Albemarle’s boys track squad took a solid first step into the newly-reworked postseason Saturday, winning the Conference 16 title by seven points over second place Patrick Henry-Ashland.
Ryan Thomas’ double championship performance lead the way as the Columbia-bound senior won the 1600-meter and 800-meter runs. Kevin McCarthy also won a title in the 200 with a season-best 22.38 sprint. Zach Gentry added to his second place 1600 behind Thomas with a championship in the 3200 and Krister Briehl won the pole vault for the Patriots.
Both the 4×400 and 4×800 teams also took home championships, coasting to wins by more than 10 seconds in each race.
Depth also played a big role in the title win as Albemarle picked up solid points in the 3200 behind Gentry with Hunter Lund in second and Will Law in third. Noah Gregory was second in the 400 and third in the long jump. Ben Gersbach took second in the 800. Joshua Oliver and Robert Dyer joined Briehl on the pole vault podium with a second and third place finish respectively.
On the girls side, Albemarle finished second, with freshman Kathryn Mayo’s 800-meter title in 2:25.33 leading the way. The Patriots’ 4×400 also won a title while Rachel Bergstresser took the pole vault championship. Mattie Burris and Hailey Dillenbeck took second and third in the 1600 meter race. Savannah Maxwell grabbed second in the 3200. Jannie Kamara took third in the discus.
Orange County’s boys 4×800 squad took second in the meet, as did their 4×400 squad. Shannon Woods of Orange took fifth in the girls 800 race while Joseph Carter finished fifth in the boys high jump and Kassidy Marshall snagged third in the girls high jump to o with her fifth in the long.
Athletes from both squads finishing in the top six move on to the Region 5A North championships May 27-May 28 at Mountain View High in Stafford.
