The Class 5 boys track showdown turned into a Battle of the Burg, although in this case, it was the teams within and around Fredericksburg that owned several of the meet's winners, as well as the team champion. When the events were completed, it was the Bears of Riverbend who held on for the win, with their 53 points scoring nine ahead of Glen Allen. Tallwood (39), and William Fleming (38) took the third and fourth spots, while a pair of Peninsula District teams - Woodside and Kecoughtan tied for fifth with 31.
High hurdler Jake Applegate posted the lone individual victory for Riverbend, who scored their first team championship. Applegate topped the field with a time of 7.63.
"I just set up for the next hurdle," said Applegate, who also led off the 800 and 1600-meter relays. "I just went out and ran my own race." Applegate's time was a season best dating all the way back to the team's first meet of the season.
Vincent Bond of Stafford's Mountain View dominated the long sprints, winning the 300 (34.47) and 500 (1:04.04). The 500 time sits as a #1 VA time.
Berkley Nance of Mills Godwin was also a double winner, taking first in the 1600 (4:15.52) and 3200-meter (9:19.73) runs. Nance's 1600 time, as well as his 9:08 clocking at the VA Showcase, were top-four in Virginia this season.
Massaponax, from Spotsylvania, placed first in the 1600-meter relay, with a Class 5 state best time of 3:24.99, although the Panther foursome of Jayden Hines, Elijah Bolich, Davian Booker and Terry Travis knocked another 1.24 seconds off (to 3:23.75) off that time the following week at the Nike Indoor Nationals to claim the state's best performance among all classifications.
Riverbend's Applegate, Prescott Unrue, Justin Rau, and Amir Mateo placed second in the event to secure the team championship. They entered the relay one point ahead of Glen Allen, who placed just outside of scoring contention in 10th.
A pair of "Woods" dominated the horizontal jumps. Woodside's Jeremiah Palacious won the long jump in 21-6, while Wendell Ngonga of Loudoun's Woodgrove claimed the triple jump on 46-3.5.
Other event winners:
55 - Khari Barnes, Tallwood - 6.32
1000 - Quinn Green, Hermitage - 2:35.34
800-meter relay - Maury (Lavontae Bond, Trevon Cannon, Tyler Privott-Barnes, Lebron Bond - 1:29.26
3200-meter relay- Clover Hill (Andrew Hathaway, Andrew Bennett, Clinton Clancy, Caleb Wilcox) - 8:04.15
High jump - Jaydin Williams, Norview - 6-8
Shot put - David Anderson, Kecoughtan - 59-2
Pole vault - Kendric Curry, Highland Springs- 14-6