Gladiators sweep district meet

By Doug Layman Correspondent
Published: May 15, 2008

HARRISONBURG — The Riverheads girls ended Buffalo Gap’s six-year winning streak, taking the Shenandoah District girls track championship with a 38-point win over runner-up Wilson Memorial. Riverheads took the boys championship as well, defeating Stonewall Jackson.
Leading the way for the Riverheads girls was sophomore Rebecca Grubb who took first in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Grubb also finished second in the triple jump, fourth in 100-meter dash and fifth in the long jump to score 34 points.
Also grabbing wins for the Gladiator girls were Katie Leonard, in her third race in the 300-meter hurdles, and shot-putter Heather Harris. Leonard also anchored the winning 1600-meter relay team.
Riverheads girls coach Gene Wassick was a happy camper between raindrops and said that Leonard “did a heck of a job.”
“She gave up a possible championship in the 800 to run the 300 hurdles and she came from 25 meters back to win the relay,” he said. “Our throwers did a great job and our jumpers did better than we expected.”
Other local winners in the girls events included Buffalo Gap’s Kaila Redifer, who won first in the high jump and triple jump, and Laura Knott, who continued Gap’s dominance in the distance events with a win in the 1600-meter run.
For Wilson Memorial, Tiffany Crosby and Mariah Taylor won the 100-meter hurdles and the 100-meter dash respectively.
Riverheads picked up a win in the 3200-meter run as Noelia Nunez ran a 13:35:56 time.
Riverheads boys squad won on depth. The Gladiators had 123 points at the end of the meet to Stonewall Jackson’s 117 and Wilson 108.
The Gladiators boys had four individual champs including Lyndon Humphries in the high jump, Brian Freed in the discus, Joseph Cash in the 110-meter high hurdles and Jacob Heizer in the 800-meter run.
Wilson finished a strong third thanks to co-track athlete of the year Josh Stewart who won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump.
Other local winners included Buffalo Gap’s Craig Cromer in the 1600-meter run, Wilson’s Michael Barnes in the 3200-meter run.