Region 4C Track and Field Championships

WINCHESTER — Just in case it wasn’t already obvious before that Handley senior Trey Causey is a heck of a lot more than just one of the nation’s best high jumpers, he made a thunderous statement about his talent and his determination on Friday night at the Region 4C Track and Field Championships.

Led by four wins from Causey and a sizzling split from the Virginia-bound athlete on the 4x100 relay, the Handley boys won the region title by 25 points. Handley scored 113 points to Fauquier’s 88.

Causey doesn’t usually do as many events as he did during the region meet, but in setting three personal records in his four wins he showed just how badly he wanted to help the Judges to a title.

Causey provided the biggest highlights at the two-day region meet, but you don’t win by 25 points without getting contributions from numerous sources.

“It was really a total team effort,” Handley coach Mike McKiernan said. “We won a couple of field events on Wednesday and had others place well. We came back today and did real well in the field events again. We just picked up a lot of points all the way around. Anybody who places in a regional meet is doing great.”

Also in the 14-team boys’ meet, James Wood was sixth with 48 points, Sherando was seventh with 39 and Millbrook was 11th with 23.

Loudoun County won the girls’ meet with 96 points. The Raiders trailed Handley 93-86 going into the meet-concluding 4x400-meter relay and won the event to earn 10 points. The Judges did not qualify for regions in the 4x400.

The James Wood girls were fifth with 65 points, Millbrook was seventh with 46 and Sherando was ninth with 29.

The top four finishers in each event, as well as those with qualifying marks this season, advanced to the Class 4 state meet on June 1 and 2 at Harrisonburg High School.

On Wednesday, Causey set a personal record by more than two feet in winning the long jump (23 feet, 2.25 inches) at Handley.

On Friday at Millbrook, Causey won the 100 meters in a personal-best 10.98 seconds to win by 0.02, improved on his personal best by two feet in the triple jump to win (46-1.5) and made up at least three places as the anchor leg on the 4x100 to help Handley take third in 44.01, just .02 out of second place.

Oh, and Causey also won the high jump with a mark of 6-8, stopping at that height so he could conserve energy for his other events.

He used every bit of that energy.

“I feel like I left everything out there today,” said Causey, not long after taking some heavy breaths following the 4x100.

McKiernan didn’t have Causey’s exact split in the 4x100, but anyone who watched in that event — and any other event he did — couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Trey’s a workhorse,” McKiernan said. “He had a great day jumping on Wednesday. Our concern always is we don’t want to do too much with him, but he’s such a team guy. He’s willing to step up and do five events like he did this meet, or six events like he did last week to help out the team. It’s hard on you, but he’s really tough.”

Causey teamed with Kobi Vance, Max Doerwaldt and Miles Ashe in the 4x100.

Handley senior John Delaney also won an event on Friday, dominating the 3,200 to win by 18 seconds in a time of 9:36.98. Quinten Newman took second in the discus (146-9).

James Wood junior Chance Grove won the discus (149-6) and sophomore William Crowder took third in the 100 (11.13) and fourth in the 200 (23.06).

The Sherando boys were led by 110 hurdle champion Kyle Holliday (15.27).

Holliday improved on his personal-best by four-tenths of a second. The senior hadn’t achieved a state-qualifying time entering Friday, and he won by a whopping 0.24.

“Coming down to the end of the season, it’s just about who wants it more,” Holliday said. “It’s kind of like it was for me in indoor. I qualified for states in the hurdles by one place in regionals. I just knew that if I didn’t beat someone, I’m out of it. I’m a senior, and I wanted to qualify for states just as much as anyone else.”

Also for Sherando, junior Isaiah Allen placed third in the shot put (141-6).

Those who won multiple events in the girls’ meet were Handley senior Casey Nelson (discus, shot put), Judges freshman Mary McKay (pole vault, 100 meters) and James Wood senior Rene Rosso (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles).

Nelson won the shot put with a mark of 38-5 ½ on Friday. Nelson won the discus Wednesday at Handley with a 126-3.

Nelson’s top throw on Friday was her first one. The next closest thrower finished almost three feet behind her.

“I’m really satisfied with what I did in the discus, but I think I could have done better for shot,” said Nelson, who placed second at last year’s Class 4 state meet and has a top mark of 40-11 this year. “But you don’t always perform the best you can.”

Nelson is ranked high in the state in both of her throwing events, and she said the last time she checked the Class 4 state discus rankings she was first. Nelson’s top mark is a 131-0.5.

“I hope to throw in the state meet the way that I have in most of the meets,” Nelson said. “Somewhere in the 40 range for shot, high 120s, 130s for discus. I’ll be focusing on that for practice.”

Handley junior Taylor Beard, who won the high jump on Wednesday (5-6) and took second in the triple jump with a school-record 38-6.5, did not win on Friday but had several strong finishes. She took second in the 100 hurdles (15.64), fourth in the 200 (26.82) and fifth in the long jump (17-3.25).

“I felt I could have done better, especially in the long jump, even though I haven’t done it a whole lot this year,” Beard said.

Beard did improve on her season-best by nearly three feet in the triple jump and broke the school record of 36-4 set in 1994 on Wednesday though.

“I kind of surprised myself,” Beard said. “I hadn’t done that a whole lot either, but God just blessed me. I don’t know how I did it.”

Handley senior Kristin Blake was third in the 800 (2:23.11).

The Judges have come up just short in each of their postseason meets, losing by just two points at the Class 4 Northwestern District meet last week. McKiernan wasn’t lamenting that though.

“Kristin got knocked down in the 800, but instead of getting defeated she came back and went out hard,” McKiernan said. “I think for the most part that was the attitude of the girls today and Wednesday. We’re in it no matter what the obstacle is. We did the best we could, and you’ve got to be pleased with that.”

James Wood’s Rosso won the 100 hurdles on Friday with a season-best time of 15.04 and the 300 hurdles in 47.00. She also took second in the long jump (17-9) and 200 (26.71).

Rosso was most pleased with the long jump, because she broke the school record set in 1992. Rosso’s previous best was a 17-4.

“I’ve been trying to do that for three years,” Rosso said. “I didn’t even care what I placed. I was like, ‘Finally.’”

Rosso said her performance in the triple jump on Wednesday, in which she set a personal best and broke her own school record with a 37-9.5 to take third, lifted her spirits in a big way.

“My jump on Wednesday really made me a lot happier,” Rosso said. “I was looking back on my freshman jumps, and I was like, ‘I’m a lot worse than I was my freshman year.’ But then I PR’d by a half-foot on Wednesday.”

Millbrook’s Kaycee Cox-Philyaw made a strong charge in the last 50 meters to pass two runners and took second in the 1,600 (5:22.62). Teammate Sarah Purdy took second in the 300 hurdles (48.14).

Sherando’s Donzailya Berg placed third in the 110 hurdles (16.41) and teamed with Indhya Hayes, Kaitlyn Roberts and Haley Mack to win the 4x100 in 50.67, which broke the school record time set last year by a team that featured four-time Winchester Star Girls’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year Davina Lane. Mack also placed fourth in the 100 (13.13).

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