WINCHESTER — After handing off the baton for the final exchange in the 4×100-meter relay, Handley High School’s Jamir Washington let out a noise and made a launching motion with his arms.
There would be no catching the missile-fast Rylan Stribling in that race. And there would be no squad that came close to staying with the entirety of the Judges boys’ track & field team in Saturday’s Handley Invitational.
The Judges won their own meet for the first time since 2015 by scoring 82.3 points, 16.8 more than runner-up Fauquier (66.5) in the 26-team meet.
The Judges took ownership of the sprints and field events, scoring 80.3 points in the 100, 4×100, shot put, triple jump, pole vault (the Judges won each of those five events), long jump and high jump.
Handley school record holders Stribling (ran the 100 in 10.82 seconds to win by 0.22) and Jaishaun Offutt (set a new personal record in the shot put of 58 feet, 9 inches to win by 9-6) put on dominant displays. The 4×100 team of Hassan Akanbi, Savion Thomas, Washington and Stribling also crushed the competition (won by 1.11 in 42.56). Gavin Williams (a pole vault win with a PR of 11-6 to win by six inches) and Isaiah Baxter (a triple jump win with a PR of 43-2.5 to beat Thomas by a half-inch) emerged on top in close competitions.
“We definitely rose to the occasion,” said Judges first-year head coach and former assistant Lloyd Phillips. “We had a lot of good performances, some big PRs. I’m just happy with the overall performance. I know we’ve got a lot of talent. But it’s one thing to have talent. Can you produce when it matters? This is just the first step. We’ll see what happens [the rest of the year].”
Led by Field MVP and high jump winner Noah Harris, Sherando was third with 61 points. James Wood placed 13th with 26 points and Millbrook tied for 22nd with 4.
The junior Stribling was not 100 percent on Saturday due to a back issue, but he had a day anyone would take in a heartbeat. His 100 time was the second best of his career, and his 200 time in which he took second in 21.84 was also his second best. He was just 0.04 behind Track MVP Jack Manfredi of Potomac Falls, who caught Stribling with a late push. Manfredi also won the 400 (48.11).
Stribling was coming off a historic performance the previous weekend at the Patriot Invitational in Nokesville. He broke the school records in the 100 (10.59) and 200 (21.75) set by Dontae Mauck in 2015 by recording marks of 10.43 and 21.59, respectively.
Stribling’s best times as a sophomore in those events were 10.92 in the 100 (he placed seventh in Class 4) and 22.90 in the 200.
Stribling said Handley is putting more emphasis on workouts that develop speed as opposed to workouts that help with endurance, and he added those sessions have made a difference. Stribling is doing things like wicket drills (sprinting over small hurdles) and lifting more weights in a faster motion, which helps with his twitch muscle fibers.
Stribling also has shown he can beat elite competition. He won the Class 4 indoor 55 title for the first state championship of his career this winter.
“It was great,” Stribling said. “I loved it. Going from barely breaking [6.80] to 6.39 and breaking records, I really enjoyed it. I’m glad I let that confidence from winning states carry me into outdoor, and that I’ve started off hot.”
Stribling said the competition at Patriot — a Class 6 school — helped bring out his best at that meet. Josh Johnson of Class 6 Freedom (South Riding) ran a 10.16 to win the 100, with Stribling taking second.
“I’ve been wanting opportunities like that, to race against people who are fast,” Stribling said. “People like [Johnson] just push me to run even better.”
Stribling didn’t get too much of a push from the rest of the field in the 100, but he overcame that and the back problem he first experienced after the Patriot meet. In the 200, Stribling said his form started to fall apart after he came off the curve because of his back.
“I wanted to run here for a home meet,” Stribling said. “I was ready to fight through it.”
In between, Stribling and his teammates dominated in the 4×100.
“I think we can break records,” Stribling said. “I think we can win states. I think we can go a long ways with our relay. The way we’ve all gotten faster and the way we’re building chemistry with our handoffs getting better, I think we can really go far.”
Phillips said the Judges will focus on making sure Stribling is healthy for the postseason. He’s looking forward to seeing what Stribling and the rest of the 4×100 team can do.
“They’re hungry,” Phillips said. “They want to get better. Rylan’s kind of setting the tone, and all the other guys are kind of following the lead. Hopefully, we can keep pushing, get the school record, and do something special at states.”
No area boy has been more special in state competition than Offutt. He won his third state title and second indoor championship this winter in the shot put despite being busy with Handley’s run to the state basketball tournament.
“Who wouldn’t want to win another state championship?” said Offutt, who will play football for Wake Forest University next year. “It’s hard to win one, and it’s also hard to defend when you’re competing against the top throwers in the state. I was excited I was able to get my third ring.”
On Saturday, Offutt had the best throw of his career yet. He was actually hoping for the meet record of 62-5 set in 1992, but he’ll take the PR progression. Offutt threw a 57-2.5 in outdoor track last year for his previous best.
“I’ve been trying to get 60 for a long time,” Offutt said. “I’m always trying to improve. I’m trying to work on getting across the circle and rotating all the way through. It’s hard to really fix a lot when you’re already throwing far, but there’s small things you can always fix.”
Phillips likes what Baxter and Thomas are doing in the jumps. Baxter and Thomas both improved on their seed marks after being seeded seventh and fourth, respectively, and Thomas took second in the long jump with a 22-0.
“Coach [Roy] Ferri has been doing a really good job of not overworking them,” Phillips said. “Isaiah triple jumped last year, but he was kind of banged up a little bit. Savion hadn’t jumped until this year. He’s kind of accepted the challenge and took it on for the team to do well. I’m excited for him.”
Other scoring performances for Handley came from Carson Green (sixth in the shot put, 46-2); Akanbi (tied for sixth in the high jump, 5-10, eighth in the 100, 11.26); Brock Ashe (seventh in the 300 hurdles, 42.60); and Aleczander Dunn (tied for eighth in the pole vault, 9-0).
A state high jump champion in outdoor track last year and indoor track this year, Sherando’s Harris won Saturday’s competition by two inches with a mark of 6-6. He also placed seventh in the triple jump (40-5.5).
The Warriors were also led by their victorious 4×800 team (Quintin Priest, Chester Konisiewicz, Owen Leatch and Sebastian Berrios won by 0.7 over Oakdale in 8:46.27); Quincy Walker (third in shot put, 47-9); Micah Carlson (fourth in discus, 142-6, sixth in triple jump, 40-10); Jed Bell (fourth in 800, 1:59.36); Emerson Fletcher (fifth in shot put, 46-4); Tristan Hantute-Abebe (sixth in 200, 22.64); the 4×100 team (sixth, 44.67); and the 4×400 team (sixth, 3:36.57).
James Wood was paced by Jorel Baltimore (third in 110 hurdles, 15.27, fourth in 300 hurdles, 41.63); the 4×400 team of Conner Kenney-Fitzner, Ivan Andrews, Baltimore and Trenton Manili (third, 3:32.28); and Jude Miller (fourth in shot put, 47-3).
All of Millbrook’s points were scored by Peter Warner in the 1,600 (fifth, 4:34.70).
The second edition of the invitational mile was captured by Broadway senior Triston Yoder, the Class 3 cross country state champion, Gatorade Virginia XC Runner of the Year, and indoor 3,200 state champion. Yoder ran a time of 4:14.69 to beat St. Anne’s-Belfield School junior Quinn Eliason (4:18.27) by more than three seconds and beat Ty Blair of Loudoun Valley’s winning time from last year by nearly five seconds. The only local runner in the event was James Wood senior Eli Clark, who placed ninth in 4:31.65.
For more coverage of Saturday’s meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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