Johnson, Hensley, Kite medal twice during state meet at Liberty
~ PVN staff report
LYNCHBURG, March 5-6 — Local indoor track athletes shined Wednesday and Thursday in Lynchburg at the VHSL Class 2 Indoor State Championships held at Liberty University. A total of 10 local track athletes earned All-State honors after finishing among the Top 6 statewide in their respective events. Three of those local athletes medaled twice at state.
The Page County High School boys indoor track team finished in 12th place among 29 teams competing at the state championships March 5-6. Five Panthers earned All-State. Junior Aaron Hensley lead Page with a fifth-place finish in the 3200 meter run (10:01.08) and a fourth-place finish as a member of the 4×800 relay team. Hensley was less than 13 seconds off the pace of the state champion from Floyd County in the 3200 meter run.
Junior Asher Kite also ran on the all-state 4×800 relay team, as well as capturing sixth place in the 1600 meter run (4:39.87) and 10th place in the 1000 meter run (2:48.13). His 1600-meter mark was within 19 seconds of the state champion from Bruton. Despite being 10th, his 1000-meter mark was only 14 seconds off the top time.
Senior AJ Bosley and sophomore Jaxon Staples round out the fourth-place relay team for Page. Staples also finished 10th in the 1600 meter run (5:09.37).
Page sophomore Braxton Pettit finished fourth in the 55 meter hurdles (8.11 seconds). He finished within a half-second (0.46) of the state champion from Bruton. Pettit missed the finals for the 55 meter dash by less than three tenths of a second.
Senior Davey Johnson lead the Bulldogs of Luray with two all-state performances, including fourth place in the 1600 meter run (4:29.05) and sixth place in the 3200 meter run (10:07.97). Johnson was just over eight seconds off the state champion from Bruton in the 1600 meters.
Luray sophomore Azmani Jackson placed third — the highest finish of any local state qualifier — in the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:07.79. The state champion from Bedford was only one second faster. Jackson also placed 15th in the 300 meter dash (38.22). Despite being 15th, the Luray sophomore was only 2.15 seconds slower than the state champion.
Luray senior James Farrow took fifth place in the 55 meter hurdles (8.14) — just three one-hundredths of a second behind Page County’s Pettit in fourth place.
In the girls division, Luray High School had two all-state performers. Senior Annah Wood earned sixth place in the 1600 meter run (5:41.72), while junior Lucy Currle took fifth place in the 55 meter hurdles (9.57 seconds). Wood also finished 9th in the 1000 meter run (3:29.09).
Luray had three other strong performers that fell just short of all-state — the girls 4×200 relay team finished ninth (only 6.79 seconds behind the state champion); sophomore Maya Jenkins finished 11th in the 3200 meter run (13:56.21); and sophomore Kristina McLain just missed the cutoff for the finals in the 55 meter hurdles (10.11) — those in the finals were sub-10 seconds.
For the full list of results from the VHSL Class 2 Indoor Track State Championships,
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