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The Rockbridge County High School boys’ and girls’ 4 X 800-meter relay teams won titles at the Valley District track and field meet last Wednesday at Turner Ashby, and six individuals and four relay teams from the Wildcats advanced to the Region 3C meet.
The top six individuals and top three relay teams, as well as those qualified by time or distance, advanced to the Region 3C meet, which took place yesterday at Broadway.
In the boys’ 4 X 800-meter relay, the Wildcats, ranked fourth going in, won in 9:11.24, a season-best time that was comfortably ahead of Spotswood’s runner-up time of 9:44.97. Team members for the Wildcats were Andrew Brannon, Will Gibbs, Alexander Miller and Jordan Imler.
The RC girls won the 4 X 800-meter relay in 10:31.78, a season-best time that was more than two minutes ahead of runner-up Turner Ashby’s time of 13:09.32. Team members for the Wildcats were Grace Rolon, Dorothy Lewis, Nicole Black and Deena Ludtke. RC head coach Jennifer Showalter said the RC girls’ relay team ranked high going into the regional meet and that the team’s goal was to break the school record of 10:26.25, set in 2014.
Also advancing to the regional meet were the Wildcats’ 4 X 100-meter relay teams. The boys placed second in 53.02 seconds, only trailing Broadway (48.7). Team members were Caden Culp, Spencer Pfaff, Thomas Jones and Ethan Drake.
The RC girls placed third in the 4 X 100meter relay in 1:01.26. Team members were Evelyn McClung, Madeline Doerfier, Alice Gresham and Melissa Mejia.
Individually for the RC boys, Brannon advanced in two races, placing third in the 800-meter run in 2:15.11 and finishing fourth in the 1600-meter run in 4:53.29, a personal record (PR) by more than four seconds.
Imler missed qualifying by one place in the 800-meter run, finishing seventh in 2:23.32.
For the RC girls, Deena Lutdke advanced in two races. Ludtke placed second in the 1600-meter run in 5:29.53, a PR by nearly nine seconds, and finished second in the 800-meter run in 2:30.05.
Nicole Black advanced by placing fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 56.45 seconds. She missed qualifying by one place in two events, finishing seventh in both the 1600meter run (6:12.11) and the long jump, leaping 13 feet, 9.25 inches.
Rolon qualified in two races, placing fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:33.95 and finishing sixth in the 1600-meter run in 5:59.15.
McClung advanced in the 100-meter dash in 15.35 seconds.
Three RC girls missed qualifying in sprints by one place, all coming in seventh: Doerfier in the 100-meter dash (15.36), Gresham in the 200-meter dash (32.16), and Kate Holston in the 400-meter dash (1:12.6).
Thrower Bri Marando advanced in both of her events, placing second in the discus with a heave of 91-8 and finishing fifth in the shot put with a toss of 28-1.
Two RC boys competed in throws but did not advance. Kellan Dorey placed 10th in both the shot put (29-11.5) and discus (84-3), while Hunter Howald finished 11th in both the shot put (28-5) and the discus (77-9).
The RC boys and girls both placed fourth of four teams. Broadway won the boys’ meet with 121 points, while Spotswood (67) placed second. Completing the standings were Turner Ashby (55) and RC (15).
Spotswood won the girls’ meet with 86 points, while TA (80) placed second. Rounding out the standings were Broadway (57) and RC (25).
From the Region 3C meet, the top four individuals and relay teams, as well as those qualified by distance and time, advance to the Class 3 state meet, which will take place on Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, at Liberty University.
