Girls Region 4C track: Day 2

WINCHESTER — After Handley senior Taylor Beard completed the 300-meter hurdles on Saturday, she made her way off the track, collapsed onto her back on the infield, and put her hands on her head while she breathed deeply.

Beard didn’t break any 43-year-old state records on Saturday at the Region 4C track & field meet at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium. But it’s a small wonder that the Judges’ artificial turf didn’t suddenly burst into flames at that moment.

Beard was on fire again on Saturday, winning three events. She set two personal records in the 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles and helped the 4x100 team to a season-best time. This came one day after Beard shattered three school records and broke the state record in the high jump, one of her two event wins.

“I definitely wanted to push for my last home meet,” Beard said. “It’s a good feeling. I just thank God every moment I get to come out here and do my best. I’m just blessed.”

Beard scored 52.5 points in her final home meet to help the Judges to second place in the team standings. Defending champion Loudoun Valley won the 14-team meet with 127 points while Handley scored 107.5. Sherando was fifth with 50, James Wood was sixth with 41.5 and led by 3,200 champion Sophie Edlich, Millbrook was eighth with 39.

On Friday, Beard’s high jump mark of 6 feet, 0.5 inches broke the state record of 6-0.25 set by Gar-Field’s Paula Girven set in 1976 and topped Beard’s previous school record of 6-0. Beard improved her triple jump record by four inches to 39-5.25. She took second in the long jump — the only event she hasn’t won out of the 12 she’s competed in this postseason — but she flew past Veronica Polston’s school record of 18-0.75 set in 2000 and improved on her previous best from last year (17-3.25).

On Saturday, Beard won the 100 hurdles in 15.29, topping her previous best by 0.27 and beating the field by 0.87. In the 4x100, the anchor leg received the baton at almost the exact same moment as region 100-meter and long jump champion Haley Mack of Sherando and helped the Judges edge the Warriors 49.73 to 49.82. And in the 300 hurdles, Beard’s 44.63 topped her previous best of 45.02 and beat the rest of the field by 3.81 seconds.

“She had some dominating performances,” Handley coach Mike McKiernan said. “The 300 hurdles and the 100 hurdles, she was just gone.”

The 4x100 was a question mark, though. Beard did not find out until Saturday she was even doing the event (Beard was not listed in the official meet heat sheet).

Through the first three legs, it looked like Handley, Sherando, Riverside, and Woodgrove all had a shot at winning the event. All made their final handoffs at similar points, but the Riverside and Woodgrove anchors couldn’t match the two fastest girls in the stadium who were running in lanes 4 (Beard) and 5 (Mack). Beard said she took the lead with about 60 meters left. Mack continued to fight, but Beard didn’t yield.

Beard’s main goal was to ensure that the relay that also featured the sophomore trio of Mary McKay (the region pole vault champion), Sofia Posadas, and Brittnay Turner qualified for the state meet.

“I had to kick it in so we could get there,” Beard said. “[The exchange] was perfect. Me and Brittnay’s handoffs are always amazing. I’m just blessed that I have someone who can get me the baton in a good, timely manner.”

The top four in each event at the region meet and those who have achieved qualifying times and marks advance to the Class 4 state meet at Liberty University in Lynchburg on Friday and Saturday. Others who made it to the state meet on Saturday were Posadas in the 200 (26.26) and senior Kenzi Fergus, who has been to the state meet in cross country twice and swimming four times but has never gone in track.

Fergus placed third in the 3,200 in 11:38.87 to improve on her PR by 15 seconds. Last year, her season was marred by a hip fracture that wasn’t discovered until after the season was finished.

“We were talking before the race, and she said she wanted to go under 11:50,” McKiernan said. “She blew through that. So I was really pleased with her effort, especially considering all she’s been through.

“The girls had a good meet. Even if you take out Taylor’s 50-couple points out, we still scored in a lot of places.”

Following her victorious school-record performance in the long jump on Friday, Mack blew away the field to win the 100 in a personal record 12.57. Mack won by 0.26.

Sherando head coach T.J. Rohrbaugh said Mack’s performance was all the more impressive this weekend given that had been battling an illness for the last two weeks of the regular season and the district meet. Rohrbaugh said it was affecting her training and her performance at meets.

Rohrbaugh said while a lot of coaches weren’t pleased with having the Class 4 Northwestern District meet on Monday, May 13 (just three days after the Last Chance Invitational at Millbrook, the regular-season finale), he said it benefited Mack because it gave her more time to recover for the region meet. In addition to her long jump and 100 PRs, Mack had her best 200 time (she took fifth in 26.57 to just miss qualifying for the state meet) and teamed with freshman Thais Agard, sophomore Indhya Hayes, and senior Kaitlyn Roberts for the best time of the season in the 4x100 relay.

“Her getting healthy really reflected out here this weekend with what she was able to do,” Rohrbaugh said. “She has a great attitude and is a great kid. I’m really proud of the way she bounced back and was able to help her team out.

“I think this weekend was a great snapshot of what she’s capable of when she’s healthy and she has an opportunity to train and prepare herself for a big meet.”

Top performances for the James Wood girls on Saturday came from junior Kenzie Konyar (second in the 3,200 in 11:34.62) and sophomore Ja’Niyah Stovall, who placed fourth in the 400 (1:00.96) and helped the 4x400 team of sophomores Riley Rose and Faith Gansor and junior Mia Johnson place fourth in 4:16.94. Also on Friday, sophomore Audrey Sandy joined her twin sister Brooke as a high jump state qualifier by reaching the qualifying standard of 5-0 to tie for fifth.

Colonels coach Mike Onda said the thing that stood out to him the most over the weekend was the 17-second PR recorded on Friday by the 4x800 team, which also included Rose and Konyar, to qualify for the state meet.

“I think that was the biggest shift, and Ja’Niyah making it in the 400 was unexpected,” Onda said. “Audrey Sandy wasn’t expected to qualify for states, so that was good, too. A lot of people did really well.”

Anyone at last year’s Region 4C meet wouldn’t have pegged the Millbrook senior Edlich as a future region champion in the 3,200. Edlich placed 13th out of 15 runners in 12:59.16.

On Saturday, she was the favorite with a seed time of 11:14.35, and she performed as such. Edlich got caught in traffic in the first 100 meters of the race, but then she exploded to get to the front early in the backstretch. Edlich never let the lead go. She led by seven meters after two laps, and she pulled away from Konyar and the rest of the field to win by 21 seconds in a personal record 11:13.05.

Edlich’s best time last year was a 12:03, so she’s come a long way.

“Definitely the way that I’m eating,” said Edlich with a laugh when asked about the differences from last year. “I’m eating more fruits and vegetables, going heavy on the carbs. Also, I’ve been pushing myself harder every practice.

“To PR by almost a minute [from last year] is crazy, that alone. And to win this, it’s unbelievable. It feels amazing.”

Millbrook coach Kevin Shirk said the fact that Edlich wasn’t pushed for most of the race added to her achievement. When Edlich ran her previous PR at the Leslie Sherman Memorial Invitational on April 18 at Lake Braddock High School, Edlich had Clarke County’s Madison Webster and Millbrook teammate Kaycee Cox-Philyaw to pull her along.

“She’s really gotten a lot more serious this year,” Shirk said. “The training has always been really good, but she’s working on a really strict diet and working on her core. It’s made a difference. Something clicked for her this year, and whatever it is, it’s working well.

“I’d say today was a much stronger performance than her former PR, which is only a couple seconds slower. To do it by herself and win by 100 meters is really impressive.”

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