By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

The Cosby boys’ varsity track team built a seven-point lead in the first day of competition in the Dominion District Outdoor Track Championships last Tuesday. Then the team added strong sprint performances to hold off L.C. Bird, 149-112, for the team title during running competition on Wednesday.

During Tuesday’s field event competitions, the Titans seemed constantly in pursuit of their Skyhawk counterparts. The teams constantly shared the top three spots until the shot put competition.

Cosby throwers claimed the top three spots in the shot put with Christopher Lusk taking first at 47 feet and 3.75 inches followed by teammates Blake Condrey (45-07) and Morgan Lusk (45-01). An additional first-place showing, by Terrill Cooke (20-04.5) in the long jump, gave the Titans a 68-59 lead over L.C. Bird after the first day.

In the running portion of competition, the Titans ruled the sprints and hurdles. The team collected six wins out of 10 events to hold onto their lead.

Josh Rymer collected three wins to lead the Titans. He took first in the 110-meter hurdles, holding off L.C. Bird’s Chris Finklea (14.98), in a 14.85 second dash. Teammate Christopher Lusk took third at 15.92. He followed his 110-meter hurdle performance with another first-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.83 seconds. He held off Manchester’s Devron Harris (40.91) for the win. Rymer’s times in both events were enough to qualify for the state competition.

Rymer’s final win came in the 200-meter dash where he beat L.C. Bird’s Marquise Terrell (23.05) by just 15 hundredths of a second at 22.90.

Terrell was bothered by close finishes to Cosby runners all day. In the 100-meter dash, he took second to Brandyn Laury by one hundredth of a second with Laury leaning in for the win at 11.36 second’s to Terrell’s 11.37 second finish.

The Titan’s final two wins came from Andre Redd in the 400-meter dash with a state-qualifying time of 50.03 seconds and the 4x400-meter relay team of Redd, Will Henry, Brandon Gulledge and Chris Miller (3:29.70).

In the distance events, James River’s Ted Richardson reigned. The VHSL Group AAA cross country champion set a new record in the 1,600-meter run, besting the 2004 time of Ryan Witt (4:18.77) by one second at 4:17.73. Midlothian’s Braden Burleigh (4:20.15) and Cosby’s Evan Niciphor (4:22.90) also hit state meet qualifying times.

Richardson cruised in the 3,200-meter run (9:38.64), winning by 16 seconds over Andre McLean of L.C. Bird (9:54.30).

Cosby swept the special awards with Christopher Lusk earning Field Event Athlete of the Year and Rymer taking home Runner of the Year honors. Cosby coach Bryan Still earned Coach of the Year honors.

“This is actually our third year in a row winning the tournament for our boys, so I think that’s pretty impressive,” Still said. “We’re led by a couple of good seniors. Both of those guys, who were athletes of the year, have been in the program for four years and have been doing a good job. They keep getting better and better each week.”

Cosby and James River shared the regular season team title.

The top six competitors in each event were back in action on Wednesday and Thursday in the Central Region Outdoor Track Championships. Results in Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s scoreboard.