Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Auburn Coach Laura Daniels did not have her full squad two weeks ago, squeaking out a narrow regional win, but Saturday, she was at full force as her girls’ team ran away with the team state title at East Rockingham High School.
Auburn outscored Patrick Henry-Glade Spring and Northumberland. Radford finished in fourth and Eastern Montgomery was fifth.
The Lady Eagles’ only individual winners came from sophomore Caitlin Dominy who won the 800 meter event with a time of 2:27.24, and Leah Earnest with a throw of 40-7.5.
Radford’s Mary Brown set a new state 1A record in the discus with a heave of 125-10. Auburn’s Madelyn Sale also broke the old mark with a second place finish at 116-8 and her teammate, Leah Earnest was sixth.
Freshman Tyashia Gellner also brought home a state individual title for Radford as she won the 300 hurdles. Eastern Montgomery’s Destiny Sweeney picked up a first place in the high jump with a mark of 5-2 and finished third in the triple jump. Sweeny also won the long jump event and finished fourth in the 100 meters.
Auburn locked down the pole vault event with 2-3-4, and then claimed the 3,200 relay.
The Auburn boys would finish third, behind Patrick Henry-Glade Spring and Covington. Auburn would tally 72 points while PH had 101 and Covington 87 points.
Last year, the Auburn boys also brought home the team title.
Radford finished in 11th place in this year’s competition, and Eastern Montgomery was tied for 31st.
Nolan Ryan led the Auburn boys crossing the line in the 3,200 setting a new state record with a time of 9:54.99. Ryan was also part of the 3,200 team of Richie Romo, Hunter Carter and Caleb Hallinan that took top honors on Friday.
