Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Auburn High School’s girls track team pushed Blacksburg to the limit this weekend, but got no closer than second place as the Bruins pulled out a 63 ½ to 58 win at Saturday’s Knight Classic in Roanoke.
On the boys’ side of the track, host Cave Spring won the meet for the first time in its history with an 87-68 mark over second place Blacksburg.
Auburn would finish sixth in the boys’ team scores with 32 points, while Radford was 14th with 14 points.
Eastern Montgomery would finish fifth in the girls’ competition with 42 points and Radford 11th at 21 points.
For the girls, Blacksburg’s Stephanie Gardner won both the 100 hurdles (15.87) and 300 hurdles (49.72).
Eastern Montgomery’s Destin Sweeney took second in the 100 meters with a time of 13.31 and would then turn around and finish third in the 200. She also took the high jump event with a mark or 5-2.
Anneliese Stewart of Radford raced to the front of the 3,200 with a time of 13:16.95, outdistancing second place Auburn’s Makenna Hallinan (13:36) and third place Eastern Montgomery’s Gillian Nichols (13:39.3).
Auburn’s 1,600 meter relay team would third and 3,200 meter relay team second.
Blacksburg’s Katie Gabbard claimed the girls pole vault with a leap of nine feet with teammates Julie Walsh and Carly Hopkins finishing 2-3.
In the long jump competition, Blacksburg’s Lydia Peton was second.
Auburn’s Leah Earnest continued her dominance in the shot put with a throw of 39-6 ½. Meanwhile in the discus, Mary Brown of Radford finished first with a throw of 119-2, while Madelyn Sale of Auburn was second.
Back on the boys’ side of things, Blacksburg’s Thomas Coffeey also won the 100 hurdles (16.01) and 300 hurdles (41.63).
Auburn’s Brandon Turman cleared 11-3 to win the pole vault at Saturday’s meet.
Blacksburg’s 400 meter relay team finished third in the meet, and Solomon Ghosh claimed first in the discus with a throw of 140 feet. Auburn’s Adam Fithian was second in the discus event.
