LYNCHBURG — After the Region 4D track & field meet, Handley High School’s Rylan Stribling felt confident he would win both the 100- and 200 meters at the Class 4 state meet.
No one came close to denying him of that goal on Saturday at Liberty University.
The junior won the 100 meters by two-tenths of a second in 10.75 seconds, then won the 200 by 0.23 in a personal-record time of 21.21. Stribling — the only local boys’ Class 4 state champion this weekend — also anchored the fourth-place 4×100 team in leading the Judges to third place out of 37 scoring teams.
The first two outdoor state titles of Stribling’s career now gives him three total. He also won the 55 indoor title this year.
Stribling has run faster in the 100 than he did Saturday — his PR is 10.43, and he ran 10.52 in Friday’s prelims for the fastest qualifiying time — but he entered new territory with his 200. He came into the meet with a PR of 21.56, improved it to 21.46 in Friday’s prelims for the fastest-qualifying time, then dusted his old school-record mark and the field on Saturday.
“I was expecting maybe 21.3,” Stribling said. “I knew I was going to run something good based off prelims, but [not that]. I’m just happy that all the hard work in practice paid off. All the technique I’ve been practicing, I was able to execute it to the way I wanted, so I’m very happy.”
The Judges finished only behind Jamestown (63) and Atlee (59) in the team standings with 48.5 points. Sherando placed 15th with 17.5 points and James Wood was 34th with 2.
Stribling said he didn’t get out of the blocks as well as he wanted to in prelims, but he was plenty satisfied on Saturday.
“Today, I was able to put [my start and the straightaway] together, and the results showed,” Stribling said.
Stribling said his drive phase — the portion of the race in which he reaches maximum speed — was key for him.
“In the 100, what I’ve been focusing on these past couple of weeks is holding my drive phase, being powerful and strong through it, and holding it for about 30 meters or so,” Stribling said. “Being able to execute that, I’m very excited about that.”
Handley coach Lloyd Phillips liked what he saw.
“We always talk about saving your best for last, for this day,” Phillips said. “I think he did his best today. His 100, he executed perfectly. The wind was a little against him, so that took his time down. He ran a great time, and he separated after [Friday] was kind of tight. The 200 was a MasterClass. Anytime you run 21.2, you can’t be mad at that. That’s an awesome time.
“I’m beyond excited for him. He’s a hard worker, so I’m glad he got to have this moment.”
Stribling also helped the 4×100 team achieve a season-best time of 42.30, an improvement of 42.55. Akanbi, senior Savion Thomas and junior Jamir Washington ran the first three legs.
The Judges might have run faster with more competition. They were seeded ninth and were not in the fast heat. Handley still won its heat and beat five of the teams in the top heat. Phillips said it might have been tough to catch Courtland’s 41.75, but second-place Salem was just 0.14 ahead of the Judges.
“I think if we were in that heat, we would have won,” Stribling said. “I’m just being confident. But we did the best we could with the heat that we ran and we got a good PR, so I’ll take that this year.”
Confidence in himself is part of why Stribling is where’s at in his sprinting career. Overall, Stribling feels he’s definitely come a long way in the past year. His top times were 10.92 in the 100 and 22.90 in the 200 last year. He placed seventh in Class 4 in the 100 and did not qualify for the state meet in the 200.
“This season was definitely something special,” Stribling said. “I wasn’t really expecting the times I ran this year. Coming off a 10.9, I was hoping maybe 10.7, 10.6. But I’ve learned to not really set limits for myself, because I always succeed higher than them.”
Akanbi — who will play junior college football next year at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania — did everything he could to win a state title himself with PRs in both the high jump and long jump, but he had to settle for second in both events.
In the high jump, Akanbi felt he was in a slump at one point this year. But he set a new PR by recording a 6-7 to win the event at the Lake Braddock Invitational on May 10.
“That gave me the motivation to just keep going, keep fighting,” Akanbi said.
Akanbi needed that spirit in Friday’s high jump. He was in danger of an early exit after misssing his first two attempts at 6-2.
“I was getting scared,” Akanbi said. “But I had to keep confidence up. Once I cleared 6-2, it was like, ‘All right, we’re good.’ We passed the hard part, now it’s time to really compete.”
Akanbi missed his first attempt at 6-4, but after making his second he cleared 6-6 and 6-8 on his first attempts. Unfortunately for Akanbi, that miss at 6-4 cost him (and the misses at 6-2 would have cost him as well). State champion Josh Seifert of Hanover was perfect until the bar got to 6-10, so he won on the tiebreaker at 6-4. Seifert came in tied for the No. 2 seed with Sherando senior Noah Harris at 6-6 behind Akanbi.
“I kind of blacked out [after I got 6-8],” Akanbi said. “It was kind of a special moment. I was like, ‘I really got over it.’ But I didn’t get to enjoy it as much because I knew there was somebody ahead of me.”
In the long jump, Akanbi had the lead to himself after he recorded a mark of 23 feet, 0.25 inches on his second attempt. Akanbi — who came in as the fourth seed with a mark of 22-10 — screamed after he heard the mark.
But on the first jump of finals, Devin Roose of Patrick Henry (Ashland) leapt 23-2.5 to take the lead, and that lead held up.
“I thought [23] was going to be enough,” Akanbi said. “That was my goal to get that. It’s unfortunate that somebody beat me once again. But I got my goal, so I’m not really upset about it. It was still a great experience.”
Phillips said Akanbi should hold his head high.
“He’s a state champion in my book,” Philips said. “He PRed and he competed. He gave himself the best opportunity to win. It didn’t work in his favor, but he helped our team out in a big way today, bringing home [17.25] points. I couldn’t ask for anything more from him.”
Akanbi was injured most of last spring, so he was glad he was able to show what he’s fully cabable of in track & field this spring.
“This season was great,” Akanbi said. “It was one of a kind for me. It was special, just because I was able to compete all season without any injuries.”
Defending Class 4 champion and Handley senior Jaishaun Offutt took third in the shot put on Friday. Offutt — also a two-time state indoor champion — recorded a 57-1 after coming in with a seed mark of 58-8. The top finishers each threw over 60 feet — Tuscarora senior Tate Foerster (62-2.5) and Orange County sophomore Brandon Testa (60-2). Offutt went to Wake Forest University to begin practicing with the football team immediately after graduation, but he was brought to Lynchburg to compete in the shot one last time.
The Judges were also led by Thomas in the long jump (eighth with a 22-0), and sophomore Timmy Campbell tied for eighth in the high jump (6-0).
Phillips said the Judges had a lot to be proud of with their team placement.
“To be able to get third is awesome,” he said.
Sherando senior Micah Carlson placed a career-high second in the discus (161-5) and tied for sixth in the high jump (6-0). The Warriors were also led by junior Sunil Dutt (fifth in the 100 hurdles in 14.93 after running 15.21 in the prelims); its 4×800 team of junior Thomas Miles, senior Ryan Maki, senior Jed Bell and junior Hatcher Smith (seventh in 8:11.18); and its 4×400 team of senior Tristan Hantute-Abebe, Maki, Harris and sophomore Jack Bryant (school-record 3:25.68 to place eighth).
Harris, the defending outdoor state champion and 2025 indoor state champion in the high jump, began competing at 6-2 on Friday but missed all three of his attempts and did not place.
James Wood’s two points were scored by junior Jorell Baltimore, who placed seventh in the 110 hurdles in 15.20 after running 14.94 in the prelims.
For more coverage of the Class 4 meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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