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Following an almost carbon copy script of their Jefferson district victory 48 hours earlier, the Warriors racked up 110 points to once again outdistance runner-up Louisa County by a very comfortable margin.

The track events in general were especially kind to the Warriors, as Nick Ward, Kyle Satterwhite and Tyler Stutzman combined for almost half the team’s points. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the 1-2 finish in the 1600 meter run, where Central Virginia leader Stutzman becoming only the third person ever to run under 4:20 on the Fork Union track. His time of 4:19.26 ranks behind only the respective times of Axel Mostrag and Bobby Lockhart, the 2007 National Indoor 800 meter champion and Virginia’s only individual four-time state cross country champion.

Teammate Satterwhite also had a very big day as he clocked his best 1600 of the season at 4:23.61 before doubling back later in the evening to capture the 3200 meter crown in a very solid 9:41.94.

Off the track, the Warriors added another 16 points in the pole vault, where with super-consistent senior Ben Cherniawski took home the individual victory at 13’6”. Ranked as Group AA’s best heading into this weekend’s state meet, Cherniawski is just the latest in a long line of outstanding vaulters produced by veteran vault Head Coach Kevin Matheny.

State Meet Predictions: Both Western Albemarle and Orange County have team title aspirations for Saturday’s state meet, but to accomplish their goal they will need big, big performances from their three top guns.

Western’s Nick Ward is seeded eighth in the 300 meters, first in the 500 and will anchor the top seeded 4x400 relay team. Both Stutzman and Satterwhite will run the daunting 1600/3200 double, where they rank second/fourth and first/third respectively.

Orange County will counter the distance strength of their JD rivals with their own track stud, senior Logan Collins. The defending state champ in the 1000 meters, Collins will attempt to pull off one of the hardest doubles in track by adding the 3200 meter run to his plate. He is certainly capable of scoring higher than his current seed of eighth, but the lack of rest between the two events may hinder his point total.

He needn’t worry too much as fellow seniors Kevin Pearson and Jeff Carey are competing in multiple events and will certainly have his back. If you add up the potential points based off all the entries, Western is the clear favorite with 70 points, a total that is usually more than enough to capture the crown. But who knows, anything can happen on Saturday…

Posted by Alec Lorenzoni on February 27, 2008 7:09 PM | Permalink

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