Oakton senior Joe LoRusso continued his impressive year with a first place finish in the boys 1,600-meter run at the AAA indoor track and field meet at George Mason University over the weekend. LoRusso’s time of 4 minutes 15.53 seconds was the third fastest time for a high school athlete in the country this season and was 3.42 seconds off the state record set by Alan Webb in 2001.
LoRusso also placed second behind Westfield junior Matthew Anderson in the boys 1000 run with a time of 2:31.63. LoRusso’s 18 points at the meet were good enough to give Oakton a 12th place finish at the meet. Western Branch High School finished first at the meet with 65 points, followed by Nansemond River (37) and Bethel (26).
Edison was the top Northern Region team, finishing in 6th place with 22 points.
Westfield senior Tasia Potasinski took first in the girls 1,600 and 1,000 and also anchored the first-place Westfield girls 4x800 relay team. T.C. Williams junior Tynita Butts won the girls long jump with a state-record distance of 20 feet. Chantilly junior Lia DiValentin placed second in the girls 3,200 run with a time of 10:48.86, .06 seconds behind first-place Dathleen Lautzenheiser from Midlothian. Herndon junior Hiruni Wijayaratne finished third.