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Rockbridge County High School and Parry Mc-Cluer High School recently named four seniors who just graduated as male and female athletes of the year.
For RC, swimmer, golfer and outdoor track runner Will Gibbs was named male athlete of the year, while volleyball and lacrosse player Maddie Dahl was selected as female athlete of the year. PM named cross country and track runner Kovyk Chandler as male athlete of the year, while softball and basketball player Payton Emore was selected as female athlete of the year.
Gibbs was most successful in swimming, helping the RC boys place fourth at the Class 3 state meet in February, their highest finish in 20 years. At the state meet, Gibbs was a member of the boys’ second-place 200-yard freestyle relay team and the third-place 400-yard freestyle relay team. Individually, he placed 11th in the 200-yard freestyle and 12th in the 100-yard butterfly. For the golf team, Gibbs was generally the fourth scorer for the Wildcats, who ended their season in third place in the Valley District. For the outdoor track and field team, Gibbs led the RC boys in the 800meter run and the 1600-meter run.
Dahl was an outside and middle hitter for the RC volleyball team, helping the Wildcats win their seventh consecutive Valley District regular-season title before winning the district tournament and the Region 3C title. The Wildcats ended their season with a record of 27-2, falling to Christiansburg 3-2 in the Class 3 state quarterfinals. Dahl was named to the all-district first team before she was selected as Region 3C player of the year and was named to the all-region first team, and she was selected to the all-state first team.
As a midfielder for the girls lacrosse team, Dahl recorded her 200th draw control and her 100th career point this season, and she was named to the all-region second team. She helped the Wildcats win their fourth consecutive Region 4D championship. With the Wildcats’ 13-12 overtime win over Powhatan on Friday, the Wildcats improved to 16-1, making the Class 4 state semifinals for the fourth year in a row. The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Hanover in the state semifinals last night. On April 25, Dahl signed her national letter of intent to continue her academic and athletic career, playing both volleyball and lacrosse, for Berry College in Georgia.
For PM, Chandler earned his ninth individual state title on Saturday by winning the boys’ 1600-meter in 4:23.17 at the Class 1 state meet at James Madison University. He was also a member of the boys’ 4 X 800-meter relay team, which won in 8:16.38, breaking its own school record. The PM boys placed second as a team, their highest finish at the state meet in program history. At an outdoor meet at the University of Virginia on May 4, Chandler broke his own school record in the 3200-meter run, finishing in 9:13.25. Over the winter, Chandler won state titles and set meet records in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs, winning the Class 1 and 2 combined state title in the 1600-meter run in 4:18.58, a school record, at Liberty University. As a team, the PM boys placed sixth.
Last fall, Chandler won his first individual state cross country title at the Class 1 state meet in Salem, and he led the PM boys to their third state title in five years. He finished the flat 5-kilometer course in 15:54.1.
For the PM softball team, Emore, a shortstop who played for the varsity team all four years, was named Pioneer District player of the year and was selected to the all-district first team. The Blues went 9-9 overall, going 6-1 in the Pioneer District to win the district regular-season title. The Blues, who had beaten Eastern Montgomery 8-3 in the first-place game to determine the regular-season district champion, lost to Eastern Montgomery 9-7 in the Pioneer District finals before concluding their season with a 10-1 loss to Giles in the Region 1C quarterfinals. She was named to the Virginia High School Coaches Association all-state first team as a freshman and was selected to the Virginia High School League all-state second team as a junior. On May 7, Emore signed her national letter of intent to continue her academic and softball career at Bryant & Stratton College, a junior college in Virginia Beach.
Emore also played for the varsity girls basketball team for four years, as a guard, helping the Blues win four Pioneer District regular-season and tournament championships, one Region 1C title, and make one Class 1 state semifinal appearance. During her time, the Blues compiled a record of 75-11. She finished her basketball career with 437 points, 329 rebounds and 297 assists. This year, the Blues went 20-4 overall and 8-0 in the Pioneer District, winning the district regular-season and tournament titles before falling to Fort Chiswell 65-34 in the Region 1C semifinals.
