, the JD athlete of the meet, took fifth in the long jump and sixth in the 100 hurdles.
Visokay wins Group AAA 3200-meter
Albemarle’s legion of distance runners over the years can add another state champion to their ranks — and Adam Visokay has another year to go.
The Patriots’ junior rolled to the 3200 championship with a time of 9:09.59, outpacing Midlothian’s Darren Barlow who finished second.
Madison’s Moretz caps solid prep career
Last year Madison County’s Claire Moretz managed a double state championship at the Group A meet. She won yet another individual title Saturday, posting an 11:28.64 in the 3200-meters to win the championship.
She also showed her expanded range as her 2010 titles were in the 800 and 1600-meter races.
Moretz barely missed winning the 1600-meters, falling by five tenths of a second to Strasburg junior Katlyn Ayers.
Napper’s title in boys high jump leads way for Nelson
Thomas Napper is just a sophomore, but he was unfazed by the competition at the Group A meet, positing a high jump of six feet, six inches to grab an individual state title in the event. The jump would’ve won the Group AA meet as well and tied Napper for third at the Group AAA clash.
He wasn’t the only Nelson athlete that had an impact.
Nelson’s Quincy Murphy took third in the 300-meter hurdles while Miguel Zarate took sixth in the 3200-meters and eighth in the 1600-meter run for the Governors. The Governors’ 4×400 team finished eighth, Tyler Vest finished seventh in the boys triple jump. Nelson finished seventh in the team competition.
