By Titus Mohler
Correspondent

The stakes continue to rise for track teams at Nansemond River, Lakeland, and King’s Fork high schools, which competed in the 2012 Eastern Region Indoor Track Championships at the Boo Williams Sportsplex on Friday and Saturday.

Lakeland’s Anaquan Peterson and Nansemond River’s Shakeela Saunders and Brandon Roberts represented the cream of the Suffolk crop.

Peterson continued his domination of both the triple jump and the long jump events, winning them with distances of 47 feet and 22-9 ¼, respectively.

Saunders won the long jump and set a meet record for girls with a distance of 19-5, surpassing the previous mark of 19-4 ¼ that had stood since 2003. She qualified for the state championships in the 300-meter dash with a time of 40.60 seconds and the high jump with a 5-2 leap. She also helped the Nansemond River girls 4×400 team qualify with a time of 4:02.31.

Just like he did at the district championships last week, Brandon Roberts set a good tone for the Warriors by winning the high jump, this time clearing the bar at 6-2.

Kings Fork’s Te’Shaibrah Myles qualified for states in the pole vault with a 9-6 score, and Brandon Hardiman of Lakeland jumped 6-4 in the high jump to qualify, as well.

The Warriors had a list of other athletes qualifying for states:

• Zakiya Rashid in the shot put with a 38-11 ½ score
• Malika Rashid with a 7.33 time in the 55-meter dash
• Kyle Green tallying a personal record of 35.50 seconds in the 300-meter dash
• And the boys 4×200 relay team, with a time of 1:33.04

The Nansemond River girls finished second overall in the 4×400, but the team experienced a truly thrilling win in their section.

Mia McClain ran the first leg, getting out in front of the crowd. Suddenly, on her second lap she suffered a leg injury and began limping, falling back to fourth. She persisted down the last 25 meters or so, enough to hand the baton off — saving the team from disqualification — before she collapsed. While NR coaches attended to her, the race continued with the Warriors at an unexpected disadvantage.

Incredibly, Kieaira Middleton re-took the lead in the third leg. By the time Shakeela Saunders had finished the final leg, the team had actually routed everyone in the section.

This team and the other qualifiers will compete at the 2012 State Indoor Track Championships Friday and Saturday at the Boo Williams Sportsplex.

Regional meet results were as follows:

Women’s team rankings (15 events scored)
1) Western Branch, 107.33
2) Ocean Lakes, 52
3) Phoebus, 42
4) Nansemond River, 41
5) Kellam, 35
6) Bethel, 28
7) Indian River, 26
8) First Colonial, 24
9) Grassfield, 17.33
10) Landstown, 17
11) King’s Fork, 14
12) Cox, 10
13) Gloucester, 8
14) Green Run, 6
14) Norview, 6
16) Princess Anne, 5.33
17) Salem (Virginia Beach), 5
18) Tallwood, 4
18) Hampton, 4
18) Hickory, 4
21) Great Bridge, 3
22) Woodside, 2
22) Kecoughtan, 2
24) Lakeland, 1
24) Kempsville, 1

Men’s team rankings (15 events scored)
1) Western Branch, 71
2) Ocean Lakes, 48
3) Grassfield, 47
4) Landstown, 35
5) Kellam, 31
6) Bethel, 30
7) Lakeland, 26
8) I.C. Norcom, 22
9) Norview, 21
10) Nansemond River, 20
11) Princess Anne, 18
12) Churchland, 17
13) Tallwood, 15
14) Hickory, 12
15) Kempsville, 10
15) Phoebus, 10
17) Woodrow Wilson, 8
18) Green Run, 7
19) Kecoughtan, 5
20) First Colonial, 4
20) Oscar Smith, 4
22) Kings Fork, 1
22) Hampton, 1
22) Gloucester, 1
22) Granby, 1

Top Suffolk finishers

• Girls high jump: 4th-Saunders, Shakeela, NR J5-02
• Boys high jump: 1st-Roberts, Brandon, NR 6-06; 3rd-Hardiman, Jordan, L J6-04
• Girls pole vault: 2nd-Myles, Te’Shaibrah, KF 9-06
• Girls shot put: 2nd-Rashid, Zakiya, NR 38-11 ½; 4th-Smenda, Aurielle, KF 34-0
• Boys triple jump: 1st-Peterson, Anaquan, L 47-0
• Girls long jump: 1st-Saunders, Shakeela, NR 19-05; 11th-Rashid, Malika, NR 16-0 ½
• Boys long jump: 1st-Peterson, Anaquan, L 22-09.25
• Girls 4×800-meter relay: 6th-Lakeland ‘A’ 10:22.0
• Boys 55-meter hurdles: 12th-Garrett, Quantelius, NR 9.22
• Girls 55-meter dash: 5th-Rashid, Malika, NR 7.33; 6th-Snipes, Gabrielle, KF 7.37
• Boys 55-meter dash: 10th-Brown, LaMont, NR 6.70
• Girls 4×200-meter relay: 6th-Kings Fork ‘A’ 1:48.18; 9th-Nansemond River ‘A’ 1:52.08
• Boys 4×200-meter relay: 5th-Nansemond River ‘A’ 1:33.04; 8th-Lakeland ‘A’ 1:33.67
• Girls 500-meter dash: 2nd-Middleton, Kieaira, NR 1:18.84
• Boys 500-meter dash: 11th-Demiel, Deonte, L 1:09.65
• Girls 1000-meter run: 11th-Albright, Alexis, L 3:18.32
• Girls 300-meter dash: 3rd-Saunders, Shakeela, NR 40.60
• Boys 300-meter dash: 2nd-Green, Kyle, NR 35.50; 8th-Philson, Jason, NR 36.28
• Girls 4×400-meter relay: 4th-Nansemond River ‘A’ 4:02.31; 11th-Kings Fork ‘A’ 4:23.57
• Boys 4×400-meter relay: 6th-Kings Fork ‘A’ 3:32.87; 11th-Nansemond River ‘A’ 3:38.67; 4th-Lakeland ‘A’ 3:43.27