The first ever Carroll County Diamond Youth 11-12 year homerun derby was a huge success.
We had over 20 kids come and participate. The final four were Connor Lineberry, Will Motley, Mason Quesenberry and Alex Hawks. Dane Austin participated in the homerun contest and then volunteered to catch for the final 2 rounds.
The final round was Mason Quesenberry and Will Motley. Mason edged Will in the final round to capture the first place trophy. New Carroll County Varsity baseball coach, Casey Burcham was on hand to present the winners with their trophies.
It was great to see some of the younger kids and even quite a few high school kids there to field the balls and cheer on the kids.
This story is part one of a two part story designed to let non-Track and Field fans appreciate the efforts of Brayden Smoot and Corrie Delp. Part one will focus on the Smoot Family 👪 after Brayden competed today and tomorrow will focus on Delp and her family 👪.
LYNCHBURG – Track and Field is one of the sports, especially at the High School level, where an athlete is alone on an Island. There is no hope of a teammate picking you up with their efforts as there is in say Football or Basketball. Track participants fail or succeed based solely on the amount of time and energy they are willing to commit to their craft. The coaches can assist you in many ways but at the end of the day its about heart and desire.
Brayden Smoot never has an off season, even at the round table discussion tonight after his performance he laughed about the fact that Basketball workouts start up on Monday. Smoot competes in a number of events for Head Coach Shawn Montgomery including both individual events and relay races.
The event that allowed Smoot to perform today on the campus of Liberty University was the 100 meter dash. The top sprinters from across the Commonwealth earn the right to compete for one of eight spots in the finals on Saturday.
The task at hand was each runner had to win their heat (seven in total) with the last spot going to the runner that had the best time out of the remaining forty plus runners.
Smoot drew lane one in heat three and that was a story in itself. Lane one is next to the sand pit for the Triple jump and there was noticeable sand all over lane one. By the end of the conversation we had Smoot having to run through the desert 🏜 while the others ran on a fast track.
Smoot eventually was able to have his turn in the blocks at roughly 4:30pm, roughly seven and one half hour after walking out his front door.
The time the rising Senior posted was just above his PR ( personal record ) and he finished fourth in his heat.
That is .0400 of a second between getting invited back and have your season come to a close. Most of the runners competing finished slightly higher than their PR and Coach Montgomery offered a theory on those results.
” When you factor in the amount of miles everyone has to drive to get here and then in the preliminary events you get minimal warm ups and just one shot at your race,” Montgomery noted. ” The athletes in the other events get three opportunities and can use their best result.”
Montgomery went on to add his thoughts on what Smoot means to his program.
” Brayden is a hard worker and our quiet leader,” added Montgomery. ” Always does extra to get better.”
Smoot was quick to answer yes to the question as to whether he would continue to monitor the results in his events tomorrow.
” I wouldn’t have been able to make it to this point without the support of my coaches, my parents, my teammates and my brother Bryce,” said Smoot. ” The effort that you have to put into track versus say football is very, very different. In track it just comes down to how bad you want it.”
Both of the proud parents and twin brother were offered an opportunity to share their thoughts about what the witnessed.
” When Brayden was telling me Mom I’m going up against the fastest boys in the state of VA, I told him son, the fastest boys in the state of Virginia are going up against you! , “
Russell Smoot was equally proud of Brayden and shared his thoughts about the level of commitment it takes to succeed.
” The amount of practice on your own that you have to be willing to commit to for an athlete to make it to Lynchburg is incredible,” Smoot said. ” I wish people could understand how much effort went into today taking place.”
Trying to make sure that Bryce had an opportunity to praise his twin brother I presented the question how old were you when you realized Brayden was faster than you?
” I will let you know if that ever happens,” Bryce Smoot replied. A brothers love is something special!
Tomorrow we will focus on the effort of Corrie Delp.
The facilities at Liberty University are Top Shelf and being here always brings back pleasant memories for me. My oldest Daughter graduated 🎓 from LU, earned her Masters at LU and finally began her teaching career here.
Today we look to celebrate the accomplishments of Junior Brayden Smoot and Sophomore Corrie Delp us the efforts of their Coaches, Shawn Montgomery and Jon Delp.
It’s approaching 1:30 now and our group should be arriving shortly. Corrie is not set to compete until tomorrow but Brayden runs his preliminary heat just after 4pm today.
The running 🏃♂️ post will be ongoing throughout the Day and you are welcome to check back as you please!
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Proof that we exist !
The challenge ahead of Brayden is this – there are seven heats in his event and to make the finals one has to either win the heat or be the fastest runner 🏃♂️ up out of the balance of the field. Top 8 total get invited back for Saturday.
It’s 3:40 pm now so we are getting closer !!!
Brayden is finishing up his third season competing for the CCHS Track 👣 and Field program.
Brayden is now in the equivalent of Baseballs In the Hole 🕳.
Class 3 – 100 yard dash Girls next up
Blue Ridge Timing.com
It’s 4:11 now and there are still three heats in the Girls event before the Boys get in the blocks..
4:20 pm – Boys 👦 Class 3 100 Meter Dash trials. Heat #1
Brayden is in Lane #1 / Heat #3
Next up :
The heat has been completed and here’s where we go from here. Because the story today is about and for the Smoot family 👪 they have each been given a homework assignment. Mom, Dad, Son and Coach Montgomery will each have the opportunity to submit a thought on the season that Brayden Smoot just completed so we can properly tell the story about the three months he just dedicated for his race 🏁 today.
Once we have that gathered I will pen 🖊 a story worthy of Brayden!
The lobby is rather quiet at the moment but late last night 🌙 and early this morning 🌄 it was full of two things, Student Athletes and Dreams !
I am sure that there are a number of Hotels scattered throughout the city of Lynchburg that have / had similar scenes ahead of the Class 3 and Class 4 event about to get underway shortly.
It’s 11am now and back on The Hill people are gathering to send off our qualifiers and I hope 🙏 that its a great turnout. Hoping this for both the Coaches and the Athletes.
Shawn Montgomery and Jon Delp are a hard working duo far removed from the spotlight on most days. Today is their day and I flash back to our conversation last year when we sent two Cavaliers to the State Meet (Corrie Delp and Elijah Smith). Coach said to me that two this year could lead to four next year.
It turned out that it did indeed become four but sadly two of the four will not be able to make the Trek.
Photo 📷 credit to Donna Nester
Davis Reitzel took up the 300 Hurdles recently and did it in such a manner that he punched his ticket 🎟 to Lynchburg at the Regional meet last week. Reitzel is quite possibly the most well rounded Athlete on The Hill and its a shame that folks up here won’t be able to see him on the Grand Stage but he is currently on Vacation with his Family over in Europe.
Alyssa Ervin, like Reitzel is another multi talented Athlete and also picked up a track hobby this Spring. Her event that qualified for State was the High Jump. It was disappointing to hear that a recent injury will keep her away from Lynchburg today. When I heard about this my first thought was I hope it didn’t happen while she was competing in Track and I was relieved to hear it was in the Gym.
That covers the duo that are not currently on the 2+ hour commute to LU. Now we can turn on focus to the pair that are heading this way.
Brayden Smoot is another 3-Sport Athlete that wears our colors all year long. Football, Basketball and Track 👣 and the young man excells in all of them.
Last season Smoot missed making the trek by the equivalent of an eye lash so it was exciting for me to hear about the day he punched his ticket 🎟 earlier this spring.
Coach Montgomery just notified me that his attempt to make the Finals has been moved from 3:40 back to 4:10 today. The preliminary races 🏁 will set the field for the Class 3 Finals to be held tomorrow.
That leaves our Super Soph, Corrie Delp. Corrie is heading here for the second consecutive year and will be competing in the Long Jump once again.
Delp is the one of this foursome that might be a Track athlete that plays other sports in her down time. Volleyball 🏐 and Basketball 🏀, both at the Varsity level this season and she would also star 🌟 on our Gymnastics team if we had one. Back Flips are another one of her many talents.
It was a treat to play a small role with the Track 👣 and Field teams this season by lending my voice to the home events. It will be an honor to greet these folks up here in a bit !
Pretty sure that Shawn Montgomery is the hardest working man in all of showbiz !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 