Photo courtesy LBHS
The Lord Botetourt boys did it again. After winning the Virginia High School League Class 3 Indoor state track championship in March the Cavaliers added the outdoor championship to their resume last weekend. LB scored 62 total points to win the state championship at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
“We are proud as a staff to have coached this group,” said LB coach Tra Wilson. “They work hard not just on the track but in the classroom as well. They have laid the foundation for the future of LB track.”
LB’s indoor state championship was the school’s first since 1963, and the outdoor championship is just the second. As usual, the team was powered by distance runners Eric Duncan and Ethan Thorne. Duncan, who will run for Liberty University in college, was a double winner on the LU track, winning the 1600 meters in 4:17.69 and the 3200 in 9:13.98. Thorne, a Virginia Tech commit, was second in the 3200 at 9:14.56 and third in the 1600 in 4:18.92.
Both seniors, these two LB distance runners completed a dominating 2025-26 school year. In the fall Thorne won the state cross country Class 3 individual title and Duncan finished second as the Cavaliers were third as a team. In the state indoor meet Thorne won the 3200-meter state crown with Duncan finishing third. In the 1600-meter indoor run Duncan won the state championship edging Thorne, beating his teammate and friend in a photofinish.
Duncan and Thorne also ran on LB’s 4×800-meter relay team that finished fifth in the state Saturday. They were joined by Archer Lee and Preston Vaughan as they finished with a time of 8:07.81.
The distance runners weren’t the only ones scoring big points for the Cavaliers at Liberty. Triston Graves had a big meet as well, including a state championship in the 110-meter hurdles with a school record time of 14.08. Graves also added eight valuable points with a second place in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing in 38.77.
Caleb Miller finished third in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.63. That was also key to the championship, as that earned the team six points and LB finished six points ahead of Cave Spring and Pulaski County, who tied for second with 56 team points.
Heritage High won the girls meet with 106 points, followed by Fauquier with 52. LB was 29th with three points from Karleigh Brown, who finished sixth in the pole vault when she cleared 9’6”.
The girls’ 4×100-meter relay team did not score but set a new school record with a time of 51.07. That foursome consisted of Janai Compton, Khyler Hambrick-King, Analise Buyalos and Morgan Wilmer.
