Juliet, on the final let of the DMR, broke 6 minutes.  She came back from a double fall in her meet on Wednesday, to running a big personal best.  Abbie Apicella led off with a 4:20.36 for the 1200.  SJ Broadbent split 64.5 on her 400 and Anya Lehmensiek ran a 2:42.79 on the 800.  Their time of 14:03.14 placed them 7th.

Jumping in some slick, cool conditions, Raina managed to clear 12-0 to end up second in a competitive field of vaulters.  Evie Woodrow placed 9th with a 10-6 vault. 

 In the triple jump,  Maddie Hill got a region mark, going 33-8.5.

The 4 x 100 team of Julia Hill, Caroline Pearson, Elanor Shin and Maddie Hill ran a season best and state qualifying time of 51.12.  

The 4 x 400 team of Julia Hill, Maddi Hill, Jordan Henderson and SJ Broadbent ran a season-best 4:15.72, just .05 off of state qualifying.

Cameron is one of the most promising new middle-distance runners.  She won the 800 at the Harrisonburg meet in a time of 2:43.68.  She is a very dedicated member of the team with a strong work ethic.  She has everything she needs to become one of the future stars on our historically strong 4 x 800 teams.  

Juliet had a rough race in the1600.  She fell, not once, but twice.  The really strange part was the fact that she fell in the exact same spot.  She said she felt like it was slippery.  After checking the spot for anything which could explain the cause, we came up with nothing.  She was hoping to break 6:00 after having such a standout race in the 3200 this past week.  Thankfully she did get to break 6:00 this week at Dogwood on her leg of the DMR.  Her official split was 5:55.5. 

Jordan ran her personal best and qualified for the state meet on Wednesday, placing second and running 48.66.  

Carter is usually a 400-meter runner, but she is using some of the shorter races to work on her starts.  She won the 100 and 200 on Wednesday.  Her 100 time was the second fastest at Western since 2000!  She ran a 12.93 and came back in the 200 to run a 26.57.  Maddie Hill ran a personal best 27.0 in that event to place third.  

Lily Smith spent the winter swimming and in her first race back she finished 7th in the 1600, running 5:47.

Hazel ran a regional QT in the 3200, running a good early season time of 12:46ish.  Somehow she was left out of the results.  Working on getting her back in.  

Juliet made a late surge in the 1600 to finish second with a great early season time of 6:06.79.  She came back to finish 6th in the 800 with a personal best of 2:44.96.  

SJ was out to get her open 800 personal best after running an impressive relay split indoors.  She got a 10-second PR, running 2:36.23, finishing third.  SJ was also the anchor on the winning 4 x 4.

Grace and Lily ran the 10-miler finishing just under and over 70 minutes.  Lily did the race last year, but this was the first time for Grace.  

SJ and Lauren ran the 10-miler in celebration of Lauren's birthday.  They averaged under 9 minute miles in the rainy conditions.  Everyone was super happy to have finished.

Finleigh Broadbent and Windsor Torrence both ran personal bests in the 400 with Windsor breaking 70 for the first time and Finleigh running 70.  This past Friday, Finleigh ran a 68.45 at the Amherst MS meet placing 4th out of 61 runners.

One of the most impressive performances of the week has to be SJ Broadbent in the freshman 400.  She ran a huge PR, running 63.95.  She has made impressive gains this season in both the 400 and the 800.  If she keeps this up, she will be vying for a spot on the 4 x 400 team and possibly the 4 x 800.  Both these teams were state champions during the indoor season so making one of these teams would be a huge accomplishment.

Carter Torrence won her heat, but like at the state meet she was not in the fastest heat.  She was in the second fastest heat and ran an indoor best to finish in 57.53., lowering her school record from last year.  

Raina Fitzwater had a disappointing state meet, but she was right back on the horse or pole in this case at The Adidas Nationals in Virginia Beach.  She ended up 4th in the top division with a solid height.

The district meet was another opportunity for our vaulters to show their depth.  Raina Fitzwater, Evie Woodrow, Caroline Pearson, and Helen Moak took four of the top six places.  Raina went on to set a new personal best in the pole vault at regionals, vaulting 12-8, a Virginia #1 height.  

Maddie Hill has had an amazing week in her jumps.  She set a personal record in the long jump by a foot, jumping 16-8.5 then came back to improve her triple jump by three feet!  She qualified for the State Meet with both those marks. 

Hazel Johnson, Logan Juhl, and Sarina He all qualified to run in the region meet.  Hazel ran a season-best at districts and came back to place third at the region meet and will get a chance to compete in the state meet.  

Emmy Battista put it all together at Regions, running a personal best in the 55 m, 7.73 then coming back to win the 500.  We have five girls now qualified for the 500 at the state meet.

Louise and SJ finished 6th and 8th in the district meet, running huge personal best times.  Liv Blakey also ran a personal best time and the three qualified on to the region meet where Louise and Liv finished 4th and 6th.  Louise even managed to run a personal best time on the oval at Heritage.  Not an easy feat.

At regionals, Grace and Hailey finished third and fourth in the 1600, running within three one hundreds of a second of each other.  They are both qualified in multiple events at states and are long-time training partners.  At Districts, both Juliet Kielbasa and Willa Gerlach ran personal bests in the 1600 and qualified to run at Regionals.  

Camille lowered her state QT in the 500 by another 1.5 seconds to win the event at Woodberry.  She also ran a great second leg on the winning 4 x 400 team after participating in 3 field events.

The team of Camille Love, Emmy Battista, Carter & AJ Torrence dropped another second off of the state time.  

Carter Torrence had the opportunity to run the 1000 for the first time behind one of the best 1000 runners in the state.  Carter, Hailey Hodson, and Grace Cook, all went under the state QT en route to placing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. 

Hazel Johnson has been racing herself into shape.  After placing 4th in the 1600, she came back to win the 3200 running just off of her season best.  Logan Juhl ran a strong second place, running a district QT in her first time in that event

Eleanor Shin had a busy day.  She got to do high jump for the first time and placed 5th with a jump of 4-4, she placed 7th in the long jump, she was part of the 3rd place 4 x 200 team, and placed 6th in the 300 with a time of 48.83.  While she is just getting started in track, she has the potential to help out in many areas.  

Bailey placed 4th in the 300 with a time of 48.36, she ran on the 3rd place 4 x 200, and also competed in the 55 dash.   Other members of the 4 x 200 were Ada Buer, Beatrice Campbell and Eleanor Shin.

Emmy ran a personal best 1:24.02, just missing the state standard, but her fastest time by over a second.

AJ Torrence also ran a personal best time in the 500, finishing in 1:22.32.  Her time was a state-qualifying time.

Grace Cook got her state qualifying time in the 3200, running 11:43.10.  She placed 7th in that event.  Here she is with Kiera Lowman, the 2023 3A XC State Champion.

Hailey dropped another second off of her 1000 time, running in a crowded field.  Her time of 2:08.83 is a state QT.  Emerson Ritter managed to get in another race between swim meets.  She was also in a very crowded heat and got some good experience which will help her at the state meet.

SJ ran a five-second personal best in the 500, running 1:26.24 to finish 5th and ensure her spot in the region meet.  Earlier in the meet, she ran an 11-second personal best in the 4 x 800 to split 2:35.  The relay team placed second with Cora Matzke, Peyton Haium, and Anja Lemensiek.  Anja knocked off nine seconds from her personal best to run a 2:43.  

Anja also knocked off seven seconds in the 1000.  Her time of 3:38.94 placed 4th in the meet.

Jordan Henderson showed remarkable consistency in the 55 hurdles, running 9.57 in both the trials and finals.  While it is just off her best time, it was good that she is getting more consistent with her races.  

Logan Juhl placed 6th in the 1600, running a good novice time of 6:15.06.   In the middle school 1600, Sophia cook took 3rd place.  

Grace was another athlete who has been focusing on training for the past two months.   She has been supplementing her training with some elliptical as she prepares to move to the next level next year at Utah Valley University.   She qualified for the state meet, placing 3rd in the 1600, with a time of 5:25.75.   

The 4 x 200 and the 4 x 400 Qualified for the state meet.  In the 4 x 200, Carter led off in 25.8 seconds to give the team a sizeable lead.  The team kept the lead the entire way winning their heat and placing 4th.  Other 4 x 200 members were Jordan Henderson, Julia Hill, and Maddie Hill. The 4 x 400 team, pictured above, also easily won their heat.  Hailey Hodson led off and put the team in first place.  Camille Love ran a strong leg, handing off to AJ Torrence.  AJ handed off to sister Carter who proceeded to calmly run to the finish.  Both teams are currently ranked 4th in 3A and will only get better once pushed.

Finleigh placed 5th in the middle school 500 and 8th in the 300, running a solid middle school time of 1:37.91.

Cameron ran the 1600 and the 1000, placing 7th in both events.  It was a tough double as there was not much time between events.

Raina cleared 12-6 at The FUMA Mini Meet on December 13th which ranks her tied for first in all divisions in the state of Virginia.  

Evie Woodrow became the fourth Western pole vaulter to qualify for the state meet, after vaulting  10-6 which puts her tied for 5th in all divisions of the state.

Camille got 3rd in the 500 dash.

Jordan placed 3rd in the 300 with a regional qualifying time of 45.14.  She also competed in long jump for the first time.  

Emerson was the lone runner to compete this season from Western Albemarle.  She traveled to Charlotte to compete among the best at Footlocker South.  She broke 19:00 for the second time in her career and got to experience running with some of the top runners in a crowded field.  The race is known for going out fast and it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement.  

Team Virginia won in the team division, which included lots of familiar names:  Allie Zealand in 3rd, Maddie Gardiner in 5th, Reese Dalton in 8th, Zoie Lamanna in 9th, Sadie Adams in 11th, Aidan MacGrath in 21st, &  Madeline Gypson, 31st from Albemarle.  So 4 of the top 7 were from Central Virginia.  This has really been an amazing year for Central Virginia with all the local teams placing high at states and doing well in the postseason.  Click for Complete Results.