Mathews High School senior Donovan Forrest won his second career individual state championship in track, placing first in the 55-meter hurdles in last week’s VHSL Class 1 Indoor State Championships. Overall, the MHS boys’ team came in sixth place, while the Blue Devil girls claimed the #8 spot in team scoring.
“I am extremely proud of Donovan and look forward to continue watching his dominance in the hurdles this outdoor season,” said MHS track coach Tony Forrest. “He continues to improve each race.”
Forrest won both last Wednesday’s preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.83 seconds, and Thursday’s championship in 8 seconds flat to take the gold medal at the competition that was held at the Liberty University Indoor Track in Lynchburg.
Last June, Forrest placed first in the 110-meter hurdles in the VHSL Outdoor Track State Championships to claim his first state championship.
Overall, the MHS boys placed sixth with 42.5 team points. Lancaster won the boys’ title with 82 points, followed by Galileo High School (80), Auburn (71.5), Rural Retreat (66.5), Parry McCluer (60) and the Blue Devils.
For the girls, Auburn won the meet with 91 points, followed by Brunswick High (78), Northampton (58), Lancaster (51), Galileo (40), George Wythe (30), Eastside (27) and Mathews (22 points).
MHS boys
In addition to winning the 55-meter hurdles, Forrest also placed fourth in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.8 seconds. Gavin Dustin came in third in the high jump (5’8”) and fifth in the 1,000-meter run (2:41.75), while the boys’ 4×400 relay team (Jerrell Johnson, Adam Greve, Seth James and Gavin Dustin) also took third-place honors (3:40.74). Keith Taylor placed fourth in the triple jump (41’6.5”) sixth in the long jump (19’5.75”) and ninth in the high jump (5’8”).
Rounding out the boys’ team, the 4×800 relay squad of James, Greve, Taylor and Dustin came in fifth (8:48.63), and Chance Higginbotham, Jon Jenkins and Ivar Golden placed 13th, 14th and 17th, respectively, in the 3,200-meter run.
MHS girls
Mathews junior Nora Suthard just missed a state championship of her own, with second- and third-place finishes in the triple jump and long jump.
Suthard had a jump of 35’7.5” in the triple jump, edged out by Eastside’s Jocelyn Aldrich (36’1.5”) for the state crown. She had a leap of 16’6.5” in the long jump to place third. Suthard also placed seventh in the high jump (4’6”).
Elizabeth Moore came in fifth in the 1,600-meter run (5:46.43), while the 4×800 relay team of Baylee Bell, Morgan Stearns, Lorena Carballo and Moore (12:09.99) placed seventh and the 4×400 team of Stearns, Carballo, Moore and Suthard (4:59.1) came in 10th place.
“Nora Suthard continues to improve and just missed winning the triple jump on a meet-winning jump in her final attempt,” coach Forrest said. “Overall, I’m very proud and happy with the teams’ performance at the state championships.”