Ben Ragland, Clark Idris, Cory Osbourne, Lorenzo Henson and Raeshawn Bishop each had a huge meet. Still, the celebration was subdued. Louisa County ran away with the Jefferson District title but the Lions likely would have won by a lot more – and their Region II and Group AA prospect were dealt a blow when arguably the team’s top athlete, Marcus Burley, was rushed to Martha Jefferson hospital after a devastating knee injury during the long jump. The Lions still won the JD championship by nearly 68 points, and while they’re looking to move ahead, the victory was bittersweet.
“A lot of kids stepped up today but honestly, we’re a little distracted by having one of our best in the hospital,” said Louisa coach Jerry Cutright. “It’s nice to win, but our thoughts are with how this young man is doing.”
The Lions stepped up without Burley. Ragland scored 43.5 points in the meet and earned athlete of the meet as he participated in the first place 4×400 relay team, and took the top spot in the 110 hurdles, the triple jump, and the long jump.
“That was a huge day for Ben,” Cutright said. “Pulling out the triple jump on his last jump was big. He did everything we needed him to do.”
In the long jump, the Lions swept one, two and three with Bishop and Idris taking second and third respectively. Bishop also took second the triple jump to give Louisa a 1-2 finish. Henson was first the in the 300 hurdles. Osborne finished out front in the 400. JD Dennis won the shotput. The Lions also took third in the 4×100 relay.
“There’s nothing we can do but move on from this,” Cutright said. “We’ve got a lot of good kids and they’ve shown that they can step up. So we’ll move on but pray for Marcus and his family and speedy recovery.”
Western Albemarle took second place by 34.5 points over third place Fluvanna County. The Warriors got a 1-2-3-4 run in the 800 led by David Taylor followed by Colin Williams, Adam Schiller and Bryce Deering. The same ting happened in the 1600 with Taylor again winning and Adam Schiller, Ben Schiller and Alex DeJong rolling in behind him. Ben Schiller won the 3200. The Warriors also took the 4×800.
Other winners included Charlottesville’s 4×100 team of Rashard Davis, Jalen Hill, Diamonte Scott and Isaiah Green. Davis also won the 100 dash, knocking off top seeded Ray Brown from Powhatan. Nate Szarmach was first the discus for Fluvanna. Teammates Bryan Kenward and Chance Parmly won the high jump and pole vault respectively.
The Region II championship will be on Wednesday at Tuscarora.
