So what's your definition of a close finish?
A one-point margin?
One second?
At the Region III track and field championships at Liberty University, both happened.
The Staunton River and Amherst County boys entered the final event on Saturday, the 1,600-meter relay, tied at 70 points.
The Staunton River team ran in the first section of the finals and finished in 3 minutes, 37.90 seconds.
Then, it was Amherst County's turn.
3:36.58.
The sixth-place finish gave the Lancers the point they needed to clinch the boys title with 71.
Staunton River was second with 70. Jefferson Forest (45) was fifth.
The girls portion of the meet was not as close, with E.C. Glass taking the crown with 117 points and Robert E. Lee a distant second with 73. Jefferson Forest (48) was fourth, and Northside (40) took fifth.
The Staunton River boys trailed by 10 points with two events remaining, but Stuart Robertson won the 3,200 to tie the score for the relay showdown.
"I was thinking I wish we had a shot to run head-to-head," Staunton River coach Joe Curcio said.
But he wouldn't let the second-place finish diminish what his team accomplished.
"Outstanding day," he said. "I really thought we'd be third or fourth. I did not expect [it] to come down exactly as close as it was.
"We scored some points that I didn't expect to score and we scored higher in some events ... than I expected we would."
A lot of Chanel Replica Handbags those points came from Wesley Gates.
Gates won the long jump, triple jump and ran for the first-place 400 relay team.
He also placed second in the 200, third in the 100 and was named male athlete of the year, the senior's first year on the team.
"I've been feeling good," he said. "Everything I've been doing ... jumping well and running well."
But the Golden Eagles weren't the only Timesland athletes finding success at the meet.
Northside's Philip Scott won the 100 and placed third in the 200.
The 100 was particularly impressive as Scott's 10.79 topped Amherst County's Terrance Morse by .01 of a second. Gates followed with 10.86.
"That's the best I've had all year. Just had a good start," Scott said.
Jefferson Forest had a pair of boys winners with Josh Drablos in the pole vault and Justin Resendes in the 800 and also won the 3,200 relay.
Brandon Sparrow won the shot put for Liberty.
Jefferson Forest also fared well on the girls side, led by Leigha Schimmoeller's wins in the 800 and 1,600.
Schimmoeller said she hasn't gotten in as much running as she'd like because of also playing soccer, but another activity may have helped her.
"I trained for a triathlon and that's really helped me," she said. "That kept me from getting injured."
Mary Deis also won the 3,200 for the Cavaliers.
Northside's girls claimed the 3,200 relay.
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