Colin Williams had to dig deep during his anchor leg of Western Albemarle’s 4×800 relay squad.
In fact, he had to dig deep twice.
The Warriors’ senior started his leg 20 meters behind a front-loaded Blacksburg squad, and after a lap that maintained status quo, his teammates Adam Schiller, Ben Schiller and Bryce Deering let him know he had a shot at overtaking the Blacksburg runner.
“My teammates here informed me that he was definitely slowing down,” Williams said. “With about 300 to go I started to kick up and make my move and I’d say with 250 left I passed him.”
But the challenge didn’t end there. Williams, who also placed fourth in the individual 400-meter race, spotted a new obstacle down the back straightaway.
“Right about 150 left, Lafayette comes out of nowhere and books it by me,” Williams said. “For a split second I almost just gave up and relaxed, but I figured I couldn’t let these guys down. The last 100 was just a fight to the finish.”
Williams found a second kick and powered past the Lafayette closer who ran out of gas near the finish line, allowing Williams to finish off a state title run for the Warriors’ relay team, edging Lafayette by .99 seconds.
“I couldn’t watch,” said Ben Schiller. “We’re all seniors so it’s an emotional moment. It was our last race together and we won it, so that’s good.”
The Warriors’ squad figured out just a few weeks ago with a strong outing at the Southern Track Classic that a state title might be possible and since then they’ve locked in on making that happen.
“We realized that we really could win a state title when we ran something like the second best time in Western history,” Adam Schiller said. “So after that we were like, we can actually do this thing.”
Parmly finishes as runner-up
Fluvanna County pole vaulter Chance Parmly appeared to be headed to a jump-off after missing three attempts at 15-feet.
But a final attempt clearance by Jefferson Forest senior Ken Ritchey left Parmly in second place in the vault, an event he won during indoor.
“My performance was pretty good but my form got a little iffy at 15,” Parmly said. “So that’s all it was. I’ve just got to work on my form at the top of the pole, that’s what held me back today.”
Wrapping up the boys
Also in boys action, Louisa County got a pair of podium finishers in Raeshawn Bishop, who took eighth in the 400 meters, and Lorenzo Henson, who finished fifth in the grueling 300 hurdles.
Nate Szarmach notched a fifth place finish for Fluvanna County in the discus.
