The first annual Riverbend Bear Invitational was held on Saturday, April 16th in Fredericksburg. The meet was completed quick and early enough to beat the major storm front rolling through Virginia this weekend. The meet had several double event winners including Bishop Ireton's Nicole Bond in the girls 100 and 200, Fauquier's Emma Helsel in the girls 1600 and 3200, Pope John Paul the Great Catholic's Evan Conner in the boys 100 and 200, and Caroline's Julian Jackson iin the boys long jump and triple. Conner and Bond both should place high individually at the private school state meet in the sprints.
The Riverbend boys trio of top tier distance runners Ryan Kuhns, Gabe Fisher, and Shaquon Wilkins swept the distance races for the host school Bears with Kuhns taking the 1600 by five seconds in 4:35, Fisher crossing the line first in the 800 at 2:00.80, and Wilkins building nearly a 100 meter margin of victory in the 3200 at 9:58. Kuhns, Fisher, and Wilkins also ran on Riverbend's 4x800 meter relay, which won easily by 16 seconds and should be capable of a sub 8 minute time later this season.
Stone Bridge's Haley Springman recorded a solid mark of 115'8" to claim top honors in the discus. The returning Group AAA state outdoor champion in the discus, Springman is headed to the University of Pittsburgh next year. Stone Bridge took two of the top three places in the boys 400 with race winner John Starke (51.65) and third place finisher Adrian Thomas (51.88). Starke and Thomas teamed up to run on Stone Bridge's victorious 4x400 meter relay (3:32.54).