The Buffalo Gap girls were led to a dominating team victory with their 98.5 team total by their star athlete Angela Jenkins, one of the state's finest jumpers this season. Jenkins came into the contest with the state's second best long jump at 19-02.50 and did not disappoint in state meet competition with a 19-02.25 win at Radford. Jenkins was not done there. Jenkins also notched wins in the 100 meter dash (12.20) and triple jump (36-3.75), while almost getting another state title in the high jump as she finished third from a jumpoff decided between three athletes who had cleared at 5-4.
James Monroe finished a distance second with 47 points as they were led by middle distance star Shylan Bumbrey who added a few more state titles to her ever growing collection with wins in the 400 meter dash (57.36) and 800 meter run (2:20.53). Bumbrey also anchored the winning 4x400 meter relay team to a time of 4:14.09
One athlete who had a comparable effort to Jenkins in the amount of points she was able to rack up was Gate City's Ashton Bishop, merely a freshmen. Bishop took the win in the high jump with a 5-4 clearance and then completed an unusual but successful triple in the running events with state title victories in the 1600 meter run (5:16.59) and 300 meter hurdles (45.56) and a state runner-up finish in the 800 meter run behind Bumbrey at a time of 2:25.14. Gate City finished fourth in the team scoring with 38 points and every single one of those points came from this rising superstar from southwestern Virginia.
Only one state meet record was set on the girls' side, but it was an impressive one as Radford junior Whitney King threw a powerful toss of 131-8 to shatter the old record by nearly three whole feet. King is the only Group A athlete to have a state best performance among all the classifications and with her state meet throw, she improved upon her previous state best for the season.
After coming up short to Ashton Bishop in the 1600 meter run with a second place performance with her time of 5:17.95, John Battle junior Ashley Osborne came back later in the day to take the state title in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:47.50 as she was able to narrowly defeat 2003 Group A State cross country champion, Kelly Clark of Glenvar (11:47.85).
The William Campbell boys did not have it as easy as the Buffalo Gap girls in capturing the boys team crown at the Group A State Meet. It took a third place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, the final event of the day, for the William Campbell boys (63 points), to secure a win over Sussex Central (60 points).
Two individuals led the charge for the Generals with seniors Cedric Peerman and W.C. Winston. Peerman broke the only boys' state meet record in this year's meet with a swift 10.67 clocking in the 100 meter dash. Peerman would earn a second state title later in the meet with a 22.02 clocking in the 200 meter dash.
Meanwhile, Winston took the win in the 1600 meter run with his time of 4:27.40 as he defeated state cross country champion Todd Somers of Page County (4:28.30). Winston would come back to finish up a strong distance double with a state runner-up finish in the 800 meter run (2:00.07) to Floyd County senior Alex Wilkens (1:57.92).
Sussex Central also had two individual state champions to help their team cause in sophomore Toriano Moody and senior Jastair Bailey. In the long jump, Moody earned first place honors with an impressive leap of 23-01. Meanwhile, in the 400 meter dash, Bailey ran away from the field with a 50.29 clocking.
After being defeated in the 1600 meter run by Winston, Page County's Todd Somers was shut out from another state title win in the 3200 meter run. However, this time, it was by a freshmen in Clarke County's Simon Biddle-Snead. Biddle-Snead was able to narrowly get the win over Somers in a close and exciting race as a mere one tenth of a second separated the two runners with Biddle-Snead's winning time of 9:58.57 and Somer's second place time of 9:58.67.
William Campbell's Peerman was not the only double event winner on the boys' side as Amelia County senior Ryan Woolridge was a class above the rest in the hurdle events with state title wins in the 110 meter hurdles (14.92) and 300 meter hurdles (40.77).
The field events saw some noteworthy performances of individuals who could be All-State caliber athletes on the Group AA and AAA levels.
Manassas Park had a one-two finish in the boys' triple jump with the Fitchett brothers, A.C. and Ivan, as A.C. had the meet's best jump at 45-05 with Ivan finishing second to his brother with a 44-3 mark.
Another great jump was found in the high jump with Essex junior Clarence Taylor, who cleared the bar at a height of 6-7, a height of which few in the state have reached.
The throws also had strong marks performed as four athletes went over 50 feet in the boys' shot put with Gate City junior Zach Jones having the best throw of the four with his toss of 51-8.50. Meanwhile, in the discus throw, River heads senior Tommy Mulcahy launched a rocket with one of the state's best throws in the events with his mark of 168-9.