Wood Girls Finish As Runner-Up At Apple Blossom Invite

Posted: April 27, 2015
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood senior Sarah Johnson and junior Grace Greene have been talking about representing their school strongly at the Colonels’ H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Invitational since the beginning of the season.

Once again, they did not disappoint.

The Colonels’ dynamic throwing duo swept the top two spots for both the discus and shot put to lead James Wood to second place at the 47th annual meet at Kelican Stadium.

Only Briar Woods (72 points) topped the Colonels (56) in the 21-team girls’ meet. Sherando was seventh with 29 points, Handley was 10th with 22, Millbrook tied for 14th with 11, and Clarke County did not score.

“It’s nice to be able to start a meet or get off the bus and know you’re going to score points with those girls,” said James Wood coach Matt Stegmaier about Johnson and Greene.

Johnson set personal bests in winning her specialty, the discus (119-1), and taking second in the shot put (34-4). Greene set a personal best in winning her specialty, the shot put (36-2), and she had also recorded an impressive mark of 114-7 to finish second in the discus.

Seeing Johnson and Greene set personal bests on Saturday was hardly surprising.

Both set personal bests in taking third in their specialties at last year’s Apple Blossom Invitational during a season in which both qualified for the state meet. And in their second meet of the year in 2015, in a dual meet with Strasburg that was also at James Wood, both surpassed their season bests from the 2014 season.

“This meet means a lot to us. We all love it so much,” Greene said. “In the beginning of the year, we were talking about how we had to get first and second in the throws. The fact that we came out and we both did what we wanted to do is really good. It’s just great to do it here.”

It’s been well documented how much Johnson and Greene — who each grabbed more than their share of rebounds during the basketball season — feed off each other, and that relationship was too much for the rest of the field Saturday.

The discus took place first. Already leading the competition, Johnson’s best throw was her last one.

“I just had to go for it on the last one,” said Johnson, whose best throw was a 118-2 before Saturday. “When I saw it go, I was excited. I was hoping it was 120, but it’s still a PR.

“I wasn’t expecting to improve as fast as I have this season, but [Colonels throws] coach [Jamie] Carr has been helping me and encouraging me a lot. And my teammates are really encouraging. We’re all here for each other and work with each other, and that helps a lot.”

Greene’s best throw in the shot put Saturday was her second-to-last throw.

“I was hoping for a better throw today,” said Greene, who came in with a top mark of 36-1. “I wanted to get in the 37s, but it just didn’t happen. But it’s really nice to do better than I have before.”

Greene actually had the area’s top discus throw last year at 112-4, and has a top throw of 117-9 this year. She prefers the shot, but likes her consistency in the discus.

“It’s been harder to improve in the discus, and the fact that I have by a good amount makes me feel a lot better about it,” she said.

Carr said Johnson and Greene have shown great work ethic this year.

“They’re pushing each other, and they have that desire to get better,” Carr said. “Their athleticism plays a big role too. All that has resulted in their improvement.”

James Wood had numerous other impressive accomplishments as well, with freshman Rene Rosso leading the way by placing third in the high jump (4-8), third in the triple jump (33-3) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (51.62).

“We’re happy [with second],” Stegmaier said. “Rock Ridge [which took third] got us at the Handley Invite, so we were happy to get them at ours. And we knew Briar Woods was going to be tough. They’re a 5A school, so they should probably beat a 4A school.

“We had a couple spots on the track and in the field where I think we could have done a little bit better, but even if we had our top performances we probably wouldn’t have gotten first. So I’m happy with what we did.”

Sherando was led by sophomore Davina Lane, who took second in both the 100 hurdles (15.84) and 300 hurdles (48.13) and took fifth in the 200 (27.59).

Lane was just a tenth of a second off her season-best in the 100 hurdles, and she was pleased she pushed Rock Ridge’s Ashlyn Nolan (15.56) much harder than she did after losing to her by 1.11 seconds at the Handley Invitational.

Lane seemed destined for a win in the 300 hurdles, where she was the top seed, but she hit the second-to-last hurdle hard and stumbled, allowing Briar Woods’ Jasmyn Bostic (the Jim Casey Most Outstanding Performer award winner) to pass her. To Lane’s credit though, she recovered quickly and finished in a season-best time.

“I got up to the hurdle really close before I [jumped], and I was like, ‘Oh no,’” said Lane, who did not go against Millbrook’s McKenzie Schrank, who was at DECA Nationals Saturday in Florida. “I just threw up a leg, and when I landed I was really off-balance. I thought I was going to fall. I didn’t think [Bostic] was that close behind me, but then she was right there and I was like, ‘Oh gosh darn.’”

The Warriors were also led by its 4x800 team of Haley Powers, Andi Crosby, Paige Conner and Katie Rogers, which took third in 10:20.76.

Handley ended the meet by getting a win from its 4x400 team of Miriah Smith, Abby Swartz, Mya Mintschenko and Alysandra Worrell. The anchor leg Worrell had a lead of about seven meters when she got the baton, but the Briar Woods anchor leg caught her on the back straightaway. Worrell didn’t let it faze her, and she recovered to take the lead with about eight meters to go as the Judges finished in 4:18.78 to win by 0.59.

“They ran consistent,” Handley coach Mike McKiernan said. “That’s a really good relay. I thought Alysandra ran a smart race. She went out hard. The other girl ran her down in the first 200, but I was thinking this other girl is either a beast, or she’s going to pay for it. She paid for it.”

The Judges were without high jumper Angelica Robinson Saturday because of an injury.

Millbrook was led by senior Mia VanderToorn (second in the long jump, 15-10 ¼) and Lindsay Lockhart (fifth in the discus, 107-10) and Clarke County was led by Kolby Parrott (seventh in the 200, 27.73) and Javonna Lansdown (seventh in the shot put, 30-1).

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