Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt High boys took sixth place and the girls were eighth at the Region 3D track meet at Cave Spring High School last Thursday. The William Byrd boys and Abingdon girls were team winners.
LB’s boys finished with 42 points, just six fewer than third place Christiansburg. The boys had one region champion in two events, as junior Kendal Howard won both the discus and shot put. He won the discus event with a toss of 163’18”, an inch shy of 14 feet better than second place. In the shot he won at 48’ 4.25” while teammate DJ Toliver was second at 47’10” and LB’s Kesean Anderson was 10th.
“For Kendal Howard it was business as usual in shot and disc,” said coach Paul Craft. “He’s leading the state in 3A in both events. If he continues throwing like he has all season then we should have plenty to talk about after the state meet.”
The top four in each event advance to this week’s state meet and Elijah Rose was third in the high jump, clearing six feet even. The 4×100 team of Tristan Overbay, Zion Woody, Cade Lang and Howard took fourth.
Others who scored but did not advance included Woody with a fifth in the 100, Rye Jackson with a sixth in the 800, Caleb Miller with a sixth in the 110 hurdles and a seventh in the 300 hurdles and two Cavs in long jump, with Tristan Graves taking seventh and Jahki Emmons-Mayo placing eighth.
The girls’ top finish was by freshman Alina Toliver with a third in the shot put, while fellow freshman Jaiden Dann was seventh. Jillian Harris advanced to the state in two events with a fourth in both the 100 meters and triple jump, and she was fifth in the 300 hurdles. Also scoring were Toliver with a sixth in the discus, and Meredith Griffin was eighth in that event.
“Alina Toliver placed third in shot and threw four feet farther than her previous PR,” said Craft. “Jaidan Dann placed seventh in it and PR’d as well. It really came together for them yesterday. Both girls are freshmen, and for them to accomplish that in a junior- and senior-laden field is outstanding. They’re both going to be very good over the next few years.”
The state Class 3 and 4 meets are scheduled for Friday and Saturday of this week at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
