Albemarle’s girls indoor track team got a huge boost from Ryann Helmers and rode that big weekend to a runner-up finish in the Class 5 state championship meet.
The runner-up finish behind champion Nansemond River is the highest in program history. Albemarle took second with 52 points to Nansemond River’s 88.
Helmers won both the 3200-meters and the 1600-meters while also running a leg of a state title-winning 4×800 squad that set a new Class 5 state meet record.
The Patriots also got a big performance by Grace Williams who took second in the 1000 and ran a leg of the 4×800. Natalie Li, another member of the title-winning relay team took fifth in the 3200. Rachel Lloyd rounded out that 4×800 squad.
Albemarle took fifth in the 4×400, Madelyne Zarzyski took seventh in the 3200 and Emma Graham and Anna Blank tied for fifth in the high jump to round out the runner-up performance.
Other local Class 5 competitors
For the Albemarle boys, John McDaniel took eighth in the 1000 while the Patriots finished sixth in the 4×800. Orange County’s Elijah Suggs took sixth in the high jump.