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Holmes is two inches away from the elite national qualifer.

The varsity indoor track and field team traveled to Charlottesville to compete in the Region II championships hosted at Fork Union Military Academy on Feb. 13. The girls won third place with 52 points and the boys took fourth place with 47 points. thirteen athletes will move on to the VHSL AA state competition on Feb. 23 at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
The team ended the regional meet with victories in the 4×400 meter relay for the girls and boys teams. The boys team had a dramatic finish, beating the second place team by only milliseconds.
Freshman Tyler Benson will also advance to the state meet in the 4×400 meter relay and 300 meter dash.
“It’s a crazy experience,” Benson said. “I’m a freshman and I’m running against these juniors and seniors. I love the feeling after the race, the rush and how it feels.”
Senior Briana Hill placed in the top three for all three of her events and was a part of the girl’s 4×400 meter relay that placed first. Hill is advancing to states for all three of her events and hopes to get new personal records in her individual events. The girls 4×400 school record for indoor track is set at 4:16, and the team ran 4:19.80 at regionals meet. Hill hopes to obtain the school record at the state meet.
“Overall, it was okay,” Hill said. “I think we could’ve gotten second place overall, but it was good we walked away with a gold in the 4×400.”
Head coach Quentin Jones was pleased with the results from the regional meet, and has high hopes for the states.
“I always love how we finish the meet,” Jones said. “No matter what happened during the meet, the 4×400 is like the last hurrah.”