The Tigers took to the track on Tuesday in a quad meet at Virginia Episcopal School (VES) in VIC action. Facing some stiff competition, both individually and in the team prospective, the Tigers were able to overcome to win the meet by the following team scores:
Hargrave – 178.5
Blue Ridge School – 161
VES – 106
New Covenant – 25
Top individual scores for the Tigers were:
Reggie McKinney – 24 points
Brian Williams – 22 points
Elyas Harris – 16 points
Tyler Morris – 15 points
“I am very proud of these guys,” stated Head Coach Jeremy Eubank. “We knew going into it, that it would be a very tight meet between us and Blue Ridge. We have talked a lot about winning the point difference and finishing in packs; it showed today.”
The Tigers only won two events overall: discus by senior Jordan Dunn (Charlotte, NC) with a throw of 111 feet and 10 inches; the 4 x 100 relay team of Richard Jiang, Mark Billups, Reggie McKinney, and Brian Williams with a time of 47 seconds (a half of a second over Blue Ridge School)!
In the distance and hurdle events, the Tigers were able to take a 27 point lead over Blue Ridge School. The Tigers placed 4th (sophomore Tyler Morris – 5:20 minutes), 5th (freshmen Gabe Medlin – 5:29 minutes), and 6th (freshmen Shiff Helvey -5:31 minutes) in the mile. Morris and Helvey also placed in the 3200 meters: 4th (11:50 minutes) and 5th (11:56 minutes), and 8th grader Josen Shephard placed 6th (12:18 minutes) respectively.
Williams led the way in the hurdle events taking second place in the 110 (18.35 seconds) and 300 (46.93 seconds). Junior Alex Velazquez took 4th (20.93 seconds) and junior Quinn Griffith took 5th place (20.99 seconds) in the 110 hurdles. Griffith also placed 5th in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.13 seconds.
In the field events is where the Tigers made up the point difference between them and Blue Ridge School. “We knew if we were going to have a shot against them, we would need to have a good do in the field events,” stated Eubank. “I challenged our guys to come out and treat this as if this is a conference meet and they did not disappoint themselves or the school.”
In the high jump, the Tigers placed 3rd (McKinney 5 feet 6 inches) and 4th (senior Thaddeus Alexis 5 feet and 4 inches). In the long jump and triple jump, Harris led the Tigers taking 2nd place in both events with jumps of 19 feet 5 inches and 39 feet 3 inches. Others placing in long jump were McKinney in 4th with a jump of 19 feet 2 inches and Billups in 6th place in 18 feet 8 inches. In the triple jump, Williams took 3rd with a jump of 38 feet 10 inches and McKinney took 5th place with a jump of 37 feet 6 inches.
In the discus, McKinney went onto place 4th (100 feet 7 inches) and senior Cameron Spangler took 3rd with a throw of 101 feet 9 inches. In the discus, the Tigers had a plus 12 point difference (21-9) between them and Blue Ridge. Full meet results can be found in the link below.
“With the early success that we had allowed for us to have a standard for us to exceed,” Eubank stated. “We are lacking in some areas, however, if we can strengthen those areas it will allow for us to continue to grow as a team.”
The Tigers next meet will be Thursday, April 19 up route 29 to Altavista High School (meet time 5 PM) to take part in a quad meet that are familiar soundings for Eubank. “This is a very special place for me, I grew up here, went to school here, it means a lot to be able to come back and run,” stated Eubank. “All of my coaches are still there and to be able to pass along the knowledge they gave me to my kids at Hargrave means a lot.”
Eubank, ran track and field at Altavista High School for six years, where he competed in the 800 meters, 1600 meters, 3200 meters and was an all-conference and all region runner.
