by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond
It was a day of firsts for two teams at the Central District indoor track and field championships.
Matoaca’s boys and Colonial Heights’ girls teams won their first ever indoor district titles at the Arthur Ashe Center on Thursday.
The Warriors scored 124 points to hold off second-place Thomas Dale (91). The Knights were the three-time defending champions.
“We are definitely going in a good direction,” Matoaca coach Jerry Price said. “We’ve always had a strong program but have always fallen a little bit short with a lot of second-places. We want to keep working hard and sustain this into the outdoor season.”
Girls defending champions Prince George were not in attendence and were disqualified after their superintendent ruled that because of bad weather traveling to meet would be unsafe.
That opened the door for the Colonials girls.
The team finished with a score of 156 to best second-place Thomas Dale’s 119.
“This is great coming off of the cross country victory,” Colonial Heights coach Damon Talley said. “Our goal now is to get all three. We have a good group of girls and a good group of freshman.
Both Price and Talley garnered coach-of-the-year honors.
Matoaca’s Dorian Jackson was named runner of the year for the boys and Wesley Benitiz earned field event athlete of the year.
Jackson won the 300-meter dash with a time of 38.35 and was part of the 4×400-meter relay team that was victorious at 3:45.06. Josh Moore, Reuben Gaines and Alex Coffey were the other three members of the squad.
“I think I had a pretty good day,” Jackson said. “It could always be better but you know, just keep practicing hard and next week I can do my thing.”
On the girls side, Colonial Heights took both awards with Shae Wilbon (runner of the year) and Megan Sinclair (field event athlete of the year).
Wilbon took the 55-meter dash (7.49) and the 500-meter dash (1:24.41). Sinclair won the long jump at 16-9, was second in the 500- and 300-meter dashes and was third in the high jump and 55-meter hurdles.
Boys Team Scores
1. Matoaca 124, 2. Thomas Dale 91, 3. Petersburg 90, 3. Meadowbrook 90, 5. Colonial Heights 89, 6. Dinwiddie 37, 7. Hopewell 12
Girls Team Scores
1. Colonial Heights 156, 2. Thomas Dale 119, 3. Matoaca 89, 4. Meadowbrook 70, 5. Dinwiddie 61, 6. Hopewell 22, 7. Petersburg 20
For boys results click HERE.
For girls results click HERE.
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