The Patrick County High School track and field team continued their strong season at the 3A West Regionals championships last week. “Our kids performed beautifully today, and with incredible grit,” said Coach Danel Slaydon.

Junior Lexy Carico claimed the title of Regional champion in the discus. “She fought hard today and won with a throw of 128-7,” Slaydon said.

In her first trip to regionals, Reanna Carico placed 12th in the discus.

On the boys’ side, Matt Amos placed a very respectable 10th, while Tyler Lumpkin was 17th.

“These results are very impressive, especially considering the depth of our region. Our throwers’ performances today reflect an exciting future for our throws program,” he concluded.

It was a successful day on the track for the Cougars as well. Armonte Carter ran the toughest and fastest race of her career to place sixth in the 400 and qualify for states.

“Armonte knew what she had to do to qualify, and she just went out there, gutted it out, and got the job done,” Slaydon said.

Juan Cisneros cruised to a fourth place finish in the two mile race, running a significant seven second personal record. He had previously run the automatic state qualifying time in the mile, so he will be competing in both the mile and two mile at states next week.

The boys’ 4×400 team (Tommy Pauley, Juan Cisneros, Jared Biedrycki and Zach Montgomery) ended the day in thrilling fashion. “All four boys ran with tremendous courage, truly emptying their tanks in their final race of the season. The boys ended up running a blistering 3:34.99, which set a new school record by nearly a second,” Slaydon said. “This race is not an end for these gentlemen, but rather a new beginning. If they continue to train consistently, they will keep getting better, and will be in a really exciting position when track rolls around next year,” he said.

Lexy, Armonte and Juan will represent PCHS at the 3A State Meet this Friday/Saturday in Harrisonburg.

Lexy Carico throwing the discus