Around the Area

The battle among area athletes in the 800 should be exciting again this spring, with a fairly big crowd at the top, including: Colonial Forge senior Dan Leyh and junior Blake Arnold ; Herndon junior Abe Dagnachew ; South County junior Jeff Miller ; Robinson senior Mark Hussa; and Jefferson junior Taylor Bostick , who won the indoor AAA 1,000 title this month. . . . In the sprints, Lee junior Sean Holston established himself as the area runner to beat, winning the indoor state title in the 300 this winter. On Holston's tail are Stonewall Jackson senior Jared Simmons , Hayfield senior Mike Westbrook and Potomac (Va.) senior Chris Harrison .

The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship annually proves to be one of the most intense, with the deep squads at DeMatha and Gonzaga frequently engaged in close meets. That should be the case again, with defending champ DeMatha led by seniors Jaumale Sykes and Jeremy Samuels in the sprints, and Gonzaga led by junior Aaron Taylor and senior Matt Chandler , who were part of Gonzaga's WCAC cross-country championship. . . .

Brentsville's distance corps, which led the Tigers to a AA cross-country championship, should be strong on the outdoor track. Senior Nick Gehlsen was third in the state 3,200 last year, and juniors Henry Melius and Adam Henken could be contenders as well. Other area AA standouts include Heritage senior Les Bradley , who captured the 110 hurdles last year, and Liberty senior Matthias Meyer was third in the state indoors in the long jump. . . . As a freshman last year, George Mason's Joshua Jenkins won the Group A 400-meter title and Travis Greene won the long jump as a junior. Clarke County finished second last spring, and many of its top athletes are back, including junior Simon Biddle-Snead , the state cross-country champ.

-- Sean P. Flynn