High School

 Galax and Grayson County finished 1-2 in the boys’ standings while Narrows used an impressive individual effort to outpoint Galax in the girls’ scoring at the Mountain Empire District track and field championships Wednesday at Galax High School.

The Maroon Tide boys earned their third straight district championship, scoring well in the field events and dominating the distance races to accumulate 182 points, 49 in front of Grayson County’s 133. Fort Chiswell placed third with 69, followed by Narrows and Graham (23 each) and Bland County (1).

 ABINGDON –– Samantha Dalton and Wes Smoot each had scoring finishes in six events and Carroll County advanced a total of eight athletes to the regionals after the Southwest District track and field championships last Wednesday at Abingdon High School.

Wes Smoot won district championships in the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches) and long jump (20-03/4), placing third in the triple jump. In the sprints, Smoot finished fourth in the 400 meters, fifth in the 200 and sixth in the 100, racking up a total of 33 team points.

HILLSVILLE –– For a wide-eyed kid making the jump from eighth-grade ball straight to the varsity, it must have been nice to have one of Carroll County’s all-time greats to help ease the transition.

Though the first time around worked out pretty well for then-freshman Rachel Dalton and junior Kayla Goins, the two will have a chance at a do-over this fall.

Dalton will join Goins on the Ferrum College women’s basketball team, making known her intentions recently at Carroll County High School.

WARDELL –– Partial-strength was stout enough for Carroll County.

Seemingly unaffected by the final effects of last week’s brouhaha at Tazewell, Carroll County dealt quite ably with the absence of one-third of its lineup for Monday’s game at Richlands, jumping on the Blue Tornado early and breezing to a 7-1 Southwest District win at Southwest Virginia Community College.