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FUMA Racks 220 Points in Prep League Championship
By Winston Brown
In a far cry from the drama of last year's half-point win, FUMA easily outdistanced runner up Saint Christopher's by 72 points in the Virginia Prep League Indoor Track Championship. Fork Union had event champions in 12 of the 15 events in the Saint Christopher's palatial indoor track facility. For Fork Union, the win marks the ninth win in the last ten years at the indoor championships.
Leading the way for the Blue Devils was the extraordinary Brandon Caleb. Caleb picked up easy wins in the long jump and triple jump going 21'9 in the long and 46'5 in the triple. Caleb came back to win easy in the high hurdles and then split 22.6 in the 4x200 to help beat the heavily-favored Saints. Saint Christopher's had not been beaten in the event all season long. Caleb concluded his day with a leg on the victorious 4x400. Axel Mostrag led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1600 and then ran an outstanding 1:06.9 in the 500. The U.S. number-one in the 800 then returned to win the 3200 giving him three event wins for the day. Next up for Caleb and Mostrag is the Nike Indoor Nationals in Landover Maryland.
Stephen Palmer shocked the crowd with an upset victory in the 55 dash. Palmer's time of 6.70 was a personal best. It was also Palmer's first win over Saint Chris standout Chris Barnes. Palmer returned to anchor the 4x200 to a season-best 1:34.22 win. Jonathan Foote had a flawless day in the high jump, winning with no misses at 6'2. Once the title was in hand, the senior Foote raised the bar to 6'6 and had several near misses. Szymon Rola ran from the front in the 1000 and won in 2:44. Rola was a close second to countryman Mostrag in the 1600 and ran a leg on the 4x400. Carl Daniel celebrated his football signing with a win in the shot put at 47'9. The Rhode Island bound senior has added six and half feet to his best from last year under the tutelage of Coach Micky Sullivan.
Though the team has world-class talent in several areas, fast emerging is quality depth that would dominate at any other school. Jamie Reichlen, Jonathan Buckland and Neal Dodson would be headliners at other schools; all three have registered elite performances throughout the season. Dodson picked up a pair of third places in the dash and high hurdles and was the lead off in the 4x200. Reichlen ran an outstanding 1:08 in the 500 to place second and was fourth in the 300. He would return at the end of the meet to anchor the 4x400 victory. Jonathan Buckland did all of the pace work in the 1600 and 3200 and finished third in both. Had he been able to concentrate on just the 3200, he would have undoubtedly given 9:40 a chase. Another athlete that made a big jump was junior David Johnson, who cut 12 seconds off his personal best in the 3200 finishing fourth in 10:18.
Several newcomers came through big on Saturday as well. Jobari Abramson finished second in the triple jump, and Travis Meyer was fourth in the high jump with a personal best 5'10. Murphy Powell (55HH), Philip Hylton (shot put), Tyrone Gardner (55) and John Schoffstall (1000) all scored in the meet. Jordan Brooks jumped 19'5 in the long jump and was third, adding seven inches to his season-best. Andrew Baker ran a strong 500 and was sixth; he came back later and ran lead off on the 4x400 allowing Axel Mostrag to add another individual running event. The 4x800 placed third with four developing runners and ran 32 seconds faster than any other performance this year. Lastly, Frank Walker took up two events this season that were not his specialty. Walker, an all-state discus thrower, finished fifth in the shot put and ran a personal best 24.5 in the 4x200 to help set up the win.
It was a strange season for the Blue Devils. In December a Tuesday night meet was snowed out, in January the team was not allowed in the Virginia Tech Invitational out of spite, and last week a power outage cost the team another competitive opportunity. Through it all, the team managed to win the FUMA Invitational and post numerous national-caliber marks. On March 11, Axel Mostrag, Szymon Rola, Jamie Reichlen and Brandon Caleb will attempt to win National Championships at the Nike Indoor Nationals.
Follow this link for full meet results.
Posted by Elizabeth Liles, Monday, February 13, 2006 02:04 PM
Athletics
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