Colonels girls in hunt for Class 4 Northwestern District track title

By JERRY HOLSWORTH | Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Handley and James Wood got several stellar performances from their athletes on Saturday at the Class 4 Northwestern District Track and Field meet at James Wood, and today they’ll get to find out what places they received for their efforts.

The pole vault will be competed at 1 p.m. today at Handley, and both team championships will be determined by the outcome.

James Wood leads the girls’ competition with 131 points, but Fauquier sits only six points back with 125 points. The Colonels do not have any pole vaulters, while three of the five girls entered today are Falcons.

Those three are seeded third through fifth. Points are awarded to athletes who place first through eighth on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, but Handley director of student activities Rick Lilly said the opening height for the pole vault could be 6-0, a mark only one Fauquier girl has reached based on the entry list.

Fauquier leads the boys’ competition with 155 points, five more than second-place Handley (150). But the Judges have four pole vaulters entered to the Falcons’ two, with Handley’s Jack Armel seeded first (12-3) and Max Doerwaldt tied for third in the seedings (10-6. Doerwaldt’s seed mark is a foot higher than the No. 5 seed from Fauquier.

The Handley boys and girls combined to have four athletes win at least two individual events.

Senior Trey Causey led the way on the boys’ side, winning four individual events — the high jump (6 feet), long jump (21-2), 100 meters (11.09 seconds) and 200 (22.35) — and taking second in the triple jump (44-4). Causey also contributed to a fifth win. He teamed with Kobi Vance, Doerwaldt, and Miles Ashe to win the 4x100 in 43.93 while running the anchor leg. Doerwaldt also won the 110 hurdles (15.34).

John Delaney won the 1,600 (4:25.80) and 3,200 (9:58.42) on the boys’ side.

For the Handley girls, junior Taylor Beard won the high jump (5-6), long jump (16-10.75) triple jump (35-8) and 200 (26.72). Beard also took second in the 100 hurdles (16.04) and 300 hurdles (46.84).

Casey Nelson won the discus (127-3) and shot put (40-3).

“We had a lot of kids perform really well,” said Handley coach Mike McKiernan, whose girls’ team is in third with 111 points. “For the most part our kids outperformed their seeding, and that’s a really good sign.”

Senior Rene Rosso led the James Wood girls, earning two first-place finishes and another four second-place finishes while competing in the same six events as Beard. Rosso won the 100 hurdles in 15.34 and the 300 hurdles in 46.27, and she took second in the high jump (5-4), long jump (16-4.5), triple jump (34-8.75) and 200 (27.26).

“I’m really pleased with the way our kids are doing,” said Colonel coach Mike Onda, whose boys’ team, led by Chance Grove’s winning 152-8 in the discus, sits in third place with 99 points. “Since the beginning of the season we’ve had a lot of kids really develop well and get us a lot of points.

“The girls have done a particularly good job. From our seniors on down to our freshmen all of them have really come through for us and you can see that with their finish today.”

Millbrook is fourth with 75 points in the girls’ meet and fifth in the boys (99). Sherando is fourth in the boys’ meet (86) and sixth in the girls’ meet (63).

It was an impressive performance by Beard.

“I did six events today,” Beard said. “It was really busy, but I worked hard to push through it and get points for my team. Keeping up with Rene [Rosso] is really hard. She’s an amazing athlete.”

Causey also stood out in the boys’ events.

“I felt pretty good today,” Causey said. “I was a little tired going into the 200 but I was still able to pull out the win. If we can do well in the pole vault [today] we still might be able to pull out the title.”

Delaney was dominant in both his events.

After battling Liberty’s Sam Rodman for 400 meters the Handley senior broke away to easily win the 1,600 (4.25.8) by almost three seconds.

There was never any doubt Delaney was going to win the 3,200. Breaking ahead early he lapped at least one runner and beat the second place-finisher, Fauquier’s Thomas Cummins, by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 9:58.42.

Kiara Gilkerson was another strong performer for James Wood. She helped the Colonels take second in the 4x400 (4:25.79), and she placed second individually in the 400 meters (1.02.6).

“It was a good day,” Gilkerson said. “The most important thing though was that our team is in first place so far.”

Sherando took four first-place finishes and two second place finishes.

The most exciting race for the Warriors was the girls’ 3,200 meters where Paige Conner came from behind to win by almost three seconds with a time of 12.07.31.

T. J. Washington took first in the triple jump (44-11) and second in the long jump (20-11.25).

Isaiah Allen was first in the shot put (55-2.5) for the Warriors. Sherando also took the girls’ 4x100 relay with a time of 51.63 (Donzailya Berg, Kaitlyn Roberts, Indhya Hayes and Haley Mack).

Millbrook was led by Sarah Purdy, who placed in five individual events. She finished third in the 300 hurdles (50.24). She also placed in the 100 hurdles (fourth, 17.12), high jump (fourth, 4-10), triple jump (sixth, 31-3.5), and long jump (eighth, 14-5).

“I thought I did pretty well in the triple jump since it’s my first year doing that,” Purdy said. “I do think that I can do a lot better in the hurdles.”

The Pioneers also had two top finishes in the 3,200 meters. Sophie Edlich was second (12.10.21) and Emily Muldowney was third (12.14.33).

The Pioneer boys’ 4x400 relay was second with a time of 3.27.9 (Jacob Ford, John Pullen, Nick Matthews and Josh Moylan).

“We had some good performances today,” Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said. “We have a lot of kids moving on to regionals. We had a good start going into the final meets of the season.”

The top eight individuals and top four relays, as well as those who earned qualifying marks during the season, move on to the two-day Region 4C meet.

The first day of competition will be at Handley at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The pole vault, 4x800 relays, the girls’ high jump, triple jump and discus, and the boys’ long jump and shot put will take place that day. The rest of the meet will take place at 3:15 p.m. on Friday at Millbrook.