Will State Records Lead to National Titles? NBNO Field Event Preview


Team Virginia will field a very strong team in the field events this year. Leading the way for everyone in Virginia will be Western Branch's Gary Williams who will look to defend his indoor triple jump title this weekend in Greensboro. Joining him in that competition and likely his greatest competition will be Landstown's Hasani Knight who came within inches of breaking the Virginia state record at the 6A meet where he actually beat Williams. 

The boys triple jump competition will surely be excited but it might be overshadowed by the girls' triple jump. In that competition VA has three girls over 40' and two over 41' this season alone. Titiana Marsh is US #1 and will lead the VA contingent by Brooke Stith and Maya Hanks will be close behind. Depending on how the cards fall, all three ladies could finish the meet ranked #1, #2, and #3 in the meet and all-time in Virginia. 


In the long jump competitions Marsh and T.C.Williams' Nyla Ward will highlight the action on the girls side after going 1-2 in the 6A competition at states. In the boys' competition though it will be Jordan Walker, Donovan Louis, and Gregory Lucas-Roscoe charging forward for VA. 

It should be noted that nationals has changed things this year, for the better, with the way the field events are setup. In the jumps and throws the top eight will be qualifying for finals but unseeded flights. As in, instead of all the top competitors being seeded in one single flight, the meet now seeds the top competitors over multiple flights. 


Over in the throws Virginia will have another great batch of athletes vying for national titles and All-American finishes. In the shot competition we will have Alexis Clark (James Monroe) and Ebonie Whitted (Grassfield) in the girls competition and 6A Boys champion Benedict Draghi (Washington-Lee) in the boys. 

Finally in the discus competition we have Ebenezar Belayneh (T.C. Williams) and Kelly Cook (Parry McCluer) representing the boys and Gabrielle Holliday (J.R. Tucker) and Clark repping the girls.