The girls’ lost a two team battle for first place to a very strong team from Armstrong High out of Richmond. Amstrong recorded 129 points, while the Fluco girls post 104 points. These two teams were far ahead of the rest of the competition, as the third place team was Monacan High with 62 points.
The Fluco teams were extremely strong in the field events. In the throwing events, the Flucos were virtually unchallenged. In the discus, Courtney Searcy won in the girls’ competition with a throw of 105.10 on the boys’ side Devin Goode was the winner with a toss of 149.11. The Deiondre Key and Nate Szarmach also tossed the discus well for the boys finishing in third and fourth place. The girls did even better as they swept the top three spots. La’Dietra Jackson was second and Julianna Elliot was third.
The Flucos were almost as strong in the shot put. La’Dietra Jackson was first on the girls side, while Courtney Searcy was third. On the boys’ side the Flucos achieved a second, third and fourth. Deiondre Key was second, Devin Goode was third and Nate Szarmach was fourth. Key’s best toss was recorded as 47.08, while the first place finishers’ throw was recorded at 47.09. The difference between first and second was one tiny inch.
The Flucos also excelled in other field events. In the pole vault, the Flucos have two of the best performers in the State. Hannah Meador took first with a vault of 11 feet and had virtually no competition. On the boys’side, Chance Parmly also took first. His height of 14 feet was far better than the second place finisher. In the high jump, the Fluco boys were way too strong for the rest of the field. Blake Hill and Kashawn Anderson tied for first, as both cleared 5-10. Fluco Terrell Key made it sweep of the top spots for the Flucos as he cleared 5-8 for third place. Key also took second place in the long jump and third in the triple jump competition.
The Flucos were not quite as strong in the track events, but both the girls and the boys had some standout performers. For the boys, Chris Markham was the winner in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:43.33 and in the 3200 meter run with a time of 10:09.93. These events are the metric equivalent of the one and two mile. Markham had a winning margin of ten seconds in the 3200. For the girls’ team Stephanie Bossong took first place in the 3200 meter. She finished in 12:25.66, besting the second place finisher by a whopping 26 seconds. Bossong was also second in the 1600 meter event. The Flucos also got an outstanding distance running performance from Travis Moe, who was third in both the 1600 meter and the 3200 meter.
The boys’ team also won the 4X100 relay. The winning team consisted of Jesse VanDyke, Goddiece Flannagan, Terrell Key and Karel Bruce. The girls’ team had second place finishes in the 4X100 relay, and in the 4X800 relay. The boys took third in the 4X400 relay.
Other fourth place finishers for the Flucos were: Karel Bruce in the triple jump, Malika Hill in the 400 meter and the 200 meter, and Hayley Kline in the 3200 meter. The boys 4X800 relay team also scored a fourth place finish.
Steve Szarmach was the meet director and running an event like this, with multiple events taking place simultaneously is no easy task. The Invitational appeared to go off flawlessly. Coaches Rose Brogan and Tom Casto and Steve Szarmach have turned out amazingly strong teams this season.
The Flucos have an away Jefferson District meet on May 8, in which they will match up with Charlottesville and Louisa. On May 11 Meador and Parmly will compete in a pole vault event. On May 15 the Flucos will go for the Jefferson District boys and girls titles in the Jefferson District event. A number of Fluco athletes will then go on to compete at the Region II and State meets.
