Led by two individual champions, the Yorktown Patriots finished third in the recent Virginia High School League’s Class 6 girls outdoor state track and field championships.
Yorktown had 37 points, two fewer than runner-up Oscar Smith. South County won with 80 at Todd Stadium in Newport News.
The Patriots’ individual-event winners were Viktorie Klepetkova in the high jump for the second year in a row, but this time with a school and meet-record leap of 5-feet, 11-inches, and Anna Corcoran in the 800-meters in 2:14.22.
Klepetkova’s winning jump was four inches higher than her first-place leap of 5-7 just days earlier in the 6D North Region championships. She won last year’s state meet with a 5-4 jump.
The old state-meet record was 5-10. Klepetkova cleared 5-11 on her second attempt, then attempted to clear 6-feet in her allowed three attempts. The 5-11 height was a three-inch personal record for Klepetkova.
“It was incredible what she did breaking that record,” Yorktown assistant coach Kevin Robertson said.
Klepetkova won the event when she first cleared 5-7. She then cleared 5-9, and finally 5-11.
“It all came together in her jumping this year,” Robertson said. “Since she was the returning state champion, she was motivated to be better than last year. That allowed her to have fun in the meet and not be nervous.”
The junior also finished sixth in the 300 hurdles at this season’s outdoor state meet, was seventh in the triple jump and ran on the sixth-place 4×400 relay.
Corcoran, who will run at Duke University, also ran on the 4×400 relay as well as anchored Yorktown’s second-place 4×800 relay (9:18.75) with a 14-second personal relay record. Olivia Stafford, Eleanor Whitehouse and Sofia Sheldon also ran on that 4×800 runner-up relay.
Yorktown’s other top-eight individual place finisher in the meet was Alma de Migue Evona Eki with an eighth in the 100 in 12.3 seconds and 10th in the 200.
The Yorktown girls team had just six participants at the state meet and yet still finished third.
In the boys state meet, Wakefield’s Justin Delgado was second in the pole vault at 13-0 for the highest finish by an Arlington participant.
Wakefield’s Nadim Abdu placed third in the 800 (1:54.88).
From Washington-Liberty, Zemeron Bein finished fifth (6-2) in the high jump (6-2). Also from W-L Jonah Friedman was sixth in the shot put (49-3 1/2) and Elijah Hughes tied for 10th (47-11).
For the Yorktown boys, Jackson Birdseye was third in the 100 (10.89), Owen McArdle was sixth in the 1,600 (4:19), Peter Oliveira was eighth (40.38) in the 300 hurdles and the 4×800 relay was seventh.
McArdle was getting over a recent non-COVID illness and did not run in the 3,200, where he was a favorite.
At the earlier 6D North Region meet, the Yorktown girls and boys each finished second, well behind the winning teams.
The Yorktown girls had just two athletes score in that meet. Klepetkova was one, winning the high and triple jumps, finishing second in the 300 hurdles and long jump and third in the 100 hurdles. Alma de Migue Evona Eki won the 100 and was second in the 200.
For the Yorktown boys at the region, McArdle won the 1,600 and was third in the 3,200; Oliveira won the 300 hurdles, was second in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the high jump; Birdseye won the 100 and was eighth in the 200; Dylan Minsker was third in the high jump; Jack Blocher was sixth in the 800; and the 4×800 relay was third.
For the third-place Washington-Liberty boys at the region meet, Bein was second in the high and triple jumps and fourth in the long jump; Friedman was second in the shot and discus and Hughes third in the shot; Jackson Broadwell was fourth in the 300 hurdles and seventh in the long jump; and Ian Naff was fourth in the 400.
Delgado was third in the pole vault.