LYNCHBURG, VA - The track gods have blessed the high school athletes and coaches of the Lynchburg area with a brand spanking new 200 meter indoor track facility at Liberty University. While the Lynchburg College Fieldhouse and Heritage High School indoor track facilities have served their purpose in providing venues for high school indoor track competition over years, the area coaches and athletes gladly welcome the new 200 meter track which should give them a facility conducive for fast times and great performances. The Wally Gilbert Invitational held Saturday at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center, moved from their traditional venue at Heritage High School and the difference was shown in faster times than usual at the meet. 29 boys teams and 26 girls teams were present at this year\'s meet.
The Heritage boys won the team title in dramatic fashion over Jefferson Forest as the winner was not decided till the final event with the 4x400 meter relay. The Jefferson Forest boys won the fast heat and finished first overall in a time of 3:38.83, but the Heritage boys were able to score enough points in winning the slow heat and finishing second overall in a time of 3:41.52 to push them ahead of Jefferson Forest for the first place team award. The team score could not have been any closer as Heritage (64.5 pts) won by only a half point over Jefferson Forest (64 pts). The two teams will certainly mix it up plenty of occassions this season in Region III.
The Pioneers were led by three first place finishes from Wayne Ferguson, who had an impressive showing as well at the LATFC Invitational the previous weekend. Ferguson won the long jump competition with a mark of 21-9.50, while finishing third in the triple jump (3rd, 41-8). Ferguson clocked a personal best of 37.32 to win the 300 meter dash and even placed in the shot put with a sixth place finish of 41-9. In Ferguson\'s final event of the day, he ran anchor leg on the 4x400 meter relay and was able to seal the team victory that he played a huge part in making possible.
The Jefferson Forest boys had one sole individual event winner on the day as John Pavia had the best throw of the day to win the shot put with a toss of 46-5.50. Other top performances for the Cavaliers included a runner-up finish to Fort Defiance (8:30.17) in the 4x800 meter relay with a 8:34.48 clocking. Third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places from a handful of individuals throughout the day kept the Jefferson Forest boys in the team hunt using the \"nickle and dime\" method.
Fort Defiance went 1-2 in the boys\' 1000 meter run with seniors Derek Hizer (2:43.59) and Matt Bailey (2:43.87) as they doubled back from winning the 4x800 meter relay earlier in the day.
Western Albemarle also had the top two finishers in a distance event as Kyle Massie (4:33.34) and Matt Satterwhite (4:34.67) bested a solid 1600 meter field to finish first and second respectively.
Finishing fourth in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:42.54, Christiansburg senior John Horst showed that he is definitely coming off a cross country season with a stronger amount of endurance than speed as he won the 3200 meter run later in the meet with a time of 10:01.21. Fort Defiance continued to have a strong day in the distance events with junior Daniel Alonso finishing second in the 3200 with a time of 10:13.62 as the team finished fourth overall (36 pts) at Wally Gilbert.
Patrick Henry\'s Timothy Glenn won the 500 meter run with a 1:08.07 as Heritage\'s Cameron Grant (1:09.47) helped his team\'s eventual team championship cause finishing second overall out of a slower heat. Meanwhile, Glenn helped his team as a member of the winning 4x200 meter relay squad (1:36.78).
Halifax County had two individual event winners on the day. Patrick Terry won a close race over Liberty\'s Antione Smith (6.61) in the 55 meter dash with a 6.59 clocking. Meanwhile, teammate David Anderson nearly won the triple jump competition by two feet with a leap of 44-5.
Sam Gaisie of Gar-Field (42-8.50) finished second to Anderson, while teammate Allan Moody won the high jump in a jump off over Kerry Cowart of Rustburg at a clearance of six feet.
The boys\' pole vault also saw a close competition with John Intollubbe-Chmil of Charlottesville besting Broadway\'s Michael Miller as both vaulters cleared 13 feet.
With the strength of their distance squad who are coming off a Group AA state runner-up team finish in last month\'s VHSL State Cross Country Meet, the Blacksburg girls (75 pts) were able to win the team title at Wally Gilbert over second place Charlottesville (67.50 pts).
The Lady Bruins had two first place finishes in the distance races as Ariel Burbey won the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:21.89, while teammate Alison Homer finished sixth (5:39.90) in a loaded field. Homer also placed in the 1000 meter run (4th, 3:21.64) as another fellow teammate in Cate Berenato won the event with a time of 3:15.75.
Western Albemarle senior Samantha Stafford ruined the chances of the Blacksburg girls sweeping the distance races as she was victorious in the 3200 meter run in a time of 11:54.21. Blacksburg\'s Laurel MacMillian had a strong run though for the team in the race as well as picking up a critical six points with her third place effort of 12:00.38.
The biggest points of the day came from Casey Carroll, who ran on the team\'s top seven at states, as she won the high jump competition in a jump off at 5 feet.
Sealing the team win for the Blacksburg girls was their 4x400 meter relay finishing second overall as they won their slower heat in a time of 4:24.99. Without those eight points and their second place finish, Charlottesville (3rd, 4:25.99) would move up to second in the event and have enough points to knock off Blacksburg.
The individual performances of Rashanda James and Callie Hlavin kept the Charlottesville girls in contact with Blacksburg. James scored 27 points on her own individually. James won the triple jump with a leap of 36-4, while finishing third in both the 300 meter dash (44.36) and long jump (15-7). James also finished fourth in the 55 meter dash (7.64). Meanwhile, Hlavin was a runner-up to Blacksburg\'s Carroll in the high jump at five feet and finished third to the Western Albemarle duo of Ashley Early (11-0) and Ashley Atwood (9-6) in the pole vault at nine feet. Early, who signed with Virginia Tech this fall, is currently the state record holder in the event for both indoors and outdoors.
William Fleming finished third in the team standings with 45 points as they had one individual event winner in Brittany Cabbler in the 500 meter run (1:22.91). Cabbler was also a member of the first place 4x200 meter relay (1:52.06) as Charlottesville (1:54.15) was second in the race.
Tina Crawford led the Cave Spring girlsto a fourth place team finish (44 pts) as she won the long jump with a leap of 16-2.25. Crawford also finished third in the triple jump (34-2.50) and second in the 55 meter hurdles (9.07).
Christiansburg had an individual event winner a piece on the boys and girls side with Horst in the boys\' 3200 and Hope Creasy winning the girls\' shot put with a mark of 36-3.50.