4A State Track Meet - Girl's Review

Posted: June 8, 2015

The Winchester Star

HARRISONBURG — The circumstances leading up to Davina Lane’s 100-meter hurdles final at the Group 4A state track and field meet Saturday were hardly ideal, but the Sherando sophomore sure made the most of her situation.

Despite not arriving at Harrisonburg High School until 20 minutes before the start of the race, Lane broke her school record for the fourth time in four postseason races with a time of 14.97 seconds in that event en route to earning three-all-state finishes. Lane finished sixth.

Lane — who also took fifth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 200 — was one of four area girls to earn all-state honors at the two-day meet, helping Sherando to 20th place by scoring all 10 of the team’s points.

James Wood — which received fifth-place finishes from junior Grace Greene in the shot put and discus and an eighth-place performance from freshman Rene Rosso in the triple jump — placed 21st with nine points. Millbrook tied for 32nd with the three points scored by senior McKenzie Schrank in taking sixth in the 300 hurdles, and Handley did not score.

The reason why Lane was late was because of some miscommunication amongst the Sherando coaching staff. Lane and three of her teammates were not driven from the team’s hotel to Harrisonburg High School at the same time as the rest of the team, so Warriors assistant coach Jamie McCarty had to go back and pick them up.

“I didn’t really have a good warmup,” Lane said. “I felt really rushed into everything, and I didn’t feel like my muscles were warm enough.”

On the surface, Lane didn’t seem to have a great race either, as she clipped a few of the hurdles. But when the results came out, they showed Lane had outdone herself again. Lane broke her own school record at the Conference 21 meet with a 15.18, ran a 15.14 at the 4A North Region meet, ran a 15.12 in the 100 prelims Friday, then hit 14.97 in the 100 finals.

“I was very surprised about my time,” said Lane, who took fourth in the 100 hurdles last year. “I was very disappointed in my placing, but very happy about my time.”

Lane went on to take fifth in the 300 hurdles in 45.21, an improvement of 1.38 seconds and three places from last year’s state meet. And after not expecting to make the finals in the 200 — she didn’t even know she was going to do it at states until after the regional meet , and she was seeded 11th coming into the state meet — Lane recorded a 25.69 to place sixth.

“It feels good [to get three all-state finishes],” Lane said. “It’s nice to run against all these good competitors at the end of the season. It makes you push and makes you excited for the next season. It makes you say, ‘I’m going to get her,’ or, ‘I’m going to get that time.’”

Sherando coach Tom Grim is also looking forward to the future.

“The girl is a special talent,” he said. “We’re not done with her. Thankfully we’ve got two more years with her.”

After throwing a personal-best 124-11 Friday in the discus, Greene capped her state meet by nearly getting a personal-best in the shot put Saturday to also take fifth. Greene bested her prelim throws with a 35-6 1/4 on her first finals throw, then went 35-11 ¾ on her second and 36-1 ¼ on her last. She looked at the James Wood contingent with a mildly irritated look after her last throw, because Greene’s personal best is 36-2.

Still, Greene was happy with her performance, and was especially pleased with the discus, especially because of how poorly she started. Greene — whose top mark coming into states was a 117-9 — threw 100 feet on her first throw and 80 on her second, so she needed a big effort on her third throw to make the finals.

“After that second throw I was like, ‘Really? Here at states?’” Greene said. “I just had to turn the frustration off.”

She then unleashed the throw that landed at 124-11.

“It was actually kind of wobbly,” Greene said. “I didn’t have a great release. I was kind of worried, thinking maybe 115, 116. When I heard [124-11], I just thought, ‘OK, that’s great.’”

Greene followed up in the finals with throws of 118 and 120. It’s that type of consistency that has Greene — who for a long time preferred the shot put — realizing that discus is where she has the most potential. Her mark of 124-11 is No. 2 in school history, almost 14 feet behind the top mark.

“She could do it,” James Wood coach Matt Stegmaier said. “She works hard during the season and the offseason. That’s one of her goals. Shot put seemed to be her better event, but now she’s good in both, which is nice.”

Rosso — the school record holder in the triple jump — placed eighth in that event with a 35-2 ½ on Friday. She barely missed all-state honors in three events, as she tied for ninth in the high jump (5-0) Friday and placed ninth in the 300 hurdles in 47.49 to break a school record set in 1993 Saturday.

“Even though she met her PR, she probably had her best high jump of the season,” Stegmaier said. “When she cleared 5 feet, that was probably one of her best-looking jumps of the season. We didn’t work at all on the high jump this week, because we put the mats away for the graduation. Sometimes when you get away from an event a little, you come out hungry.”

Schrank — who will compete at Radford University next year — completed an impressive career with strong showings in both hurdles events.

Schrank didn’t beat her places from last year in either event, but her time of 45.95 in the 300 hurdles was 0.32 better than her state time of last year. And while Schrank didn’t make the 100 hurdles final, she finally topped the 15.58 she ran in the 100 prelims her freshman year with a 15.47 that was good for 10th overall.

“I was hoping to at least get fourth, but I’m still happy with how I ran 300s,” Schrank said. “I broke 46 again, which is only the second time I’ve done that, and getting a PR in the 100s Friday was really exciting for me. I kind of knew I wasn’t going to place in that, but I was really happy with my performance.

“Honestly, place doesn’t matter that much to me. It’s more about how I perform [time-wise].”

Overall, Schrank — who qualified for states in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles all four years on her career — will walk away with five state medals in her outdoor career. She placed as high as fifth (300 hurdles last year) and never finished lower than 12th in an individual hurdles event at states. Schrank was also pleased with the performance of the 4x800 team she ran on, which set a PR by recording a 10:02.25 Friday.

“It’s kind of bittersweet, because this is my last state meet,” Schrank said. “But I’m excited to go to Radford.”

Handley’s top performance came from Angelica Robinson, who tied for ninth in the high jump with a mark of 5-0 Friday.

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

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