Girl's ABI Review

April 30, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — When talking about the decision to pull Handley star Lisa Meneau out of the 300 hurdles because of an injured ankle suffered earlier in the meet Saturday, Judges’ coach Mike McKiernan understandably said it wasn’t worth the risk to run the junior given what Handley’s main focus is this year.

“The big picture is six weeks away [at the Group AA state meet],” McKiernan said.

The thing is, if you were to look only at the times and not the calendar, you would have thought Saturday’s 44th H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Track & Field Invitational was the state meet.

Meet and school records were shattered during a 16-team competition that saw state-title contender Handley cruise to the girls’ team title by 31 points and the senior trio of Handley’s Verna Hilaire-Lee and Britani Myers and Millbrook’s Crystal Nelson shine brightest of all amidst the dark skies over James Wood’s Jerry L. Kelican Stadium.

Hilaire-Lee, who was named the most outstanding performer at last week’s Handley Invitational, picked up the Jim Casey Outstanding Performer Award. She broke a 15-year meet record to beat Group AA’s fastest returning 200 runner and win the 200 (24.80 seconds; previous record — 25.1); won the 100 in 12.45; and helped Handley break a 17-year-old meet record in winning the 4x100 (49.16; previous record 49.5). All of those times — none of which are her best this year — would have been top-four state times last year.

Myers ran on that 4x100 team before embarking on an impressive double, winning the 400 in 58.61 and improving on her school-record time to win the 800 in 2:15.39, which would have placed second in Group AA last year.

And then there’s Nelson, who ran a scintillating 1,600 (4:55.29) that was nearly two seconds better than the time that won at the state meet last year, and this despite not having anyone to push her during the race.

Nelson also threw in a school record in the 800 (2:18.59) in taking second to Myers despite a horrendous start — she wasn’t all the way up to the start line at the outset, forcing her to spend the first 150 meters running around the outside of the entire field — and anchored the 4x400 to victory in school-record time (4:09.27).

There’s no telling how those three as well as fellow state-title contenders Meneau and James Wood freshman high jumper Katie Houser will do in six weeks, but it is fair to say that complacency won’t set in during the interim.

That’s certainly the case with Handley as a team. As good as they were Saturday, the Judges know they can do better.

“We were a little flat in a few places,” McKiernan said. “Our jumps didn’t quite go as well as we wanted, and Lisa hurting her ankle was a bit of a setback.

“But overall, it was a good day. We had some great performances.”

Handley, which won its first ABI in at least 19 years, scored 86 points to runner-up Briar Woods’ 55. Millbrook was third with 53 points, James Wood was eighth (28), Clarke County was 11th (20), and Sherando was 14th (15).

The Judges also received wins from Meneau in the 100 hurdles (15.91) and Ashden Personius in the 3,200 (11:33.88).

For Handley, some of its great performances were no accident.

After looking at the meet records list, the members of the 4x100 team made it their goal to break Centreville’s 1995 record. Outside of a stumble at the finish line by Meneau in which she rolled her ankle, the race went perfectly. The team, which also featured Lillie Matthews, won by three seconds.

A stumble out of blocks by Hilaire-Lee almost cost her in the open 100.

But Hilaire-Lee started strong and finished even stronger to achieve her goal of breaking the meet record in the 200. Starting behind Briar Woods star Shaquera Leach (second in Group AA last year) on the stagger, Hilaire-Lee caught up to Leach with 50 meters to go and powered past her for the win.

“I know the time wasn’t a 24.48 like last week, but with the weather being cold and muscles tightening, I’m very proud that I accomplished the meet record,” Hilaire-Lee said. “The 200-meter, I knew it was going to be a head-to-head race. [Leach] was ahead of me coming around the turn, and then I just had an extra gear kick in and I just went for her.”

In the 800, an admittedly tired Myers also needed to kick it up a notch to come out on top. Saturday marked her first time doing the 800 after also running the 400 this season. (Only the 300 hurdles comes between the two events.)

But thanks to the strong pace set by Strasburg’s Katelyn Ayers’ on the first lap and the strong push from behind from Nelson on the second, Myers got everything she needed to break her own school-record by almost three seconds. She separated from Nelson with 150 meters and powered through the finish line.

“It’s definitely a mental thing when you run multiple races, especially really close together,” said Myers, whose 4x100 run came one event before the 400. “When you have competition, you don’t really think about how tired you are. You just think you’re going to win, so it definitely helps.”

Nelson did not have that push in the 1,600, which is what made her performance so outstanding. Ayers is one of the state’s finest distance runners regardless of group classification, but she was down 10 meters after one lap, 40 meters after two, 80 meters after three and more than 100 when Nelson crossed the finish line, at which point Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk broke into a huge smile.

After an onlooker informed Nelson of her time, she practically gasped in amazement, and when she whirled toward Shirk for confirmation, her smile got even bigger.

Nelson’s best time last year was 5:15, and her best this year was 5:03.94. Shirk felt Nelson had the chance to run about a 4:57, but neither Nelson nor Shirk expected Nelson to go quite so fast.

Shirk said Nelson’s ability to recover significantly quicker between runs during her training workouts is making a huge difference in how consistent she is with her pace in races, and the end result has been a season for the ages.

In the 3,200, her favorite and probably best event, Nelson is also just six seconds off the best time posted by 2011 state champion and Sherando graduate Krista DeCeault after running a 10:38.21 at the Wolverine Track Classic in Purcellville last week.

“We’ve been working on our finishing kick, and a lot of base training,” Nelson said. “Long distance runs and things like that, and after we finish those, we usually do some sort of speed work. I think that’s really been helping me, and of course our coaches have been pushing us all the way.

“I think [I can win a state in the 1,600]. I hope so. I know there are other great, talented girls out there who are running right around my time. It will be interesting to see, and it will be great to have competition at states.”

Joining Nelson on the winning 4x400 team was Mindy Cooper, Shelby Feliciano and Alyson Conchar. Feliciano added a win in the 300 hurdles (47.22).

Houser will also be a force to be reckoned with come the state meet as well. Though the volleyball star had never competed in track before this year, she jumped 5 feet, 4 inches at Warren County on Wednesday (5-5 won the state meet last year) and jumped 5-2 to win Saturday.

“I have really good coaches who have helped me a lot — I was at 4-6 like a month ago,” Houser said. “I like [track]. It’s a new challenge.

“It’s really cool [thinking about what I can do in the postseason], but I just think about the bar and what I can do to clear the bar.”

Clarke County was led by Miles Crosby, who took second in the triple jump (33-1), and Sherando was led by Nisha Moore, who took second in the 400 (1:01.77).

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