to right are Molly McCroskey, Brooklyn Woolwine, Rhyan Harris, Delaney Eller, Carly Wilkes, Sydney Loder,
Adrianna Hall, Kennerly Nichols and Isabella Miller. Below, Glenvar’s Carly Wilkes opens a big lead halfway
through her winning 1,600 meter race. Bottom left, Sydney Loder is on her way to a state championship in the
300 hurdles, and bottom right Tyler Johnson wins the boys’ 300 hurdle state championship. PHOTOS BY SHANN\ON HALL
The Glenvar girls can win a state championship inside, outside or in the water!! On Saturday Glenvar won a third state girls’ championship as the Highlanders ran away with the Class 2 outdoor track championship at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Many of the same girls had already participated on the indoor track and swimming state championship teams in March. The swim team repeated as state champs from the 2020 season and the indoor team was sixth last year, but the outdoor team lost their season when the COVID pandemic hit just after the winter seasons. Glenvar’s last outdoor track season, in 2019, saw the girls in 15th and the boys in 22nd as Maggie Walker swept both team championships.
This year, neither Maggie Walker nor a virus could keep the girls from winning the gold. Glenvar took control of the meet from the beginning as Sydney Loder took first place in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.99. Loder also won the 300 hurdles in 48.76 and was third in high jump.
Carly Wilkes continued to add hardware to her trophy case with a couple more state championships. She won the 800 in 2:18.83 and the 1,600 in 4:59.67. She also ran on the winning 4×400 relay team and now has collected 11 state champion medals in the span of four months. Carly was a member of state championship teams in swimming and both indoor and outdoor track. She’s won individual medals in cross country, indoor track(2) and outdoor track(2) and participated on state champion relay teams in swimming and both track teams.
The girls 4×400 team consisted of Wilkes, Delaney Eller, Loder and Rhyan Harris. They finished off the meet with a flourish, winning the last event of the day with a time of 4:13.
Eller added to the scoring with a second place finish in the 400 and an eighth place in the 800. Harris was fifth in the pole vault and third in the 400 and the girls 4×800 team of Molly McCroskey, Joann Kileen, Isabella Pope and Emma Pope took eighth.
Glenvar finished with 76 points as a team, 26 ½ ahead of second place Strasburg. Maggie Walker is now in Class 3, but that wouldn’t have mattered as these Highlanders dominated the competition.
“It’s been a long time coming for the girls’ outdoor team,” said Glenvar coach Neil Swanson. “This is the first time in Glenvar history that the girls have won an outdoor state championship. I couldn’t be more proud of how far they have come and everything they have put into it. It’s well deserved.”
While the girls’ ran away with the title, the boys’ had a big day as well with a fourth place finish. Glenvar had 47 points to trail only Stuarts Draft(65), Bruton(57) and Staunton(49).
Tyler Johnson had a big day with a state championship in the 300 hurdles, running a time of 42.0 to win by a second and a half. Tyler was second in the 110 hurdles, just .27 seconds behind the winner with a time of 16.1. He also ran on the fifth place 4×400 relay team with Bryant Loftis, Nehemiah Olsen and Nate Linkous.
Daniel Zearfoss was second in the 1,600 and eighth in the 800. Loftis was fourth in the 800, Avon Noel was sixth in the pole vault and Jackson Swanson was sixth in the 200 and seventh in the 100. The boys’ 4×800 relay team of Zearfoss, Brayden Claud, Olsen and Davis Norman was seventh.
“This is the best showing the boys have had in the state meet since I started coaching here in 2007,” said Swanson. “It was a great day for both the girls and boys. We have a bulk of these young athletes returning next year and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them.”