In a meet featuring athletes from Norfolk to Roanoke and all points in between, some of Central Virginia’s finest rose to the occasion at the Fred Hardy Invitational as host school Fork Union won the boys competition while Fluvanna County took home the girls title.
Fork Union blew past the field with an incredible 104.25 point tally as defending Group AA indoor and outdoor team title holders Louisa County checked in with 32.25 points for a runner-up spot. Charlottesville tied Brunswick in third while Trinity took fifth.
Fluvanna’s 63 team points on the girls side comfortably outpaced John Handley, Louisa and Albemarle who all tallied 40 team points. Western Albemarle finished fifth with 33 points to round out the top five.
Greer Brown, the reigning Jefferson District outdoor athlete of the year, led the way for the Flucos with an all-around performance highlighted by a trio of runner-up finishes in the long, triple and high jumps. Brown also anchored the 4×200 relay that included Aesia Toliver, Emmie Farina and Maddy Kline, which took sixth for Fluvanna and grabbed a third place in the 55-meter hurdles. Hannah Meador won the pole vault with a vault of 11 feet, six inches. Fluvanna also won the 4×800 race with a squad of Devon Burger, Kelsey Schlein, Stephanie Bossong and Nicki Douma doing the heavy lifting. That team cut its previous time by 20 seconds.
Douma took third in the 3200-meters with a school record time of 12:14.8. Then to cap off the day, the 4×400 squad finished in third. Brooke Haslip, Schlein, Megan MacCaulay and Kline posted that time.
Brown finished second to Louisa’s Javanique Burruss in the long jump and third to Burruss in the 55-meter hurdles. Burruss also ran a leg of Louisa’s 4×200 relay that took second place behind John Handley. Burruss, who blazed to an 8.52 in the hurdles, had a hand in 28 of Louisa’s 30 team points.
Albemarle’s Brieona Booker took third for the Patriots in the girls long jump. Booker also took fifth in the triple jump, just behind Monticello’s Jordan Watkins in fourth.
Western Albemarle’s Maggie Kooken picked up where she left off last June when she placed at the Group AA meet in shot and discus by winning the girls shot put with a toss of 36-07.25. Charlottesville’s Abigail Intolubbe-Chmil took third in the evenr while Louisa’s Kim Washington grabbed fifth.
Arianna Slate took third in the girls high jump for Monticello. Taylor Watkins of Charlottesville and Natese Ragland of Louisa finished back-to-back in the 55-meter fash in third and fourth. Watkins won the 300-meters too.
Western Albemarle’s Katie Farina finished second in the 1600-meters while Monticello’s Madeline Hermsmeier took fifth. Ciera Ulan and Alexandra Stokes of Albemarle took second and fourth in the 1000-meter run.
On the boys’ side, Fork Union’s squad won individual titles in the shot put (Charlton Larkins), 1600-meter run (Avery Martin), 100-meter run (Michael Idziak) and the 4×400 relay (Martin, Andrew Odenyo, Anton Bartesevich and Idziak). Obiero Okeyo took second in the triple jump for the Blue Devils and Staton Mayfield grabbed a runner-up spot in the pole vault. Denver Wright took second in the 55-meter dash.
David Johnson got a good look at some of Group AA’s best competition in the long jump this year as he took second just a couple of inches behind Brunswick’s Donmanique Hardy. He also finished third in the triple, which Hardy also won. T.J. Tillery of Monticello took fifth in the triple.
Johnson ran a leg of Charlottesville’s title winning 4×200 squad that included Diamnte Scott, Akil Robinson and Eli Haden. The Black Knights edged out Fork Union’s quartet by three tenths of a second.
Isaac Robinson won the boys high jump for Monticello, outpacing Sherando’s Devon Newman by four inches. Tyron Mcdade of Fork union took third in the event. Robinson also finished second in the 300, beating out CHS’s Akil Johnson, FUMA’s D.J. Randle El and Louisa’s Cory Osborne. Prince Edward’s Rashaad Walton won the event.
Albemarle’s Adam Visokay, who put together an incredible cross country season that included a sterling performance at nationals, got edged out in the 1600-meters by Fork Union’s Martin. Adam Schiller and David Taylor of Western took third and fifth respectively.
Louisa sophomore Raeshawn Bishop went to the wire with Albemarle sophomore Ryan Thomas, with Bishop winning by two one hundredths of a second.
Fluvanna’s Chance Parmly won the boys pole vault, beating Mayfield by a foot and a half. Rains Mayfield of FUMA and Krister Briehl of Albemarle took fourth and fifth.
Western’s Ben Schiller won the 3200-meter run.
The Fred Hardy is a solid showcase for some of the state’s top athletes, and the Fluvanna girls’ title winning performance should set the stage for an intriguing indoor and outdoor season in the Jefferson District.
For complete results, click here.
