Daily Press All-Stars: Girls indoor track
compiled by Dan Maher
Player of the year
DOMINIQUE JORDAN, JUNIOR, WOODSIDE
Jordan is an outstanding athlete who capped an outstanding indoor season with dual state championships at 300 and 500 meters, but she’s also a fine prophet.
Last spring she won the 200- and 400-meter titles in the Eastern Region outdoor championships, making runs at state titles a strong possibility, but she suffered a strained hamstring in a dance recital and missed the state meet.
Her return to competition came at the Christopher Newport University High School Showcase on Jan. 13, where, after finishing second in the 300, she declared herself healed and confidently predicted, “I’m definitely going to win states.”
Jordan’s work ethic fulfilled her promise and carried her to 300-and 500-meter titles at the district, regional and state levels.
Her 300 and 500 victories made her the only Group AAA athlete to capture two individual state titles this season.
First team
55-meter dash: Crystal Carrington, junior, Bethel.
Carrington and teammate Shakia Forbes exchanged the top two spots in the district and regional meets. Carrington finished second in the district, but slipped past Forbes a week later in taking the regional crown. The pair matched times of 7.18 seconds in the Group AAA state meet, creating a virtual tie for second. Carrington was awarded second in a photo finish, narrowly edging Forbes, and in our first-team selection.
55-meter hurdles: Tierra Brown, senior, Hampton.
Brown added a third straight Group AAA state hurdling title to her pair of 2006 outdoor championships with a 7.92-seconds winning time. That clocking was the fourth-fastest in the nation this season. Her win avenged a second-place finish to Menchville’s Kali Watkins in the Eastern Region meet, as did her emergence as district champion, since Watkins nipped her in that competition in 2006.
300 meters: Nicole Saunders, senior, Menchville.
In the Group AAA state meet, Saunders confirmed her status among the state’s best, breaking the 40-seconds barrier. Her time of 39.85 left her one-hundredth of a second behind Jordan, though. Saunders was runner-up to Jordan in the Peninsula District meet.
500 meters: Nicole Saunders, senior, Menchville.
Saunders also found Jordan standing between her and a district 500-meter title. Saunders’ time of 1:18.17 yielded second place, and she followed that with fourth at the Eastern Region meet, improving to 1:17.53.
1,000 meters: Jaimie Lull, sophomore, New Kent.
Lull reversed the Bay Rivers District championships result by edging Lafayette’s Anastasia Abid with a time of 3:17.10 at the Region I championships. That shaved more than five seconds off Lull’s second-place district time and made her the Region I champ. She capped her season with a 17th-place finish in the Group AA state meet.
1,600 meters: Anastasia Abid, senior, Lafayette.
In Abid’s second season of track, she regularly finished near the top whether she competed at 1,000, 1,600 or 3,200 meters. She snared Bay Rivers and Region I titles in the 1,600 meters, before trimming nearly 13 seconds off her winning regional time en route to an eighth- place finish in the Group AA state meet.
3,200 meters: Jasmine Branch, senior, Bethel.
Branch contributed to Bethel’s balance and
Peninsula District championship, claiming an individual title while swamping the rest of the field by more than 1 minute and 20 seconds with a time of
12:00.56. She placed fifth in the Eastern Region,
posting a time of 11:53.94, and then finished 20th in the state meet.
High jump: Sheanna Mitchell, senior, Heritage.
Mitchell cleared the 5-foot, 6-inch bar during the
Eastern Region meet, good enough for second place. She claimed a Peninsula District title and sixth place in the Group AAA state meet with 5-foot, 4-inch jumps.
Triple jump: Quaniqua Jones, sophomore, Hampton.
Jones lagged in third place at the Peninsula District championships, but added almost two feet to her distance while jumping 36 feet, 5¼ inches for third in the Eastern Region meet. She was the best district triple- jumper at the regional and Group AAA state meet, where she finished 10th.
Long jump: Shakia Forbes, junior, Bethel.
A Nike All-American, Forbes set the standard for state-wide best marks throughout the season, but her
19-foot, 6¼-inch leap fell an inch shy of defending
state champion Brittni Finch of Centreville in the
Group AAA state meet, forcing her to settle for
second place. She easily captured regional and district titles.
Pole vault: Victoria Maston, junior, Lafayette.
Maston won the Bay Rivers District crown with a vault of 7 feet, 6 inches, and then followed that up with an
8-foot clearance and second place at the Region I meet.
Shot put: Kayla Campbell, junior, Bethel.
Campbell’s toss of 39 feet, 3 inches in the Group AAA state meet earned her third place, and even though it left her two inches behind second-place finisher LaKeisha Carney of Denbigh, Campbell gets the nod for the first team on the strength of Eastern Region and Peninsula District titles.
Second team
55-meter dash: Shakia Forbes, junior, Bethel.
55-meter hurdles: Kali Watkins, senior, Menchville.
300 meters: Nakia Williams, freshman, Bruton.
500 meters: Christine Calderon, senior, York.
1,000 meters: Hannah Varnell,
sophomore, Gloucester.
1,600 meters: Hannah Varnell,
sophomore, Gloucester.
3,200 meters: Edie Nault, senior,
Poquoson.
High jump: Christina Phillips, junior, Tabb.
Triple jump: Nakia Williams, freshman, Bruton.
Long jump: Kali Watkins, senior, Menchville.
Pole vault: Caitlyn Geisman,
sophomore, Denbigh.
Shot put: LaKeisha Carney, senior,