Six Rockbridge County High School athletes – four boys and two girls – are headed to the Region 3C track and field meet.
The athletes advanced by placing in the top six of the Region 3C athletes at the Shenandoah District meet on Thursday at Alleghany High School, or by qualifying by time, distance or height.
In a cold and rainy meet, the RC boys’ distance runners performed well. “The distance boys thrive in bad weather conditions, and this weather didn’t bother them at all,” said RC head coach Julie Tisone.
RC sophomore Grant Swenty advanced in both of his races, placing fourth in the 1600-meter run in a personalrecord (PR) time of 4:51.24 and fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:14.37.
In the 1600, Tisone said Swenty “had a good race plan. … He had a time in mind that he was going for, but also was keeping track of his position in the race to be able to qualify by place. He had a fantas- tic race.”
Also advancing for the RC boys in the 1600-meter run was sophomore Hudson Saunders, who placed ninth in 5:16.41. Saunders didn’t advance in the 800meter run, but he set a PR, finishing 14th in 2:28.84.
RC freshman Jude Eichholz advanced in the 800meter run, placing 12th in 2:25.19. Freshman teammate Luke Eichholz advanced in the 3200-meter run, finishing eighth in 11:12.6, a PR.
For the RC girls, freshman Sarah Lewis qualified for the Region 3C meet, placing eighth in the 100meter dash in 13.91 seconds.
Sophomore teammate Ariana Mitchell didn’t compete at the Shenandoah District meet, but she’d already qualified by height in the high jump for the Region 3C and Class 3 state meet.
Tisone said the cold, wet weather was “a little harder for sprinters. It was difficult to stay warmed up for the short, explosive events.”
In team results, the RC boys placed ninth of nine teams, tallying six points. Riverheads won the meet with 110 points, Alleghany (107) placed second, and Wilson Memorial (96) finished third. Rounding out the standings were Stuarts Draft (60), Staunton (54), Waynesboro (38), Buffalo Gap (28), Fort Defiance (25) and RC.
The RC girls did not record a score. Alleghany won the girls’ meet with 130 points, Fort Defiance (114) placed second, and Waynesboro (86) finished third. Completing the top five were Riverheads (69) and Stuarts Draft (62).
The Region 3C meet is scheduled to take place on Thursday at Wilson Memorial High School, starting with field events at 11 a.m., with races starting at 1 p.m.
From the Region 3C meet, the top three individuals and top three relay teams, as well as those qualified by time, distance or height, will advance to the Class 3 state meet, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6, at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
