Once again, Woodberry Forest is on top of the heap in private school boys track and field.
Last year, the Tigers won their first title since 1986, a stretch that included Fork Union’s 22 straight years as champion. Saturday, Woodberry held off that familiar foe, winning the team VISAA title by more than 80 points with a 200-point tally to FUMA’s 119-point second place finish.
Eric Ways’ wins in the 200-meter and 400-meter gave the Tigers a big lift, as did Michael Davenport’s title in the 100 and his second place finish in the 200.
Fork Union countered with a strong multi-event outing by Drake Davis and a huge day for the Lomong brothers on the top end, but it was the Tigers’ depth that ruled the day.
In the 110-hurdles, for example, Woodberry’s Josh Hillary finished second and teammate Qawi Austin snagged third place while yet another Tiger, Jack Claiborne, took fifth.
Austin had a huge all-around day, building on a state championship performance in the triple ump with a third place in the long jump, a third in the 110 hurdles and a tie for second place in the high jump.
Ways’ double state title in the 200 and 400 didn’t come easy. He edged out teammate Davenport by just six hundredths in the 200 and Norfolk Academy’s Joshua Freeman by .12 seconds in the 400. Davenport had to fight in the 100 too, beating FUMA’s Davis in the race by four hundredths of a second.
Woodberry’s Nathaniel Tyrell took second in the grueling 300 hurdles while Claiborne finished fifth.
H.T. Minor took fifth behind Ways (who also took third in the 100 as part of his own monster day) in the 400 while Christian Asher gave the Tigers valuable points with a fourth place finish in the 100-meters.
Woodberry’s Joseph and David Seo took first and second in the pole vault for the Tigers, spear heading a sweep of the medal stand along with third place teammate Ben Foley. In the shotput, Brady Logan, Spencer Bibb and Andrew Shofner took second, third and fourth for the Tigers while Jim Squatriglia and Marc Uptegraff snagged fifth and sixth for Fork Union. Shofner took fifth in the discus while Uptegraff took sxith.
Fork Union’s squad had a tremendous day with Alex Lomong doubling in the 800-meter and the 1600-meter. His brother Peter took second in the 800 and sixth in the 1600 to bolster the Blue Devils’ effort.
Davis posted a terrific effort as well, winning the high jump with a leap of 6-foot-4 while also anchoring the Blue Devils’ title winning 4×100 squad who set a new meet record with a 42.19 second race. Davis, a sophomore, joined juniors O’Neil Combs and Rashaad Bruce along with senior Andrew Odenyo on that relay team.
For good measure, Davis also had that second place finish in the 100-meter and a third in the 200 and took seventh in the long jump.
Fork Union’s 4×400 squad also won a state title, as Micah Keels, Dante Price and the Lomong brothers blew away the field with a time of 3:23.38, five seconds better than second place Woodberry’s team.
Combs just kept scoring points for the Blue Devils, with a fifth in the 100 as well as a fourth in the long jump and another fourth in the triple.
Blue Ridge scored 10.33 points in the meet to finish 13th with P.J.White taking fifth in the long jump while Mamadi Diakite tied with two other jumpers in second place at 6-foot-2 in the high jump.
