Girl's AA State Track Meet

Posted: June 9, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

HARRISONBURG — In 2013, Handley senior Darion Robinson decided to give track and field a try for the first time, and his season ended with him earning all-state honors in the high jump as a result of his sixth-place finish at the Group AA meet.

Like brother, like sister, apparently.

In her first year on the team, Judges sophomore Angelica Robinson earned the highest finish of any area girl as a result of tying for third with a mark of five feet in the high jump at the Group 4A state track and field meet at Harrisonburg High School.

Robinson’s feat happened on Friday, the first of two days of state-meet action, and she was pleasantly surprised that she made it occur.

“I didn’t think I was going to place at all,” said Robinson in a phone interview Saturday night. “It means a lot.”

Robinson was one of five area girls to earn individual all-state honors by placing in the top eight of their event, and there was also one relay team that was all-state.

Robinson’s main sport is basketball, a sport that older brothers Darion and KeSean have also shined in over the years. And if it wasn’t for Darion, Robinson likely wouldn’t have taken up track. She tagged along to a couple practices with him last year to give the high jump a shot, and she decided to do it for real this year.

It’s worked out pretty well. She finished second at last week’s 4A North Region meet, and she had a top jump of 5-1 coming into the state meet, good enough to seed her fifth.

But there were also nine girls right behind her with seed marks of 5-0. Only two of them were younger than her and possibly all of them were more experienced in the high jump.

But by clearing 5-0 on her first attempt, she put the pressure on most of the rest of the field.

“There were a lot of girls who still had to go after me,” Robinson said. “I just had to watch, and a lot of them [couldn’t clear 5-0].”

Chancellor junior Steffene Cheeks won with a 5-4, and Fluvanna County’s Mia Perch was second with a 5-2.

Robinson said her first year on the team definitely has her enthusiastic about her future.

“I didn’t think I’d like track as much as I do,” Robinson said. “I expect a lot out of myself in the next couple years.”

Handley coach Mike McKiernan said both of his high jumpers this weekend (Jarett Cestaro tied for seventh in the boys’ meet after coming into the meet as the 15th and lowest seed) showed great form.

“If their curve is on, they’re on,” he said. “Both of them, their approach was on. [Robinson] doesn’t particularly like the surface here, but she was really nailing her jumps. Her approach was just perfect.

“For a girl who’s just in her first year of track, and obviously first time at a state meet, I thought she did very, very well.”

Even though injuries nearly derailed them, the Handley girls delivered two other all-state performances. Senior Ashden Personius took sixth in the 3,200 meters Saturday morning in 11 minutes, 33.40 seconds, and on Friday Personius anchored the 4x800 team of sophomore Alysandra Worrell, junior Miriah Smith and senior Candace Nelson to eighth in 10:02.55.

With Personious, the calf cramps that have bothered her over the last two years flared up again in the 3,200, and she was unable to challenge Millbrook sophomore Nadia Dahimene (fifth in 11:22.26) for top honors in the area.

“About the third lap, my injury started coming back full-force,” said Personius, who was also all-state in cross country and indoor track. “I kind of had to fight through to the end. I wish it had gone a little better — a little less pain, a little smoother — but it was my last [3,200]. I was just thinking I have to do what I can.

“It’s been a good senior year. I’m sad it’s ending, but states have been great, and it’s been great running with these girls.”

The Judges didn’t have junior Abby Swartz for the 4x800 after she was diagnosed with a stress fracture Thursday, but one of the area’s best sprinters in Worrell ran just her second-ever 800 and helped the Judges finish just three seconds off their team-best time.

The area’s tradition of excellence in girls’ hurdles continued Saturday.

Sherando freshman Davina Lane ran a personal-best time of 15.34 seconds to take fourth in the 100 hurdles, and she also placed eighth in the 300 hurdles in 46.59. Millbrook junior McKenzie Schrank ran a career-best in the 300 hurdles with a 46.27 to take fifth in the 300 hurdles, and she took seventh in the 100 hurdles in 16.00 one day after running her fastest 100 hurdles time since she was a freshman in the preliminaries (15.85).

In the 100 hurdles, Lane came in with a seed time of 15.58, so she improved by 0.12 on Friday (15.46 in the preliminaries) and Saturday. She said the work she’s put in on her starts had a lot to do with that.

“I was a lot nervous [coming into this meet], but I ended up PR’ing twice,” said Lane of the 100 hurdles. “Now I know what states is, and when I come back next year hopefully, I can come and do [everything] better.”

Sherando coach Tom Grim said Lane might have taken a little too long to use her speed in the 300 hurdles, but that’s part of being a freshman competing on the state stage for the first time.

“You can’t wait in this meet,” Grim said. “If you wait in this meet, you’re done. But she was able to snag a [podium] place there and still did well. And she PR’d twice in the 100 hurdles. She had a phenomenal first year.”

Schrank said she was definitely pleased with her performance Saturday. She took sixth in the 300 hurdles at the state meet a year ago in a time that was 1.05 seconds slower, and she didn’t place in the 100 hurdles last year.

“I needed lots of focus [in the 300 hurdles],” said Schrank, who was in lane eight and couldn‘t see her competition for much of the race. “I talked to myself and said, ‘You’ve got this.’ And I think my lane placement helped me too , because I kind of like being in front of everybody. I just ran scared and think, ‘I don’t want anyone to pass me.’

“It was my last race of the season, and I just had to go get ’em. And I always want to prove the rankings wrong. I was ranked eighth, and I finished fifth.”

Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said he was extremely impressed with Schrank and Dahimene, who went out hard in the 3,200 and pulled away from the second pack that trailed the top four.

James Wood was led by junior Sarah Johnson, who placed ninth in the discus with a top throw of 103-10. Johnson was one of six James Wood athletes or relays on the girls’ and boys’ side that came within four places of earning all-state status.

“The effort the kids put in was great,” Colonels coach Matt Stegmaier said. “Sometimes it just isn’t good enough because everybody shows up with their best.

“It would have been nice to have some of those seniors in their last meet perform a little better and score, but they gave it all they had [Saturday]. We had some PRs, and we had some younger kids get their first state experience under their belts, so when they come back they’re not going to be shocked by the competition or how many kids are here, or the whole state-meet experience.”

Nansemond River won the team title with 103 points, 37 more than runner-up Phoebus (66). Millbrook tied for 17th with 10 points, Handley was 21st with 9.5, Sherando tied for 28th with 6, and James Wood did not score.

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

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1