Handley Invitational Meet

By JIM LAISE | Special To The Winchester Star

Apr 15, 2018

WINCHESTER — It was a sun-splashed day at the 76th running of the Handley Track & Field Invitational at James R. Wilkins Jr., Stadium on Saturday, and, fortunately for the Judges, a good bit of those rays fell on those wearing maroon and white uniforms.

Bright skies, a warm breeze and temperatures in the mid-80s greeted the 22 teams in the local season’s coming-out party.

As it turned out, Handley finished runner-up on the boys’ side and took third in the girls’ meet. Judges high jumpers Taylor Beard and Trey Causey were selected as the Joseph “Doc” Casey (girls) and the Otis “Snag” Sargent (boys) most valuable participants.

Loudoun County earned girls’ title with 91 points. Woodgrove (89), Handley (85), James Wood (51) and Millbrook (47) immediately followed. Sherando (ninth, 32 points) and Clarke (13th, 19) finished farther back.

Fauquier finished first with 77.5 points in the boys’ meet. Handley (73), Potomac Falls (68.50) and Sherando (50) followed. James Wood (10th, 29), Clarke County (14th, 16) and Millbrook (17th, 12) finished down the line.

Beard, a junior, won her event with a jump of 5-feet-8, while Causey, a senior headed for the University of Virginia on a track scholarship, triumphed with an effort of 6-8.

Beard set a meet record that was held by former James Wood standout Robin Landes (5-7 in 1982). Beard also won the 300-meter hurdles (49.49) and finished second in the 100 hurdles (16.38).

“It feels nice out here, doesn’t it,?” said Beard. “Mainly my training this spring has been indoors, so it feels good to get out here, finally, this spring.

“I think, if anything, I would like to be technically better than I was last year, and even better than this year’s [indoors]. For the first time out, I’ll take what I got.”

Causey also finished second in the 100 (11.19) and was a member of the Judges’ championship 4x100 relay team. He joined Kobi Vance, Miles Ashe and Max Doerwaldt to post a time of 43.89 seconds.

“Usually I set a goal in my head before each meet,” Causey said. “Mainly it’s to improve every time out and grab a personal record. Everything is a goal, really, the regular season, the state and the nationals. At this point, I’m looking to bet better so that I can do better when the nationals come around.”

“National meets are great, but the goal here always is to push for the states. That’s what we’re working for,” said Handley track coach Mike McKiernan. “It’s nice to qualify for nationals, but it’s also nice to win state championships.”

One Handley girls’ competitor who qualified for the nationals Saturday was thrower Casey Nelson.

Nelson set a school record and won two events Saturday with throws of 39-10 in the shot and 131-0.5 in the discus. The toss in the discus broke the old mark of Damie Malone (127-7 in 1996).

“That’s outstanding for the first time this year,” said McKiernan.

“The weather was great,” said Nelson, echoing others. “There was just something about today. For one, when I woke up and went out it was so warm. I think we’ve all needed this.”

While certain throws and jumps may be the Judges’ specialties this year, pole vault is another event worth watching.

Freshman Mary McKay set a school record in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet (bettering the former mark of 7-6 by Mariah Smith in 2015). McKay came back to finish second in the 100 (12.87).

On the boys’ side, Handley junior Jack Armel claimed the pole vault by clearing 12 feet. He was joined by senior John Delaney, who earned first place in the 3,200 (9:53.72).

Doerwaldt, a junior, was third in the pole vault (10-6) and finished second in the 110 hurdles (15.49).

Sherando’s Isaiah Allen continued to impress in the throws.

Allen’s heave of 54-4 was good enough for the win in the shot put and he finished third with a personal best 170-3 in the discus.

Fans may look twice before recognizing Allen this track season because about 30 pounds of him are missing from last year.

“I just felt like maybe I was carrying too much weight during football,” Allen said. “I was 310, but I’m down to about 278, mainly because I’ve cut back on everything, especially fast food. I’ve noticed I’m a lot quicker inside the ring and, this year, I’ve been able to change some things technique-wise in the middle of a meet. I was unable to do that before.”

T.J. Washington also was a winner for the Warriors. He took the triple jump with a leap of (45-0.25).

“We were up-and-down,” Sherando coach Jamie McCarty said. “We had a [mini] Northwestern Conference meet at our place [earlier in the week]. But, for the most part, it’s early and we’ve got time to work out the kinks.”

The James Wood girls were led by steadfast Rene Rosso, who won the 100 hurdles in 15.37 and claimed second in the 200 (26.32). The latter broke the old school record of 26.84.

Rosso did not compete in the jumps. “She was a little bit hurt, so we held her out of some events,” James Wood coach Mike Onda said.

Sophomore Sarah Purdy was solid for Millbrook. She earned seconds in the long jump (16-2) and 300 hurdles (50.41) along with a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles (17.26).

“We were thrilled with what we considered Sarah Purdy’s first meet of the season for us,” Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said. “ Although she competed on Wednesday evening in certain events, the Handley Invitational was her first true competition in her primary events, and she either set, or tied, her personal best in three of her four events [long Jump, 100 hurdles, and 300 hurdles]. We are excited to see Sarah coming into this season exactly where we left off at her peak from last season.”

Clarke County had a winner each among its two squads. Madison Webster won the girls’ 1,600 (5:16.97). Tanner Dinkins was the boys’ 100-meter champ (11.13).

“I thought everybody was fresh,” said Clarke County distance coach Jeff Webster. “Even though we haven’t participated in a meet, obviously we’ve been training.”

Dinkins later pulled a hamstring, according to Clarke coach Andre Kidrick.

“He pulled up lame in the 4x100 relay and otherwise I think we had a chance,” Kidrick said. “Hamstrings are tricky. You’ve got to treat them with care.”

The top six individual finishers earned medals.