Bruins Track Down History
Western Branch’s boys (above) and girls (below) track teams swept the AAA state championships Saturday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex. Photos by Jason Norman
For the Western Branch track teams, Saturday afternoon at Hampton's Boo Williams Sportsplex marked a day of firsts.
For the athletes. For their school. And for the area.
Aided by five event victories, the Bruins took home both the boys and girls AAA titles. For the Lady Bruins, it marked the first state title of their Branch tenure (the boys have won it before).
It was also the first time that a Hampton Roads school had ever taken home both championship in the same year, and just the third time in Old Dominion history (Lake Braddock has accomplished the feat twice).
"It wasn't about being the star," said Branch coach Claude Toukene. "It was about showing up and competing. You don't get the trophy if you don't compete."
The women, who roared past second-place Great Bridge 78-41 (though the Lady Wildcats had their own reason to be proud, more on that in a moment), took control literally from the start, as Keilah Tyson soared 5-08, one inch below the all-time record, in the meet-opening high jump. Her teammate Sydni Cobb won the shotput, and Isaiah Simmons gave Branch a sweep with a facility record of 63 feet, three inches.
Tyson, Taranisha Taylor, Tiffany Ellick, and Shakia Williams won the 4X200 relay, and Williams, Blake Andrews, Maressa Pinnock, and Simone Epps ended the meet with a second-place in the 4X400.
"Every year, we've come so close," said Branch senior Alexandra Cantwell. "We've always been in the boys' shadow. Finally getting to be there is really overwhelming."
While the girls had raced away from the competition - literally and figuratively - the Branch boys had a much closer time, as their victory came down to the last race. Booker T. Washington, Bethel, and Landstown took the top three spots in the 4X400 relay, separated by a tenth of a second; had Landstown won, the Eagles would have gotten the title. As it stood, Branch edged them, 41-38.
Hearing the final scores get counted down, said Branch senior George Matais, "was in the top 10 nerve-wracking moments in my life. I was more nervous then than in my races." He was part of a second-place squad in the 4X800 relay, nicked by Atlee by a third of a second.
"Winning is a really awesome feeling," said Matais. "We've got a young team; we're going to be strong for the next few years."
Against the top women in Virginia, Great Bridge scored 41 points - not bad for a one-woman team.
"I wasn't expecting that at all," said sole Lady Wildcat Shakeela Saunders, who won the 300-dash and long jump and got second in the triple jump and 55-dash. "I'm proud of it. I'm going to keep training hard so I can come back at outdoor track."
Lake Braddock's Sophie Chase pulled the upset of the day, charging from nowhere to beat top-seeded Kathleen Lautzenheiser of Midloathian in the 3200-run. Her 10:48.39 was half a second faster than Lautzenheiser, 11 seconds ahead of the facility record, and over 20 seconds quicker than the time that got her the Northern Region title the week before.
"It's really surreal," she said. "It's the most amazing feeling. I usually don't have enough left, but winning the region showed me that I could win at states. I almost couldn't believe I had something left." Lautzenheiser set a facility record in her 1600-run win.
In other action, Phoebus' Lizzie Powell shattered the state pole vault mark, as her 12-07 mark was seven inches higher than the "old" record, set the night before by Atlee's Emma Dejarnette. Justin Hunter of Ocean Lakes won the high and long jumps, and Landstown's Darrell Wesh took the 55- and 300-dashes.
