By Craig Juer -- Daily Staff Writer

QUICKSBURG — There wasn't any district positioning on the table, with representatives of four different districts on hand. And state-worthy times or distances didn't earn qualifying slots, because the meet was too small. But there was plenty worth running, throwing and jumping for Friday at Stonewall Jackson.

"It's a big rivalry meet," Central track coach Rick Lytton said at the Shenandoah County meet Friday. "Other than cross-country, it's the only time that the three high schools compete against one another all at the same time."

To get a sense of the event's scope, a quick scan of the crowd says it all.

"I see parents here that were on these track teams a while ago, and now their kids are running," Lytton said. "It is kind of big."

County schools Strasburg and Central made the trek to Quicksburg, along with Massanutten Military Academy, to fine-tune for their respective district meets and earn bragging rights.

"You just really hope that you win, because everyone wants to be the top in the county," said Strasburg's Gabe Giersch, who won four events on the day. "It's just for pride, basically."

Though on-and-off rain showers made puddles of the sand pits and caused the long and triple jump events to be postponed until Monday at Central, Strasburg's girls were in good shape after the bulk of the competitions.

Giersch won the 200-meter dash, the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump. She ran uncontested in the 300-meter hurdles, but bested the male competitors who ran concurrently (albeit on higher hurdles) in the first heat. Twenty-four points from Giersch have the Strasburg girls sitting with a four-point lead, 66-62, over Central with two events to go. Stonewall is just outside of striking distance with 53, and MMA picked up a single point.

"I'm hoping that it helped," Giersch said.

Also aiding the Rams' cause was Samantha Hancock, who won the 1,600 and 3,200. In the 3,200, Hancock kept pace with some of Strasburg's boys to finish in 12:18.

"I like running with the guys," Hancock said. "They're the guys that I pace with in practice."

Hancock said she gains an advantage in the smaller meets when the boys and girls start together, because she doesn't have to pace herself.

"[In big invitationals] I kind of just have to look at the program and pick out girls that run in my time," she said.

Strasburg's Emily Wymer (31-04) and Cassie Frye (108-10) won the shot put and the discus, respectively.

Only second place will be still undecided on the boys' side come Monday, as Stonewall left Friday's proceedings with a 93-54 lead over Central, followed by Strasburg (49) and MMA (2).

Phillip Hovatter picked up wins in the 200 meters, the 400 meters, the high jump, and as part of the 4x400 relay with Nick Trent, Kyle Wilson and Kevin Quinlin.

"It was in the rain, so we were worried about jumping," Hovatter said of the high jump, in which he cleared 5-06. "But it all worked out good. I took first in that and my other man on my team, Nick Trent, he took second with me."

Stonewall got wins from Nate Beall (42-08.5 in the shot put) and Aaron Carter (126-10 in the discus) to dominate the throwing events, and Trent, Wilson, Carter and Malaki Scruggs won the 4x100. Scruggs won the 100, and Quinlin took both hurdle events.

"I like the bigger competition," Hovatter said. "It pushes us all."

Central got the edge in the race for second place with wins by Ben Snarr in the 800 and 1,600, and a win in the 3,200 and a second place in the 1,600 by Matt Gochenour.

"It wasn't hot and it really wasn't that windy, so I think I performed better with these conditions," Gochenour said. "My mile time, I did hit a plateau, but then I beat that today by getting a five-minute mile. I didn't get first but I'm pleased with my time."

Unlike the girls, who must spend a suspenseful weekend awaiting Monday's conclusion, the boys (especially the ones from Stonewall) get to enjoy a weekend assured of their pecking order in Shenandoah County.

"There may be some calls and some e-mails back and forth a little bit," Lytton conceded.

*Contact Craig Juer at cjuer@nvdaily.com

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