NWD Track and Field

Posted: May 16, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — As Handley track and field coach Mike McKiernan stood near the tent by the finish line at the Handley Bowl, someone floated the term “genius” at him for putting together a lineup that was able to beat Sherando’s formidable girls’ team.

McKiernan was having none of that though. He knew all the planning in the world wouldn’t mean a thing without effort, and he couldn’t imagine getting any more from his athletes as Handley swept the boys’ and girls’ titles Wednesday at the Northwestern District Track & Field Meet.

“Everybody stepped up on both the boys’ and girls’ side and really competed well,” McKiernan said. “And we knew this was the last Northwestern District meet [before conference competition begins next year], and so we told them we wanted to do everything we can to maximize points to win it.

“It really was a team effort. We said on Monday, ‘Wednesday’s going to be a busy day for a lot of you, you just have to tough it out.’ I’m really proud. Lisa [Meneau] and Dontae [Mauck] were obvious workhorses, but we spread a lot of kids thin today. We asked a lot of them, and they delivered.”

Led by triple individual winners Meneau (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and the long jump in her first time doing it) and freshman Alysandra Worrell (100, 200 and 400), Handley repeated as district champions with 151 points to edge Sherando (144). James Wood was third with 104, Millbrook was fourth with 82, and Skyline was fifth with 6.

In the boys’ meet, Handley — led by double individual winners and sophomores Dontae Mauck (100, long jump) and Justin Washington (200, 400) won its first district title in seven years with 175 points, 70 more than runner-up James Wood (105). Millbrook was third with 96, Sherando was fourth with 83 and Skyline was fifth with 30.

Though the Handley boys were impressive, the Judges girls needed just about everything to go perfectly to beat Sherando, which won the district regular season as well as three large invitational meets this season.

McKiernan said Handley started to put together a plan to maximize points for the district meet after the Apple Blossom Invitational on April 27, and a couple of prominent moves included taking Worrell out of the 4x100 (which the Judges still won) so she could do the 400 and having Meneau try her hand at the long jump.

McKiernan also said it was key to see the 4x800 team of Megan Gaynor, Hannah McKiernan, Candace Nelson and Abby Swartz pull off a surprise win in the 4x800 (10:24.34) and have people like freshman Melanie Canfield (fourth in the high jump) add unexpected points.

Though Meneau hadn’t done the high jump before Wednesday, perhaps her performance shouldn’t have been a surprise given her athleticism and competitiveness.

Meneau had never even done the long jump in practice before and won’t do it again, but the senior recorded a state-qualifying jump of 16 feet, 101/2 inches on her second-to-last jump to edge Sherando’s Angelique Matthews, whose 16-9 led the event after the preliminary round.

“It didn’t feel right at first,” said Meneau of her new event. “But I listened to my coaches about extending my legs and tried to be coachable.

“I was totally surprised I won. I didn’t even think I would place, but I was up for the challenge. When I knew I was behind, that’s when I got competitive. It was like, ‘I’ve got to jump farther.’”

Meneau went on to run a season-best time of 15.02 seconds to win the 100 hurdles and a 43.67 to win the 300 hurdles. Upon finishing the 300 hurdles she went up into the stands to chat with her coach at the University of Maryland next year, Andrew Valmon, who also served as the head coach for the U.S. Olympic track and field team at the 2012 London Olympics.

“I kept trying to find him in the stands [during the meet],” Meneau said. “It means a lot that he drove two and a half hours to come see me.”

And Meneau — who ended her day by anchoring the 4x400 team of Kiarra Myers, Miriah Smith and Swartz to victory in 4:11.78 — said it definitely meant a lot to capture the team title.

“It’s my last districts ever, and it feels good,” Meneau said.

Worrell won the 100 in 13.20 seconds, the 200 in 27.69 and the 400 in 1:02.53.

“I was hoping [I can win all three],” she said. “My coaches and my mom and my dad all cheered me on, and that helped me.”

The Judges 4x100 team featured Hannah Long, Semefah Tettegah, Smith and Alexis Zygmunt (52.78).

Sherando coach Tom Grim noted that the Warriors’ strength is in their depth, and in a small meet like the Northwestern it could be hard to combat a team with athletes who can win multiple events like Handley has. The Warriors were also without McKayla Jackson, who Grim figures would have scored high in the 400 meters, because of injury.

Still, he appreciated their effort.

“I’m real proud of my girls,” he said. “They did a heck of a job.”

Chief among them was junior Alaina Combs, who repeated as district champion in both the shot put (34-6, a personal-best) and the discus (109-0). Combs also won shot at districts as a freshman.

Combs scratched on her first two attempts in the discus, but throwing coach Mike Marsh got her to relax and record a 100-2 to get into the finals. She then passed teammate Rachel Dixon (104-3) on her second-to-last throw.

“That’s [four] inches away from state qualifying, so I’m pretty proud of that,” she said. “I was feeling it during warmups in shot put. My second attempt, my shot put just felt like a feather. When I walked out to the mark, my parents were screaming, and when the official said the measurement (34-1) I got really excited. Then I PR’d on my last throw, so I’m really proud of myself today.”

Other girls winners were Sherando’s Nisha Moore in the 800 (2:21.40), James Wood’s Katie Houser in the high jump (5-0) and triple jump (34-5) and Amber Hawkins in the 1,600 (5:30.50), and Millbrook’s Nadia Dahimene in the 3,200 (12:09.23).

As McKiernan said, Mauck was a workhorse for the Handley boys, doing six events.

He qualified for states by winning the 100 in 11.39, the long jump in 21-61/2, and by taking second in the 200 to Justin Washington (22.47 to 22.48). He also ran a leg on the 4x100 team that set the only meet record (43.04, to break Fauquier’s mark of 43.24 in 2004) even though anchor leg Mauck almost came to a complete stop before taking the baton from Kyrell Davis, and Mauck placed third in the high jump and triple jump.

“We had high expectations of what we could do, so we just went out and competed,” said Mauck of his team’s overall performance. “And I just tried my hardest today.”

Washington ran a 51.39 in the 400, Washington and Stuart Carper joined Davis and Mauck on the 4x100 team, and the Judges’ other winners were Darion Robinson in the high jump (6-2) and Jordan Dowrey in the shot put (44-81/2).

James Wood’s winners were Owen Bales in the 110 hurdles (16.09 seconds), Danny Aldstadt in the 3,200 (10:03.35) and Matt Vitagliano in the triple jump (42-5).

Millbrook had some boys put up remarkable performances. Justin Neff (second in Group AA last year) threw a career-best 165-8 to take the discus, and freshman Tyler Cox-Philyaw once again showed he’ll be a force for years to come.

With Aldstadt a couple steps behind him the entire way in the 1,600, Cox-Philyaw finished strong to beat him by 0.62 with a personal-best 4:27.61, and in the 800 he waited behind Sherando’s Seth Chewey before passing him at the top of the final straightaway to win by 1.54 seconds in a personal-best 1:59.94.

“I didn’t feel like I was going to win today [in the 800],” he said. “I felt on top of the world after the mile, and to win the 800 was just icing on the cake. This is incredible.”

Connor Faint also won the 300 hurdles for Millbrook (41.24).

Sherando’s Chris Smith — the reigning Group AA high jump champion — did not compete Wednesday because of a hamstring injury suffered last week. The Warriors did win the 4x400 (Chewey, Trevor Whiteside, Ryan Hindle and Daniel Snapp in 3:33.15) and the 4x800 (Nathan Camper, Justin Hammer, James Reese, Noel Weber in 8:49.61).

The top five individuals and top two relays, as well as others who have reached qualifying standards, will go to next week’s Region II meet at Fluvanna County. More detailed results will be in Friday’s edition.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on Twitter @WinStarSports1