It was a great day to be a Cougar at the Virginia 3A State Indoor Track meet this past weekend. The Lady Cougars went to the meet with high expectations and came home with six All-State medals.
On Friday night, the fantastic foursome of Montana Moorefield, Savannah Moorefield, Macie Rogers and Emma Hubbard competed in the 4×800 relay. Macie Rogers ran a very gritty third leg to keep the team alive and within striking distance. She went out extremely hard and reeled in several teams before passing the baton to Emma Hubbard. Emma hung in with her pack and crossed the line in sixth place.
While the girls were thrilled to have earned All-State honors, they were hoping to have run a bit faster and to have climbed into fifth place, so they left the track Friday night with a bitter taste in their mouths.
All bitterness was washed away on Saturday when Savannah and Emma both ran the races of their lives in their individual events.
Coming into the 500m seeded 10th, Savannah had her work cut out for her. In the sprints, only four athletes run in each heat, which meant that she would be in the third fastest race.
She attacked from the gun and pushed the entire race, crossing in a school record time of 1:20.25, a full three seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Her gutsy run and impressive time held up well against the next two fastest heats, and she came away with a fifth place (All-State) finish.
It was clear from the start that senior Emma Hubbard was on a mission in her 1,000m race. She was aggressive from the beginning and tucked into the back of the lead pack. When the competitors started to string out halfway through the race, Emma made a very bold move to stay with the leaders, and it paid off big time. She crossed the line in fifth place in a very speedy time of 3:07, earning All-State honors and eclipsing the previous school record by five seconds. It was definitely a very rewarding way for Emma to end her final indoor track race.
The girls’ 4×400 team was up against a very competitive field and knew that they had to empty their tanks if they wanted to surprise some of the teams in the fastest heat. The girls gave everything they had and wound up in a very solid 10th place with a new school record of 1:23.
“Of the 41 teams competing at this year’s state meet, we ended up in 12th place overall. This is a huge accomplishment for our program, and one that we intend to build upon,” said Coaches Kali and Danel Slaydon.
“We set the bar very high for our athletes, and fully expect them to not only make it to the state meet but compete and perform exceptionally well when they get there. Our ladies took a huge step in the right direction today. We are very proud of our athletes, and look forward to building on this success during the outdoor season,” they added.
