State leading 4x800 meter relays for Virginia were produced all the way down in Columbia, South Carolina this past weekend by the girls from Oakton at 9:26.35 and the boys from Colonial Forge at 7:54.06. During the indoor season, the Oakton girls got down to 9:20 at the indoor nationals while Colonial Forge had finished third at the AAA State Indoor meet with a season best time of 7:56.38. Also breaking 8 minutes in the race at the Taco Bell Classic were the indoor state runners-up Oakton in fifth place at 7:56.41. The Colonial Forge boys were under the old meet record time of 7:54.40, but finished third in a competitive race with 9 teams breaking 8 minutes. The Oakton girls were fourth place finishers in their race and trailed by Colonial Forge in fifth place at a time of 9:34.81.
Top leg for the Colonial Forge girls, Frances Morales, won her second major invitational mile race in as many weeks with a VA #1 performance of 4:58.74. The sophomore Morales had to be some of the best milers in the Carolinas in order to earn the victory. One of the state's top freshmen distance runners in Allie Klimkiewicz of Oakton, just missed breaking 11 minutes in the young outdoor season with a third place finish of 11:02.98. Klimkiewicz had ran one of the fastest 3200 meter times indoors for a freshmen in state history with her 10:44 at the AAA State Indoor Championships.
Third place finishes were also reserved for the top Virginian performers in the boys' individual races between Colonial Forge's Brian O'Loughlin in the 3200 meter run and Oakton's Michael McNamee in the 800 meter run. Both will teammates together next year at Virginia, O"Loughlin posted a PR of 9:19.74 for third in the 3200, while McNamee also ran a lifetime best in the 800 at 1:54.59 for a third place showing as well. O'Loughlin's current teammate at Colonial Forge, David Pennesi, had a slight improvement of his mile time from the Colonial Relays, but significant improvement in place from sixth to second place at Taco Bell with a time of 4:20.77.
With a personal best mark of 174'11", E.C. Glass sophomore Michael Zajac had bit of an off day in the discus throwing for only 160'4" in South Carolina, but still was able to garner a runner-up finish in the event. Another underclassmen star in the field events, Colonial Forge freshmen Crystal Jones matched her season best clearance of 5'4" in the high jump to take second overall this past weekend.
Taco Bell Meet Page w/ Results & Coverage from our MileSplit US affiliate SCRunners.com