Joshua Kai-Smith, Josh Johnson get historic at VHSL outdoor track meet

Washington Post

5 hours ago

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Records set by two of Virginia's most celebrated track athletes fell and the South County girls turned in a complete performance at the Class 6 outdoor track and field championships at John B. Todd Stadium.
In the 110-meter hurdles Saturday, Gar-Field's Joshua Kai-Smith won in 13.39 seconds to break the Class 6 state meet record of 13.61 set by Grant Holloway of Grassfield in 2014. Holloway won the gold medal in that race, his specialty, at last summer's Paris Olympics.
'I'm a little dehydrated,' Kai-Smith said after pulling up short with a leg cramp and finishing eighth in the 100-meter dash about 20 minutes later. Asked about his expectations with a year of high school still to go, his message was simple: 'Expect more.'
Another junior, Josh Johnson of Freedom (South Riding), won the 100, besting the record of former T.C. Williams (now Alexandria City) speedster and 2024 Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles. Johnson's time of 10.39 seconds eclipsed Lyles's mark of 10.47 set in 2015.
'I'm just blessed — that's it,' an exhausted Johnson said after his race. Hours later, he came back to win the 200 in 21.27.
On the girls' side, senior Mia Mason racked up 34 points on her own to lead South County to the team title. The Stallions dominated the Class 6 indoor championship this past winter after finishing second at last year's outdoor meet.
Mason won the 100 meters (11.66) and placed second in the 200, the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump as South County tallied 96 points to cruise past runner-up Colgan, which had 51. West Springfield was third with 41.
'I love my team and am grateful that we did our very best and competed well,' Mason said. Teammate Julia Wallace won the 400 in 55.23 seconds, and the 4x100-meter relay squad prevailed, too (46.41).
West Springfield paced the D.C. area's boys' teams in Class 6. Stafford's Colonial Forge prevailed with 52 points, but the Spartans — whose only individual winner was Michael Murray in the pole vault (15 feet) — grabbed the runner-up spot with 46 points. Patriot, South Lakes and South County tied for third with 39.
Chantilly won three titles in the field events. Jacqueline Bullock took the pole vault with a 12-foot effort. Apria Smith captured the title in the triple jump (40-10¼). Christopher Hwang won the discus (190-7) and was second in the shot put.
Gainesville swept the 3,200-meter runs behind Trent Daniels (9:20.85) and Caroline Tribett (10:29.17). Daniels also won the 1,600 in 4:10.72.
West Springfield swept the 4x800 relays, with the boys' foursome of Kyler Roberts, Gavin Smith, Edison Dean and Jack Pritchard clocking a 7:49.24. The girls' team of Marie Campbell, Rickelle Bush, Allyson Hall and Allie Horner finished in 9:00.71.
Other double winners: Caroline Elliott of South Lakes, who won the 1,600 (4:51.45) and the 800 (2:08.64), and Colgan's Elizabeth Yeboah-Kodie, who won the long jump (20-0) and the 100-meter hurdles (13.61). Colgan teammate Lauryn Robertson won the 200 in 24.28.
Harry Economon of Robinson (47.15 in the 400) and Henry Birge of Patriot (1:53.83 in the 800) were the area's other Class 6 individual winners. Economon was part of Robinson's winning 4x400 relay (3:17.60)
In Class 5, Koran Rucker of Stone Bridge won the boys' shot put (60-9) and discus (168-3). Ava Jayaraman of Independence won the girls' shot put with a heave of 40-7¾.
Megan Greenlund of Briar Woods was victorious in the girls' 3,200 in 11:03.00. Thomas Rae of Riverside won the boys' 1,600 in 4:18.71. Potomac Falls' Carter Dunstan, Jack Manfredi, Nathan Short and Kaiden Richardson won the 4x400 relay in 3:17.92.