Photos by Andrew Kicinski
While they are from different parts of the state and separated by a roughly 4 hour drive, Cody Snyder and George Carter have certainly been competing with another since their freshmen year whether from rare head to head races or more often simply comparing times from different meets as they were the top two fastest freshmen milers in the state three years ago. In their first head to head match-up on the track as seniors, they put on a great show and race for spectators after a long day of competition on Friday at the Liberty Flames High School Invitational. Snyder opened up the first 400 meters leading the field through 65 seconds, but Carter made a move mid way through to surge through a slowing pace as the pair broke away from the field. Snyder ran off his shoulder until making a move into the first turn of the bell lap and Carter attempted to repel a pass from Snyder on the backstretch. However, Snyder proved to have too much finishing speed as he pulled away in the last 150 meters for a personal best and one of the nation's fastest flat track 1600 meter performances at 4:16.92. Snyder finished just off personal best by a few tenths of a second with his runner-up performance at 4:18.61.
Christiansburg's Travis Hudson tied with several others for the state leading height in the high jump at 6'6" as the only Virginia athlete to win one of the four field events contested on Friday at Liberty University. The state of North Carolina had winners in the other three field events (girls long jump, boys triple jump, girls pole vault).
Stafford sophomore Hannah Lowery separated from Herndon's Carolyn Hennessey and the girls' 1600 meter field for a four second victory with her season best time of 5:09.69.
Liberty Flames HS Invitational - Day 1 Results
More to come from Liberty after we return to on-site coverage on Saturday for another long day (events to go from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm estimated finish). Plenty of photos and race videos (we shot video of every section of every running event on Friday!) to be uploaded over the weekend from the meet. Photos and videos from both days will be posted overnight Saturday into Sunday.