Last week at Sports Backers’ Stadium, the Lee-Davis girls’ track & field team dominated the competition to pick up its fourth consecutive Capital District championship. The Confederates picked up eight wins and six second place finishes leading to 171 points to give them a decided edge over Atlee who came in second at 101. Hanover took fifth place with 87.50.

  “It wasn’t one or two events that we knew we were really strong in,” said Lee-Davis head coach Neil Matthews. “We just knew that we were represented in every event with someone who could get the job done.”

Atlee head coach Jim Triemplar was pleased with his team’s finish. “I felt we would kind of be in a four team battle for second and we prevailed,” he said. “I felt like Lee-Davis was just a little too strong, or Montasia was a little too strong.”

  Though Lee-Davis scored with a strong team effort, it was speedy sophomore Montasia Golden who turned in a dominating performance. Golden picked up wins in the 100, 200 and 400, which ironically Matthews said are not her best events. “We felt that she would be better in the district meet in those events.”

  In the 100, a lean at the finish line gave Golden a :12.94 win, beating out Varina’s Tiuannu Bell by :00.02. Atlee’s Savanah Sargent took fifth.

  In the 400, Golden breezed to a nearly one second while teammates Teil Westbook and Sargent took fifth and sixth. Golden and Sargent were also the top two local finishers in the 200 with Golden getting the win and Sargent coming in sixth.

  But according to Matthews, it was the performances off the running surface that made the biggest difference. “Varina and Atlee are much improved from last year’s outdoor season to this year’s outdoor season,” Matthews said. “We had to rely on our field events more than we have in the past.”

  Golden repeated as triple jump champion by edging out Henrico’s Elaine Derricott by 00.25. The pair reversed finishes in the long jump with Derricott clearing Golden’s second place distance of 17-08.50 by nearly a foot. But Matthews was most pleased with the performances of Brie Jackson (fourth) and Jessie Spence (sixth), who both jumped for personal bests. “We talked in the team meeting about stepping up and they did that,” Matthews said.

  In the discus, fellow C-fed, sophomore Kate Ingroff beat out Atlee’s Dillon McGhee and Hanover’s Madison Pachner to win with a throw of 107-05. “That was huge for us for her to step up and get those 10 points in the discus,” Matthews said. “That was her personal best and that really sets her up well for the regional meet.”

  Freshmen Madison Baya of Atlee and Mariah Franklin of Lee-Davis took fifth and sixth.

  In distance events, Lee-Davis also showed proficiency at pulling in the points. The 1600 was a two-way battle throughout between Stephanie Cario and Amanda Lineberry. Cario led through a majority of the race until Lineberry turned on the jets over the final 300 meters to fly to a nearly four second win. Hanover’s Lauren Hopper, Taylor Clevinger, Anna Gordon and Meghan Kalinowski took the three through six spots.

  Lineberry nearly repeated her performance in the 800 but could not overtake teammate Tiel Westbook who won with a time of 2:25.02. Hanover’s Clevinger and Andrea Fogleman took third and fifth while Atlee’s Katie Bland finished fourth.

  Lee-Davis’ Cario picked up a win in the 3200 with a time of 11:38.74, beating out Hanover’s Hopper, Gordon and Kalinowski. The Confederates’ Melissa Davis took fifth and Atlee’s Bland sixth.

  “All of those girls are so competitive,” Matthews said of his distance runners. “It was hard to spread them out because they all like to run the same things. Each of those other three girls, (Cario, Lineberrty, Westbook) won an event and it showed that we’re not just one runner in the distance. We have a full distance team.”

  The C-feds added more points when Jackson, Rachel Chudoba, Westbook and Cara Webb picked up a second place finish in the 4x400 relay. Atlee came in fifth and Hanover sixth.

  As expected, Atlee dominated the pole vault. Emma Dejarnette repeated as champion with a vault of 11-06 while teammate Cameron Overstreet took second clearing 11-00. Atlee’s Rebecca Pidcoe and Kate Bishop took fourth and fifth.

  Atlee also picked up points in the 4x100 relay when Katie Bean, Lizze Leitch, Kaleice Green and Meg Bowers came in third.

  Green also picked up a third place finish in the shot put.

  Local teams took the top three slots in the 4x800 with Hanover teammates Hopper, Fogleman, Gordon and Clevinger beating out second place Lee-Davis and Atlee, who took third.

  Lee-Davis lost their advantage in the hurdles when senior Jessica Ravensbergen was injured two weeks ago. “That really handcuffed us because it kind of left Brie Jackson alone in the hurdles as far as the scoring,” Matthews said. Hanover freshman Mackenzie Scott picked up a second place finish in the 100 meter hurdles, beating Jackson by .05. In the 300 hurdles, it was Jackson who took second, while Scott finished third. Atlee’s Bowers and Ann O’Toole took fifth and sixth.

  The top six finishers in each event advance to this week’s Central Region Championships which will be held at Sports Backers’ Stadium, May 22-23.

  In the Colonial District girls’ meet, Patrick Henry senior Christianna Moss and junior Lizze Powell both turned in record-setting performances. With a discus throw of 140-02.00, Moss broke the district record by nearly four feet that has stood since 1993 after being set by Hermitages’ Kae Watson. Moss also won the shot put. Powell set a new district record in the pole vault by on inch, clearing 11-07.00, beating the mark set last year by Anne Marie Gordon of Mills Godwin.