LYNCHBURG — On April 23, Handley junior Timmy Campbell leapt higher than he ever had before by clearing 6 feet, 6 inches in a home quad meet.
It didn’t sit well with him that he hadn’t reached that mark since. With the pressure about as high as it gets, Campbell picked the perfect time to peak and add to Handley’s stellar high jump history.
After the standard competition didn’t produce a champion and finished with three athletes at 6-5 with one total miss each, Campbell cleared 6-7 in a jump off to win the high jump title on Friday at the Virginia High School League Class 4 state track & field meet at Liberty University.
“[The Handley quad] showed me what I could jump,” said Campbell in a phone interview on Saturday. “It also set a bar, because I wasn’t jumping that great the second half of the season after the 6-6. It kind of motivated me a little bit more at states.”
Campbell was the only local boys’ state champion in a meet that saw only four Winchester-Frederick County boys score points. Handley senior Rylan Stribling — the 2025 Class 4 champion in the 100 and 200 — was unable to compete in Friday’s preliminaries after aggravating a hamstring injury at the Region 4D meet.
In the team competion, Churchland scored 68 points to beat runner-up Charlottesville (52) by 16 points. Handley tied for 15th (16 points) and Sherando tied for 32nd (4). James Wood did not score and Millbrook did not have participants.
Part of the reason why Campbell’s performance wasn’t as sharp in the second half of the season was because he wasn’t healthy. Campbell said he was diagnosed with “jumper’s knee” on May 13, two days before the Northwestern District meet at Sherando. Also known as patellar tendinitis, Campbell had injured the tendon that connects the kneecap to the shinbone.
Campbell sat out the district meet — Handley jumps coach Mike McKiernan favored Campbell attending his sister’s college graduation anyway regardless of injury — and rested for about 10 days. Unfortunately for Campbell, he didn’t get great preparation for the state meet. Rain fell at its heaviest while the high jump was taking place at the Region 4D meet, and his top mark was 6-0 for second place.
Campbell said McKiernan — the Judges former head coach who has now guided five Judges to 12 indoor and outdoor state since 2011 — helped him prepare mentally and physically for the state meet. Campbell said the rest prior to the region meet might have helped him close the season as strong as he did.
On Friday, Campbell passed on the opening height of 5-11, then got some nerves out of the way by clearing 6-1 on his first attempt. He missed his first attempt at 6-3, got it on his second, then cleared 6-5 on his first attempt.
Four people then proceeded to miss all three of their attempts at 6-7. Raymond Taylor of Charlottesville — who won the Region 4D title with a 6-4 — wasn’t eligible for the jump off since he had missed three total attempts prior to 6-7 during the competition.
The other participants in the jump off were Hampton’s Davion Perry and Caroline’s Tavare Terrell. Campbell got to go after each of them because he was seeded higher. After they each missed at 6-7, Campbell won the state title by clearing the bar at that height.
“It felt really good,” Campbell said. “That was my new PR. I knew I could do it, and Coach McKiernan was on the sideline telling me I could do it. Looking back, I have my head back and hips up. As soon as I landed on the mat, I stood up. I got really excited.”
Campbell tied for sixth at the state indoor meet this year with a mark of 6-0, and tied for eighth at last year’s outdoor meet (6-0).
“I just want to thank all the coaches, especially McKiernan, and also coach [Jeff] Beard, [head] coach [Lloyd Philips], and coach [David] Massey, and all the other high jumpers,” Campbell said.
Phillips couldn’t be happier for Campbell.
“The consistency and the hard work he’s put into his craft, he deserves this,” Phillips said. “He kind of had a lull, but he’s an even-keeled guy. He’s never too high or too low. I think him having [that quality], that really helped him with the jump off and helped him this year.
“Once we kind of figured out [the jumper’s knee], we took him back a little bit and allowed him to get healthy instead of trying to double down on things. I think that was really beneficial. In this last week, his knee was starting to feel better, and we figured he would have a good day.”
Phillips wishes Stribling had a chance to join Campbell as a gold medalist.
Stribling’s best career times of 10.43 in the 100 and 21.21 in the 200 are each better than what Spotsylvania freshman Landon Josephs won with on Saturday (10.65 and 21.23, respectively). Phillips said Stribling — who will run for the University of Virginia next year — let him know on Tuesday he wouldn’t be able to run at the state meet.
“It sucks that it had to end this way,” Phillips said. “For all that he’s done for the program … he’s the best male sprinter in Handley history. He’s got great things ahead of him, and he wanted to focus on that. I commend him for it.”
Also scoring points for Handley were Will Thomas (fifth in 800, 1:58.81) and Brock Ashe (seventh in 300 hurdles, 40.01). Thomas also placed 11th in the 3,200 (9:45.77) and Ashe was 14th in the 110 hurdles (15.65).
Also for the Judges, Gavin Williams placed 10th in the pole vault (12-0), the 4×800 team of Halston Wright, Noah Meleason, Avery Miller and Thomas placed 12th (8:15.67), and Isaiah Baxter took 15th in the triple jump (42-2).
Distance runner Everett Otto wasn’t able to participate due to a trip. Carson Green qualified in the shot put but had another commitment, and Triston Darling qualified in the discus but had a football camp to attend.
Sherando senior Jackson Ogle placed fifth in the triple jump with a personal record of 44-3, an eight-inch improvement. He also tied his season PR in the high jump on Friday to place 12h (6-1) and placed 13th in the long jump with a 20-11.25.
Ogle’s best triple jump attempt was his second to last.
“I was just thinking that it was one of my last jumps, and I might as well go after it,” Ogle said. “[In Saturday’s long jump], I was a little sore [from Friday], but I just tried my best in everything I did this weekend.”
Saturday concuded a career that saw Ogle excel in basketball, football and track for the Warriors.
“It’s been great,” Ogle said. “I’m thankful for the coaches who helped me throughout all of it.”
Also for Sherando, Tate Martin placed 13th in the shot put with a mark of 47-2.75.
James Wood’s state participants were Duncan Stanton (ninth in 110 hurdles, 15.18); Jorel Baltimore (11th in 110 hurdles, 15.28, 14th in 300 hurdles, 42.66); and the 4×400 relay team of Ivan Andrews, Riley Malone, Baltimore and Connor Kenney-Fitzner (21st, 3:34.18).
For more meet coverage, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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