9 minute read
Sports
Cadets relay team wins state title
By Robby Fletcher Sports Editor
Advertisement
When the Benedictine r u n n i n g quartet consisting of Eddie Jackson, Nick Land, Antonio Schoenborn and Darryl Edmonds kicked off their run in the 4x400 VISAA Track and Field Championships, the four athletes quickly blew by the competition in a race that was firmly in the Cadets’ control all the way to the finish line.
With Jackson starting and Edmonds closing, the Cadets blasted through the competitionatSportsBackersStadium on May 21 with a new school record time of 3 minutes, 25.08 seconds.
After 800 meters, the Cadets held a five-second advantage over Episcopal, and thatlead grewtoeight seconds after 1200 meters with the Cadets clocked in at 2:34.25. While there were a few changes in the top five, that eightsecond lead was held intact once the Cadets finished the race, earning the team a welldeserved state title.
That wasn’t Benedictine’s only title of the day though, with Edmonds also taking home a state title in the triple jump. Edmonds’ top mark of 46 feet, 6.25 inches on his final attempt was unmatched, with the next closest jump coming in at 44-11 from Blue Ridge High School junior Chayse Sloan.
For the whole day, the Cadets finished in fourth place among 15 schools in the Division I boys competitions, recording ateamscore of51.50 points. The top-3 schools were Woodberry Forest with 214.50 points, Fork Union with 74 points and Collegiate with 53.50 points.
Those four athletes runningthe4x400relayearnedthe Cadets points in other events as well. Aside from Edmonds’ big triple jump victory, he also placed in third in the 300meter hurdles with a recorded time of 41.25 seconds that was behind Woodberry Forest runner Albert Asare and St. Stephen’s Bradley Cruthirds. His result placed him within the top-50 300-meter hurdle times within the state.
Jackson also had another great performance in the 400meter dash, finishing in second place behind Fork Union’s Dominique Julius with a time of 50.21 seconds that also placed him within the top-50 sprinters in the state for that competition.
In the pole vault competition, junior Jackson Mann had a strong outing on the big stage for the Cadets, placing fourth with a mark of 13 feet, a result that places him within the top-25 in the state for the event. In front of him were three Woodberry Forest athletes who all set marks that were within the top-10 in the state.
Rounding out an impressive day for the Cadets was the 4x100 relay team consisting of Edmonds, Roth Thomas, Addison Gosline and Khalil Moore and their fourth place result among 13 schools. Their 44.66-second time was a second behind third place finisher Episcopal, while Trinity Episcopal and Woodberry Forest took home first and second place respectively.
It was an overall successful day for the Cadets on the biggest stage they’ve faced all season, and while seniors like Edmonds and Jackson see their careers on the track draw to a close at Benedictine, they can say they went out on perhaps the highest note possible with a new school record and a state title to their names.
Contributed Photo
From left to right: Antonio Schoenborn, Darryl Edmonds, Eddie Jackson and Nick Land stand together after their record-setting 4x400 relay result that won the Cadets a state title on May 21.
Robby Fletcher can be reached at rfletcher@powhatantoday.com.
Goochland tennis: Bulldogs compete in regional matches
By Robby Fletcher Sports Editor
Goochland’s tennis teams took to the courts for postseason play last week, with the girls falling 5-0 to the Meridian Mustangs on the road and the boys team falling 5-1 to Maggie Walker.
Two days before the girls traveled to Meridian, they concludedtheirregularseasonwith a close win over the Orange County Hornets for their sixth team victory of the season.
They were led at the top by junior No. 1 Margaret Townsend against the Hornets, who won her matchup against Olivia Sciabbarsi with an 8-5 set. Townsend’s win was one of four for the Bulldogs in singles, with wins by Anna Stamey, Genevieve Williamson and Amber Robertson helping the team take a 4-2 lead into doubles, where Williamson and Hadley Peskin won their set together with an 8-2 win.
Against the Mustangs out of the Northwestern District, the Bulldogs had a harder time gaining the advantage, with their opponent winning five quick singles matches to move on in the tournament.
Robertson had the closest match of the day for Goochland, taking on Ellen Bruce. Robertson lost in a close 7-5 first set, and though Bruce was up in the second set, the game wasretiredonceMeridian reached five wins.
On the boys side, the team rode a three-game winning streak to end the regular season with thefour-seed intheregion, which allowed them to host the Green Dragons, but the fiveseeded opponent managed to come out with a 5-1 win.
Junior Evan Bernstine was the only Bulldog to come away with thevictory,asthestar player continues his monster third season.
Bernstine will look to continue his strong play as he aims to defend his 3A state title from last season. In his matchup against Alex Percey, Bernstine made quick work of the Green Dragons sophomore with two 6-0 sets to win.
The Dragons controlled the first sets of the rest of the matchups, but credit should go to juniors Alex Peskin, Ryan Bowers and Charlie Alston for earning a few games in their secondsetstokeeptheBulldogs alive.
Bowers in particular played well in his second set, falling 6-4 after a 6-0 first set against sophomore Ethan Choe.
Collegiate golf wins second consecutive VISAA title
By Zach Joachim Richmond Times-Dispatch
Sitting on the 17th green at Meadowbrook Country Club on May 16, Collegiate golf coach Jeff Dunnington started to do some math with one of his assistants.
With two groups still to go in the VISAA Division I championship, Dunnington “realized that we had it.”
At that point, the coaches transitioned to the 18th green where the Cougars ’ final player, senior captain Philip Clarke, was finishing up.
“The team was all up there, waiting with anticipation, they all knew what was going on,” Dunnington said Thursday, a few days after his Cougars captured their second consecutive VISAA championship, the first time Collegiate has ever won back-to-back team golf titles.
The VISAAteam golfchampionship was first played in 2008. This is Collegiate’s third team title, with the first coming in 2012.
“It was fun to watch the team go mob [Clarke] as he was walking off,” Dunnington said. “They loved it. It was a lot of fun. ... Our guys grinded the entire time to put us in a position to win.”
Collegiate finished at 7-over 291, three shots ahead of second-place Woodberry Forest (294). St. Christopher’s (297) placed third and Trinity Episcopal (298) came in fourth. Cougars junior Tyler Brand posted a 2-under 69, good for a three-way tie with St. Christopher’s JJ Powell and Catholic High’s Xander Goboy for medalist honors, making them the co-state players of the year.
Collegiate junior Jack Barnes came in at 1-over 72, and Tucker Smith, another junior, finished at 3-over 74 to tie for 10th overall. The top 10 individual finishers earn allstate honors.
Brand and Barnes both rebounded from slow starts on the first few holes to finish with a flurry. Dunnington said he was particularlyproudofBrand and Smith, who’ve battled injuries over the past couple years and didn’t play much for last season’s title-winning team.
“So to see those two guys be two of the players who really emerged to help lead us to the championship was really cool,” Dunnington said. “They were both healthy at the right time and able to put it together to lead the team to victory.”
A fourth junior, Hudson Pace, provided the fourth top score with a 5-over 76 to wrap up the championship.
Going into last Monday’s tournament, Dunnington said the Cougars probably shouldn’t have been considered favorites after placing fourth in the Prep League tournament at Old Trail Golf Club in Crozet on May 10 behind their three chief competitors for VISAA supremacy – Woodberry Forest, St. Chris and Trinity.
The Cougars finished 16 shots off Prep League champs Trinity, 15 behind Woodberry and seven off St. Chris. Dunnington called Collegiate’s performanceatOldTrail“probably our worst performance of the year.”
“So to have this turnaround just the following week where the guys were able to get it back together and dial in, it was really fun to see,” Dunnington said, adding that Collegiate’s 291 at Meadowbrook is the highest any team has shot in the four times the VISAA tournament has been held there.
Dunnington said last season was really the one he’d had circled in terms of opportunity to compete for a state title. But the Cougars carried the momentum over to this season, and have subsequently put together thebestrunofteam golf success the school has ever seen.
“We’ve got the core of the team coming back next year, so expectations will certainly be high again,” Dunnington said.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Dunnington
The Collegiate Cougars won their second consecutive VISAA championship and third team title in school history.
DaSilva’s hat trick leads Goochland over Louisa County
By Robby Fletcher Sports Editor
When the Goochland boys soccer team left the field on April 25 with a 5-0 win over Lousia County — its first win oftheseason—theteamflexed its goal-scoring muscles for the first time this year with an allaround convincing display of playmaking and finishing.
In their rematch on Wednesday, May 18, the Bulldogs once again showed that same knack for getting the ball in the net with a 5-2 performance, pushing their record to 4-12 on the season as they head into their regional tournament.
The game was Goochland’s third time scoring five goals this year, with the second occurence happening against Caroline on April 29.
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by an astonishing hat trickperformancefromsophomoreYoshiDaSilva,whoflummoxed the Lions’ back line of defense to put the Bulldogs ahead despite a few successful offensive attacks of their own.
Ending the regular season, the sophomore forward’s goalscoring total now moves up to 10 goals on the year, with DaSilva continuing to demonstrate his high-end pace of play and nose for getting into the right position for a run down the middle of the field.
The Bulldogs also saw junior Conner Doersch earn a brace with a two-goal performance of his own.
While DaSilva’s been the team’s leading scorer this year at the top of the attacking line of forwards, Doersch has been close behind with some dazzling goals of his own, wrapping up his regular season with seven goals on the year.
In the net for the Bulldogs was senior Luke Michaels, who recorded five saves to help keep the Bulldogs’ lead intact. Michaels, who is usually a field player, has stepped up in the net admirably on multiple occasions for the Bulldogs this season.
Looking ahead to the postseason, the Bulldogs have a tough tournament-opening matchup against the William Monroe Dragons, who finished their regular season with a 12-2-1 record out of the Northwestern District.
Photo by Robby Fletcher
