WINCHESTER — Three-time state shot put champion Jaishaun Offutt is looking to close his career on top, and his junior Handley teammate Rylan Stribling would love nothing more to win three state titles in one day on the first weekend of June at Liberty University.
On a rainy day at Millbrook High School, Offutt and Stribling combined for four of the five titles won by local athletes at the Region 4D Track & Field Championships on Tuesday.
The senior Offutt defended his region shot put title with a mark of 55 feet, 5 inches and Stribling won the 100 in 10.86, the 200 in 22.27 and anchored the 4×100 relay team to a victory in 44.15.
The other local champion was Sherando’s Jackson Ogle (6-0 in the high jump). He helped the Warriors to second place as a team with 86 points, 22.33 behind Blacksburg (108.33). Handley placed fourth (78), James Wood was eighth (41) and Millbrook was 14th (2) in the 15-school meet.
The top four finishers in each event at the Region 4D meet and anyone who’s achieved qualifying marks and times throughout the season will participate in the Class 4 state meet on June 6-7 at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
Conditions were not ideal for anyone on Tuesday, including the people who were trying to throw the shot while also staying inside a slick circle. For example, Offutt fouled on two of his three throws in the finals.
For him, Offutt said the rain put more of a damper on the emotions of the event than the physical aspect.
“It was more like a mental thing,” said Offutt when asked about Tuesday’s conditions. “There wasn’t a lot of energy around today like there usually is when there’s good weather. I feel like the mental part had a big impact on me not throwing to my potential.”
Offutt did not approach his personal record of 58-8. But as is always the case the last two years, Offutt found himself in first place when everything was done. The two-time indoor shot put state champion and defending outdoor state champ threw 3 feet, 4 inches farther than runner-up Brandon Testa of Orange County with his second throw of the competition.
Offutt has been happy with his performance throughout the season. He’ll once again need to be at his best at the state meet. Tuscarora senior Tate Foerster — the runner-up in each of Offutt’s three state championship wins — has a whopping PR of 63-9 this season.
“He throws far and I throw far,” Offutt said. “It will be a good day to compete.”
Stribling had an issue with his back earlier this season, but he said it hasn’t been a problem since April. He opened May by placing fourth in the 100 in the prestigious Dogwood Classic behind a Class 6 runner, a Class 5 runner and a private school runner, and he closed the month out with a few more strong performances.
Stribling (PRs of 10.43 in the 100 and 21.56 in the 200) beat Salem junior Coen Logan by 0.05 in the 100, and he was so far ahead of Logan in the 200 that he decided to ease up and beat him by 0.12 in the 200.
“[Today] wasn’t my best,” Stribling said. “To be able to run 10.8 in this type of weather was good for the 100. The 200 was a little iffy, so I kind of eased up at the end. My form kind of fell apart. I knew I had the a big lead and I wasn’t going to get a big PR in this type of weather, so I just kind of went for the win.”
Handley had to got for the win and not worry about time in the 4×100 as well. It took a long time for Hassan Akanbi and Savion Thomas to complete the first exchange, leaving Handley some ground to make up against E.C. Glass. But Stribling was just about even with Glass after he got the baton from third leg Jamir Washington, and Stribling left the Hilltoppers in the dust to give Handley the win by 0.68.
“We’re all proud about [today’s win],” Stribling said. “Obviously, we’ve got things to clean up with handoffs. But other than that, we executed to the best of our ability, and it showed. We’re always willing to work.”
The Judges’ top time is 42.55 this year, and Stribling thinks Handley is capable of doing what it takes to win a state title in the event.
“If we can clean up our handoffs and get those perfected, we can definitely win [a state title],” said Stribling, who is also confident in his potential to win the 100 and 200 at the state meet.
The Judges were also led by Isaiah Baxter (second in the triple jump, 43-0), Thomas in the triple jump (third, 41-9.5) and Timmy Campbell (tied for third in high jump, 5-10).
Sherando coach Brad Symons noted his team didn’t score points in all the places it normally does, but he was proud of his team for perservering to receive a team trophy by taking second. The Warriors were in third place with 80 points to Salem’s 81 heading into the meet-concluding 4×400 relay, but the squad of Tristan Hantute-Abebe, Noah Harris, Ryan Maki and Jack Bryant placed third in 3:32.65 for six points to vault over Salem. The Spartans scored one point by placing seventh and finished the meet in third with 82 points.
“[The 4×400 team] knew what it had to do,” Symons said. “I’m proud of them.”
Harris — this year’s indoor state high jump champion and last year’s outdoor state champion — waited until the bar was at 6 feet before he started jumping and did not clear that height on his three attempts. (Harris will still compete at the state meet due to previous qualifying marks.) The Warriors’ impressive high jump depth still resulted in 23 high jump points. In addition to Ogle, Niko Walker placed second with a tiebreaker at 5-10, and Micah Carlson tied for third at 5-10.
“They all get to experience states, which is great,” said Symons of the high jumpers. “What high school athletics should be about is getting kids opportunuties, and they take advantage of them. Our guys did that in the high jump.”
The Warriors were also led by Carlson in the discus (second, 143-2), the 4×800 team of Jed Bell, Tommy Miles, Hatcher Smith and Ryan Maki (second, 8:15.39); Emerson Fletcher (third in shot put, 44-4); Sunil Dutt (third in 110 hurdles, 15.26); Hantute-Abebe in the 400 (third, 51.95); and Bell in the 800 (fourth, 2:01.21).
James Wood will send all three of its relay teams to the state meet for both the boys and girls. In the boys’ meet, the 4×400 team of Connor Kenney-Fitzner, Ivan Andrews, Trenton Manili and Jorel Baltimore placed second in 3:31.87; the 4×100 team of Andrews, Kenney-Fitzner, Baltimore and Manili placed third in 45.14; and the 4×800 squad of Nathan Reynolds, Cade Freeman, Carrick Amerine and Eli Clark took fourth in 8:28.45.
“I’m just so proud of everyone,” Colonels coach Danielle Koelker said. “We had a lot of kids individually and in the relays that were right there on the fourth-place border where we thought they could qualify for states, but you just never know how it works out.”
James Wood was also led by Clark in the 3,200 (fourth, 9:41.83) and Baltimore in the 300 hurdles (fourth, 42.05).
Millbrook’s only points were scored by its 4×100 team, which placed seventh in 47.14.
“I think the guys are working hard, and we’ve gotten so much better,” Pioneers coach Jamie McCarty said. “The 4×100 was coming together at the end of the season, and I thought they ran well considering the conditions. Peter [Warner] ran well [in the 1,600] and won his section [in 4:39.87 to place ninth overall], and I feel like if he had been in the faster section he might have had a shot [at a state berth]. I think the team is frustrated they weren’t a little bit better. But in the end, I think we’re a better team now than when we started three months ago.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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