HANDLEY GIRLS, SKYLINE BOYS WIN DISTRICT MEET

May 17, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

STEPHENS CITY — About a minute into his post-meet comments at Wednesday’s Northwestern District Track & Field Championships, Handley coach Mike McKiernan had to stop himself.

“I keep using the word ‘nice’” he said. “Let me think of another word.”

“Dominant” would certainly fit the bill.

The Judges won 12 of 16 events and set three meet records — all of which involved senior Verna Hilaire-Lee — to claim their first district meet title since 2005 Wednesday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Handley scored 160 points, 52 more than two-time defending champion and runner-up Sherando (108). On the boys’ side, Skyline claimed its first-ever district meet title with 145 points, 19 more than runner-up Sherando (126).

McKiernan couldn’t have asked for anything more, as the only events that Handley didn’t win came in the 1,600 (Millbrook’s Crystal Nelson, 5 minutes, 0.69 seconds), the high jump (James Wood’s Katie Houser, 5 feet) and the shot put and discus (Sherando’s Alaina Combs, who took the former event with a mark of 31-2 and the latter with a mark of 95-8). “I was pleased with our all-around performance,” McKiernan said. “We scored everywhere.”

Handley’s ultimate goal is a state championship, but the fact that the team’s decorated upperclassmen were able to achieve a first meant a lot to them.

“We just all thought about it, ‘Hey, we have enough girls, let’s go out there and win district,’” said Hilaire-Lee, who won all five events she entered. “This means a lot.”

Individually, Hilaire-Lee also had a day for the ages.

In a three-week span in April she broke four meet and school records that had lasted between 15 and 34 years.

On Wednesday, she broke two records that had stood since 1979, both held by Loudoun Valley’s Linda Mallory. Hilaire-Lee won the 100 with a time of 12.19 to top Mallory’s 12.24, and she captured the 200 with a time of 25.14 to top Mallory’s 25.24.

Hilaire-Lee then closed the day in style in the 4x400. She was staring at a 25-meter deficit when she took the baton as the third leg with Handley in third, but she exploded with a career-best split of 55.6 to give 400 ace Britani Myers a cushion of almost 10 meters.

Myers brought the team that also included Abby Swartz and Kiara Myers home in a time of 4:03.27, which broke the record set in 2004 by a Fauquier team that included former NCAA individual champion Sarah Bowman.

Hilaire-Lee, a member of Handley’s 2010 state champion 4x400 team, hasn’t been running the event this year, but the Judges elected to take her and Myers off the 4x100 team to maximize points. Hilaire-Lee’s glad Handley did, because the presence Wednesday of another member of that 4x400 title team got her pumped for it.

“I’ve been spending the whole meet with Caroline Crowe, and just being around her reminded me of how much I miss running the 4x400,” she said. “When it came time to run it, I just said, ‘I’m going to give it all for old time’s sake.’”

Hilaire-Lee gave everything she had in every event. In winning the long jump (17-4) and triple jump (34-9), she set personal-bests in both.

“I’m just so proud that I can make people say, ‘Wow, that was the girl that broke this record, that was the girl who caught up in the 4x4,’” Hilaire-Lee said. “I’m very happy that my name is out there in a positive way.”

Handley junior Lisa Meneau won two individual events, setting a personal-best in the 100 hurdles (15.28) and taking the 300 hurdles (45.32). She also anchored the victorious 4x100 team of Semefa Tettegah, Kiarra Myers and Lillie Matthews to a time of 51.43.

Meneau’s progress in the 100 hurdles is particularly impressive, because she rarely did the event last year.

“I like that race a lot,” Meneau said. “I didn’t think I was going to qualify for states in that one, but I picked up the three-step [in between hurdles] really quick. [The transition] was not hard. I’ve just got to accelerate in between the hurdles.”

Other Handley wins came from Myers in the 400 (58.84) and 800 (2:19.68), Ashden Personius in the 3,200 (12:01.77), and the 4x800 team (Swartz, Hannah McKiernan, Candace Nelson and Personius).

In the boys’ meet, Sherando was hoping to end an even longer district championship drought, having not won since 1999. But Skyline just proved too balanced.

“The effort was great,” Sherando coach Tom Grim said. “We just had a few disappointing results.

“Chris [Smith] didn’t do as well as we thought he would in the long jump. He didn’t make finals there. But he came back and told me he was going to do good in the 400 and the high jump, and he did. [Skyline] was just a little too good for us. They had more speed.”

Sherando got three individual wins from Devon Newman (the 400 in 51.16, the long jump in 21-4, and the triple jump in 42-2) and one from Smith (6-0 in the high jump). Smith and Newman also helped Sherando to victory in the 4x400 (3:28.72), with Seth Chewey and Ben Hatton also running on the relay.

For James Wood, John Simms successfully defended his 100 meter title with a time of 11.23, 0.42 off the meet record he set a year ago.

Wednesday was just Simms’ third meet of the season, and it was evident by the smiles that he flashed around the track that he couldn’t be happier to finally be competing in what he calls “the worst season of his high school career.”

Simms, who had each of the last two seasons end prematurely because of hamstring injuries, suffered a tendon injury in his right knee before the meet portion of the season began. He might not be back to where he was a year ago, but the spiritual Simms said he feels blessed.

“I feel real good,” said Simms when asked about how he feels about the way he’s currently running. “I feel proud of myself.”

Other winners for the Colonels were Cody Wright (2:03.82 in the 800) and the 4x800 team of Joe Davet, Mark Bohler, Dylan Wilson and Wright (8:26.05).

The throwing events were captured by Handley’s Derek Dowrey (51-9 in the shot put) and Millbrook’s Justin Neff (149-8 in the discus).

Rounding out the team scoring on the boys’ side was Handley (third with 87 points), James Wood (fourth with 84) and Millbrook (fifth with 43).

Rounding out the team scoring on the girls’ side was Millbrook (third with 107 points), James Wood (fourth with 95) and Skyline (fifth with 13).

The top five individuals and top two relays in each event advanced to next week’s Region II meet at Tuscarora High School.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.