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2017 Group 3A State Track: Western girls led by Witt, Fluvanna girls led by Martin excel

Photo by Bart Isley

Western Albemarle’s girls track and field squad got strong outings from Averi Witt and Zoe Clay to storm into a fourth place finish in the Group 3A state meet in Harrisonburg Saturday.

 

Witt, racing just minutes from where she’ll compete in college at James Madison University, won the 1600 and took second in the 800. Witt edged out Blacksburg freshman Kaitlynn Wolfe with Witt clocking in at 5:03.85, a little more than a second off the Group 3A state record.

 

Zoe Clay followed Witt with a third place in the 1600 and an eighth in the 800. Her third place run was a 10-second improvement over her seed time.

 

Alyssa Santoro-Adajian took seventh in that 1600 to complete a dominant event for the Warriors. She also combined with Clay, Witt and Caroline McGahren for a strong second place performance in the 4×800 race. Western’s Caroline Koester took sixth in the 400. Grace Rainey took ninth in the 3200 while Leah Ackerman took ninth in the shot.

 

Western also piled up points in the pole vault where Madison Masloff won another state title with a clearance of 11 feet. Mia Donaldson also took sixth in the vault while Melina Punsalan was ninth.

 

Just behind Western in the team race was Fluvanna County in fifth place. The Flucos’ Matasha Martin and the squads’ relay teams lifted Fluvanna to that effort.

 

Martin finished third in the 100 hurdles and second in the long jump. Martin also ran a leg of the 4×100 Fluvanna squad that took fourth place. The Flucos’ 4×400 team also took fourth while the 4×800 team took fifth.

 

Alexandria Daniels took second in the high jump and ran legs on both the 4×100 and 4×400 fourth place squads.

 

Cyan Coates took seventh in the 400 and also ran legs of both the 4×100 and 4×400. Hattie Lintecum and Kieri Hart each also ran two legs on relays, racing on the 4×400 and 4×800 teams. Jackie Rodriguez and Saige Haney rounded out the 4×800 squad while Chaniyah Brown was the fourth member of the 4×100 squad.

 

Amina Wilson finished eighth in the pole vault while Renee Custer took third in the discus.

 

Monticello’s Zhynia Johnson took sixth in the high jump for the Mustangs.

 

On the boys side, Western Albemarle’s Joe Hawkes had a strong day, taking third in the 3200 meter race while grabbing eighth in the 1600. Jack Eliason took sixth in the 3200 and Stuart Terrill was 12th in that race. Western’s Corey Sims took third in the 300 hurdles and Michael Asher finished seventh in the 200.

 

The Warriors’ Jackson Smith won in the pole vault with Landon Smith taking fourth and Cooper Saunders finishing 10th.

 

For Fluvanna, Zach Hartzog took seventh in the discus. Monticello’s Aaron Vogeley finished fifth in the 800 for the Mustangs. For William Monroe, Kyle Kruszewski took fifth in the shotput.

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