Wildcats Compete In Only Home Meet Of Season
In their only home meet of the season, the Rockbridge County High School track and field athletes performed well last Wednesday evening in Lexington.
RC head coach Julie Tisone said the home meet “went really well. We knew we had two meets this week, so we tried not to go all out on Wednesday.” Many of the Wildcats set personal records.
At the home meet, the Wildcats welcomed Shenandoah District rivals on a beautiful evening. The RC girls placed third of five teams while the boys finished fifth.
Alleghany won the girls’ meet with 136 points, Waynesboro (92) placed second, and RC (31) finished third. Rounding out the standings were Wilson Memorial (28) and Staunton (27).
WM (107) won the boys’ meet, Alleghany (84) placed second, and Staunton (80) finished third. Completing the standings were Waynesboro (29) and the Wildcats (19).
Track
For the girls, after hitting the Class 3 state-qualifying mark a week earlier, RC sophomore Ariana Mitchell won the high jump last Wednesday, clearing 4 feet, 10 inches.
Teammate Abigail Harding won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.47 seconds, with Alleghany’s Brooklyn Connor placing second in 18.23.
RC’s Emily Carroll placed second in the 300-meter hurdles in 53.58 seconds.
Sarah Lewis led the Wildcats in the 100-meter dash, placing third in 13.37 seconds, while teammate Kyra Strowbridge finished fifth in 13.63.
RC’s Keziah Howard placed ninth in the 200meter dash in 31.58 seconds and 13th in the 100-meter dash in 14.78.
The RC girls placed third in the 4 X 100-meter relay. Team members were Strowbridge, Lewis, Harding and Mitchell.
Hannah Ivins led the RC girls in the 400-meter dash, placing eighth in 1:15.41. Dasha Billias followed in 11th in 1:17.99, and Azelea Whitehead came in 13th in 1:23.06. Whitehead finished 14th in the 200-meter dash in 33.67 seconds, and Billas came in 16th in 34.99.
In throwing, Kaitlyn Higgins led the RC girls by placing 11th in the shot put with a toss of 20-11. Teammate Vaelen Drake finished ninth in the shot put (20-9) and 13th in the discus (48-8).
For the RC boys, Grant Swenty placed second in the 800-meter run in 2:18.8.
RC’s Luke Eichholz placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:19.44, and teammate Hudson Saunders finished sixth in 2:31.69.
Jakob Bailey placed second in the 200-meter dash in 24.42 seconds and sixth in the 100-meter dash in 12.2. Jhordane Campbell came in 10th in the 400-meter dash in 1:03.65 and 17th in the 100-meter dash in 13.09.
Tyshon Wilson placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 12th in the 400-meter dash in 1:05.78, and 19th in the 100-meter dash in 13.25.
Jude Eichholz led RC in the 1600-meter run, placing sixth in 5:03.34, while Asher Lawrie finished 12th in 6:29.17. Lawrie came in 14th in the 400-meter dash in 1:20.65.
Calvin Lambert placed seventh in the 400-meter dash in 59.41 seconds and 11th in the 200-meter dash in 26.34.
The RC boys placed third in the 4 X 400-meter relay in 4:07.79. Team members were Swenty, Saunders and Jude and Lueke Eichholz.
Competing At Rock ‘N Run
Leading the RC girls on Friday at the Rock ‘N Run the Valley Invitational was Mitchell, winning the high jump by clearing 4-10 and placing 17th in the 100-meter dash in 14.1 seconds.
Harding placed third in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.46 seconds, while Lewis came in fifth in the 100-meter dash in 13.48, and Strowbridge followed in 11th in 13.83.
Carroll placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 54.07 seconds, while Ivins finished 19th in the 800-meter run in 3:02.43.
The RC girls placed fourth in the 4 X 100-meter relay in 53.29. Team members were Lewis, Harding, Mitchell and Strowbridge. In the 4 X 400-meter run, the Wildcats finished third with team members Billias, Whitehead, Ivins and Howard.
Howard placed 21st in the 400-meter dash in 1:12.6, while Whitehead finished 27th in the 200-meter dash in 33.68 seconds and came in 28th in the 400-meter dash in 1:20.57.
Higgins placed 23rd in the shot put with a toss of 19-10, while Drake finished 24th in the discus with a throw of 48-7.
The RC boys placed fifth in the 4 X 800-meter run in 9:20.9. Team members were Saunders, Swenty and the Eichholz brothers.
Saunders placed 14th in the 3200-meter run in 11:17.02. Luke Eichholz led RC in the 1600-meter run, placing 17th in 5:20.02, while Jude Eichholz followed in 19th in 5:27.02.
Jakob Bailey finished 21st in the 200-meter dash in 25.62 seconds, 18th in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, and 25th in the 100meter dash in 12.36 seconds.
Lawrie came in 37th in the 800-meter run in 2:53.95.
The RC girls placed ninth of 16 scoring teams, tallying 36 points, while the RC boys finished 17th of 17 scoring teams with four points.
The Wildcats who qualified will compete at the Dogwood Track Classic on Friday and Saturday at the University of Virginia’s Lannigan Field in Charlottesville.
“We are looking forward to going to Dogwood this weekend to compete,” said Tisone. “It’s always a fun meet to run in and to watch the high level of competition.”
