The Lafayette High School Boy’s Track team had a total of twelve people who qualified for states. For the girls, they had six who qualified. There was a total of ten events that the boys track team participated in and 3 events for the girls. Including, Sam Boyer in the shot put, Jaylen Pretlow in the long jump, and Carter Thrash in the pole vault for all the field events. The 4×800 relay, which is 4 laps around the track and a total of 2 miles ran, included Beckhem Gemerek, Ryan Koval, Nick Spadaro, and Chris Smith. Olivia Presyly, Valentina Martiniello, Jill Hunt, and Samantha Burcham, the girls 4×800 team, also qualified. We had one of each gender in the 55 meter hurdles trials, Cam Hundley and Mya Spencer. Rickey Cowles and Jaylen Pretlow also ran in the 55 meter trials. The 4×200 relay, one of the most exciting races in a track meet, includes Rickey Cowles, Kevin Uscilowski, Cam Hundley, and Jaylen Pretlow. Beckhem Gemerek and Chris Smith both ran in the 500 meter dash. Braden Lee, sophomore, was the only underclassman to participate in the 1000 meter run. Lastly, we had Jill Hunt, freshman, and Johnny Contrucci, junior, participated in the 3200 meter run, which is a two mile event.

For the first event after a long bus ride to Liberty University, Sam Boyer participated in the boys shot put. In shot put, you get three total throws and the top nine distances get another three throws for a total of six throws. He was crowned Virginia High School League State Champion in Boys 3A shot put with a throw of 47 feet and 1 inch. He won by one foot and two inches. Next up was boys pole vault. Carter Thrash tied for sixth with a personal record of eleven feet and three inches.

After that, both Lafayette’s boys and girls 4×800 team ran. For the boys, they placed 7th with a time of 8:37. On the flip side, the girls did not do too hot. They placed eleventh with a time of 11:13. Another event with one of each gender was the 55 meter hurdles trials. For all of the 55 meter sprints, the top 8 make it to the Finals. Cam Hundley placed third and earned a personal record of 8.08. In the finals the next day, Cam Hundley earned a medal by getting third place for boys 3a division. Mya Spencer also participated in the 55 meter hurdles and placed fifth in the prelims with a personal record of 9.40. In the finals, she had a personal record again of 9.26 and placed 6th out of all of the girls. For the 55 meter dash, Lafayette had Jaylen Pretlow have a personal record of 6.63 and made the finals. Rickey Cowles ran a 6.73, another personal record for him. In the finals, Jaylen tied for 6th place, which gave the Boys overall team points in the State meet.

On Tuesday in Lynchburg, Jaylen Pretlow placed 18th in long jump with a jump of 18 feet. With the most exciting event of the day, the boys 4×200 ran the best race of their lives. Rickey Cowles, Kevin Uscilowski, Cameron Hundley, and  Jaylen Pretlow ran a 1;32.85, a team personal record by two seconds! In track, two seconds is a huge improvement. Expecting to be on the bottom of the list, the team placed second overall and earned silver medals. Jaylen Pretlow said, “It felt great earning the silver medal, we worked really hard for it and I’m glad we can take our talents to nationals.”

Next up in the 500 was Chris Smith. He came into the race at first in the whole state. He was crowned State Champion, the second state champion for Lafayette. He ran a personal record of 1:05.10, making him seventh in the entire nation. After asking Chris Smith on how he feels being a state champion, he said, “It was definitely humbling realizing that I was that far ahead in the race and then became the state champ, when I win like that it makes me want to work even harder for the net challenge that shows it’s face.” Beckham Gemerek, also ran a personal record of 1:09.98 and placed seventh in 3A. Braden Lee ran in the 1000 meter run, a little over half a mile. He had an amazing finish as he passed 2 people to place 8th overall. It was extremely close, he beat the ninth place runner by .04 seconds. For the teams last event of the day, Jill Hunt and Johnny Contrucci ran in the longest event, the two mile. Johnny placed 12th with a time of 10:33 while Jill also placed 12th with a time of 12:20.

Overall, the boys placed 4th with 43 total points. They were only 10 points off from 3rd place. The boys Lafayette track team had a phenomenal and very impressive performance. Now, it is time for them to work hard and compete for outdoor track this upcoming spring.