By Sports editor Brian Hoffman
The Class 3 state indoor track meet was held at Liberty University on Tuesday and 11 William Byrd athletes competed, six girls and five boys.
The girls and boys meets were held separately with the girls in the morning and the boys starting in late afternoon. The girls had to be in Lynchburg at 7 am for an 8 am start time, and that meant leaving Vinton before 6 am. However, the early departure proved to be worthwhile as the girls finished 13th in the state with some outstanding performances. Western Albemarle won the girls’ state title.
Freshman Sydney Blewett started the day off in the shot put with a personal record throw of 29’3″ and a 9th place finish. In the long jump, Chloe Harrilla finished all-state placing of 6th with a jump of 15’0.5″. Remi Figart finished 10th.
Sela Beatty took all-state honors in the 55m dash with a 6th place time of 7.55 seconds. The 4×200 meter relay of Harrilla, Emma Dalton, Figart and Beatty finished 4th overall with an all-state placing time of 1:54.44. Gordon finished 9th in the 500 with a personal record time of 1:27.76 and Figart was 7th in the 300 with a time of 45.22.
The boys’ team was allowed in the building at 2 pm after the facility was cleaned following the girls’ competition. Isaac Roth started the day off in the pole vault competition and took a 3rd place all-state medal, clearing 11’6″. Mason Gibson finished 10th in the pole vault.
Walker Nance finished 9th in the triple jump with a personal best jump of 38′. Roth ran a time of 38.83 in the 300m dash and the boys’ 4×200 meter team of Roth, Tyler Buxton, Nance and Noah Thompson ran a time of 1:41.61. The Monticello boys won the state title and Byrd was 24th.
That ended the indoor season, but the William Byrd Cross Country team was scheduled to open next Wednesday at Franklin County and the outdoor track and field season will take the gun April 12.