By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Fluco indoor track squad has been busy of late. On Friday, Dec. 17, they competed in a meet at Woodberry Forest, a private school in Orange. Then on Monday, Dec. 20, they traveled to Lynchburg to compete at Heritage High. The Flucos turned in some excellent performances at both meets.
At Woodberry Forest, the Fluco girls posted five individual first place finishes and won both relays. Senior runner Rachel Warden won the 55-meter hurdle with a time of 8.25 seconds. Senior Olivia Farruggio was first in the 300-meter with a time of 49.40. Freshman Anna Amato won the 500-meter race in 1:29.06. The 1000-meter run was won by sophomore Sophie Farley and the long distance 3200 meter was won by junior Madeline Creasy. In field events, the girls also did well. Sophomore Aaniyah Ragland won in the high jump, senior Karly Hance won in the long jump and junior Laura Hernandez was first in the pole vault. Second place finishes were posted by Ellie Kennedy, Sydney Chipperfield and Kimberly Bond.
The boys’ team did not have any individual winner at Woodberry Forest, but won all three relay races. Second place finishes were achieved by freshman Kameron Green in the 300- meter, junior Matthew Cantangallo in the 1600 meter, and sophomore Ryder Petrylak in the 3200- meter.
In the meet at Lynchburg, the Flucos were competing against Amherst County High, Prince Edward County High School and Appomattox County High School — high schools that are not regular Fluco opponents. In this meet, the Fluco girls ran into some tougher competition. However, they achieved four first place finishes and won one of the relays. Amato was again a winner and this time she won in two events that normally do not attract the same athletes. She was first in the 300-meter run and in the shot put. Piper LaRochelle, another freshman, won the 1000-meter race for the Flucos. Sophomore Alexis Perry was first in the 55-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 11.92, which was 1.19 seconds better than second place finisher, teammate Allyson Barnett. Other second place finishers for the Fluco girls were: sophomore Jamie Rodriguez in the 1600-meter and Laura Hernandez in the pole vault. The girls’ winning 4 X 200 meter team at Lynchburg consisted of LaRochelle, Amato, Emmalyn White and Ashlyn Wolkowicz.
Green was again a top performer for the Fluco boys’ team as he triumphed for the second time in the 300-meter, winning by nearly a second. He also took third in the 55-meter dash. At this meet, sophomore Addison Patchett won the long jump and his teammate, and Fluco basketball player, Kenyon Smith was second in long jump and high jump. Another third-place finish by the Flucos went to Kristian Thomas in the high jump. The boys’ winning 4 X 200 meter relay team consisted of Tre Smith, Patchett, Smith and Green. Both the boys’ and the girls’ indoor track and field teams are coached this season by Melanie Kennedy. After the meets Kennedy noted that she considers that standout performances were turned in by Patchett, Tre Smith, Green, Warden, Kennedy, Amata and Kareem Ragland..
The teams do not return to action until Jan. 8 when they will return to Lynchburg for the Heritage invitational. On Jan. 15 they will travel to Liberty for an away meet and on Jan. 20 they will participate in the big Fred Hardy Invitational at Fork Union Military Academy (FUMA). The Flucos will then host a Polar Bear event on Jan. 20 which will again be held at FUMA.
