Depth Pays Off for Viking Girls at Dogwood

By “Hitch”
Special to LoudounPrepSports.com

Charlottesville (Apr. 26, 2009) – Loudoun County was well represented at the 2009 Dogwood Track and Field Classic held at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, with four Loudoun teams making an appearance including Heritage, Loudoun Valley, Park View and Potomac Falls. The Loudoun Valley High School girls, which had won the LoudounPrepSports.com Invitational last weekend at Heritage, made it two straight by taking the team trophy, earning 56 points to second place team Spotswood’s 50 points.

Valley’s distance medley relay team of Lydia Cromwell, Audrey Houghton, and Hailey and Hannah Scheren set the tone for the Vikings early in the day earning first place honors in the event. The same four girls placed third in the 4×800 relay just an hour and a half later. Valley’s 4×100 relay team of Lexi Clarke, Rebecca Klemmens, Lauren Privette and Meghan Sullivan also scored high sprinting to a second place performance. Privette also placed third in the long jump. Other individual scoring performances for the Vikings were turned in by Sullivan placing sixth in the 100 meter hurdles, Jennifer Friberg placing seventh in the 300 meter hurdles and Hannah Scheren placing fourth in the 1600 meter run. Valley’s Sprint Medley team of Florence Thompson, Anna Harpster, Jennifer Friberg and Cromwell placed third as well. The team win was sealed for Valley with a first place performance turned in by the 4×400 relay team of Hailey Scheren, Clarke, Hope Meyers and Houghton.

The Heritage Pride was the next Loudoun girls’ team to place, taking 12th overall. The Pride 4×100 team of Bria Nunley, Chloe Donnelly, Emma McLaughlin and Shaquera Leach ran fast enough to earn a third place medal while the 4×400 team of Leach and McLauglin joined by twin sister Hannah McLaughlin and Amy Taylor also took third place honors.

The Heritage girls were followed by Potomac Falls, earning 18 points off the legs of Christina Lee who has found her stride again after an extended injury kept her out of most of the ’08 Cross Country season. Lee took first place in the 1600, running a 5:05.97 and second place honors in the 800 crossing the line in 2:18.21, less than half a second behind winner Frances Dowd of Fairfax. Park View’s Meridith Oare placed third in the discus with a throw of 116’ 4”.

On the boys’ side, Potomac Falls posted the highest score for Loudoun teams placing 12th overall while earning points off the running of just two athletes, Ryan Hagen and Josh Hardin. Hagen won the 800 with a time of 1:55.12 and Hardin placed third in both the 1600 and 3200 meter events running 4:22.61 and 9:11.34 respectively. Potomac Falls also had athletes competing at the Apple Blossom at James Wood High School Saturday.

The Heritage Pride’s 4×100 team of David McCarthy, Brian Dove, TJ McPhaul and Ross Madison smoked a 43.39 good enough for first place, helping their team to 14^th place finish overall. Heritage’s effort was furthered by a sixth place performance in the 110 meter hurdles and a fourth place performance in the 300 meter hurdles turned in by McPhaul.

McPhaul was chased by Loudoun Valley’s Chris Music (seventh) in the 110, and Zachary Canady (sixth) in the 300. The Vike’s Chris Weeks, placed third in the 800 with a school record performance of 1:58.65. Valley’s 4×200 team of Malcom Nix, Bernard Thompson, Jessie Michl, and Merrick Aiken placed 5^th while the Viking 4×800 team of Ben Walker, Joel Martinez, Brandon Creel and Weeks placed 6^th overall.

Park View’s Nathan Santana placed fourth in the triple jump, skipping to a leap of 44’ 5”. He helped fellow 4×100 teammates of Wilson Marcel, Dennis April and Brandon Absher to a fifth place finish in the event.

40 girls teams and 43 boys teams scored at the meet.

Click here for complete results from the meet