Mathews High School came home from last weekend’s VHSL Class 1/2 Outdoor Track State Championships at James Madison University in Harrisonburg with not one, but two individual state champions.
Senior Donovan Forrest claimed his third state track title by placing first in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing the event in a blazing 15.16 seconds, more than 8/10ths of a second ahead of his nearest competitor. Forrest can add that gold medal to the gold medals he won in the same event at last year’s outdoor meet and the 55-meter hurdles he won in March in the state indoor track meet.
Fellow senior Gavin Dustin won the other individual gold medal for Mathews, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.89. As a junior, Dustin placed sixth in the event. However, Saturday wasn’t his first state medal—in 2024, he was a member of the boys’ 4x800-meter relay team that took silver.
In addition to winning gold in the 110m hurdles, Forrest just missed out on winning a medal in the 100-meter dash, pla...