By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Call it a clean sweep for Auburn High School on Wednesday as both the girls and boys track teams took Mountain Empire District titles. Jessica Musselman led the romp on the girls’ side of the track with wins in the 400 and 300-hurdles. Madelyn Ritter also scored first in discus and shot for the victorious team. She had a throw of 32-08 in the shot and 91-04 in the discus.
Auburn outdistanced second place Rural Retreat 179-70 in an event held at Galax High School. George Wythe finished third with 68 points, and Ft. Chiswell fourth with 63.
Kara Ashworth gave Auburn another first place with a 18.38 run in the 100-meter hurdles, while the 4X800 relay team also scored a top finish. The relay included: Caitlin Dominy, Anna Kuchan, Grace Hall and Musselman.
The girls’ 4X400 relay also scored a gold with Bree Sale, Ashleigh Givens, Morgan Rosenbaum and Dominy.
Morgan Rosenbaum would place second behind Musselman in the 400-meter run. Grace Hall and Lilly Messner gave the Eagles second and third respectively in the 800-meter run.
The pole vault was dominated by the Eagles as they took the top four spots with Kara Ashworth leading the way with a 7-06 mark. Ashleigh Givens, Bree Sale and Kylee Turman were 2-4.
Hailey Wade and Faith Sutphin would finish 1-2 in the 3200 meters.
The scene was similar on the other side of the track where the Auburn boys edged George Wythe 165-137. Rural Retreat finished third with 68 points, while host-Galax was fourth with 47 points.
Auburn’s Adam Downs finished second in the 1600-meter run with teammate Jacob Hurd in fourth. Jesse Shelor finished second in the 200-meter run and the high jump.
The boys’ 4X800 relay team of Eddie Tickle, Adam Downs, Peyton Hurd and Andy Vaughn, took first in the meet.
Levi Stephens finished second in the boys’ discus with teammate Zach McClellan third.
The Auburn boys also dominated the pole vault event with Eddie Tickle first with a 9-06 mark. Chris Connelly was second, Malachi Spencer third and Justin Smith fourth.
