Wood girls repeat as ABI track champs

WINCHESTER — The James Wood girls’ track & field team didn’t hear “first place” associated with their school name over the public address system until it mattered the most.

The Colonels did not win any of the 17 events but they clinched the team title before the meet-concluding 4x400-meter relay even started at their own 53rd H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Track & Field Invitational on Saturday at Kelican Stadium.

Fittingly, the 4x400 team placed third and scored six points to make James Wood’s margin of victory even larger. The Colonels — who also won last year’s ABI but had to share the title with Fauquier — won the 18-team meet with 92 points, 8.5 more than runner-up Strasburg.

Led by Most Outstanding Performer winner Elizabeth Imoh (victories in three individual events and one relay), Handley placed third with 80.5 points. Double winner Ella Carlson led Sherando to fourth (56 points), Millbrook tied for eighth (30) and Clarke County placed 17th (seven).

James Wood had 19 scoring performances (top eight) and recorded points in 13 of the 14 events it entered, just missing out in the 200 with a ninth-place finish. In 12 events, they had at least one entrant place fifth or higher.

“I’m honestly really proud of our consistency throughout the season,” said James Wood senior thrower Aubrey Grove, noting that the girls’ team has adjusted to a new head coach in Abeeb Badmus (he was the head coach for the boys last year) and a new distance coach in Tyler Cox-Philyaw. “I feel it’s worked out in our favor and they really push us.

“And I feel like the work ethic is really high for James Wood. Even if we don’t have the world’s best athletes, we have the best work ethic.”

James Wood previously won the City/County meet and Strasburg’s invitational this year. Grove said it’s definitely a big deal to win the Colonels’ own invitational, and Badmus couldn’t have been prouder or more excited that his team accomplished that.

“We preach teamwork and togetherness pretty much every day at practice,” said Badmus, referring to both his girls’ and boys’ teams. “We just try to work together as a team, and we do that, this is what happens.

“We put a lot of hard work in throughout the week, a lot of dedication. The teams knows that nothing comes easy. [Eighteen] teams, you never know where you might place, so you’ve got to go in there knowing that we work very hard, and we want to come out on top. I’m happy for the girls and excited we were able to get it done on our home turf.”

Though James Wood might not have won an event Saturday, the Colonels do have someone in Grove who would be wracking up gold medals if she competed in practically any other area in the state.

Grove placed second in both the discus (119 feet, 6 inches) and shot put (32-10.75) on Saturday with personal bests behind Sherando senior Ella Carlson, the defending Class 4 state champion in the discus and the 2021 state runner-up in the shot put. Carlson unleashed throws of 138-2 in the discus and 34-0.5 in the shot put.

Grove placed fifth in Class 4 in the discus last year and she believes she ranks second in Class 4 behind only Carlson this year. Grove was particularly pleased with her performance in the shot put because she qualified for regionals.

“If I have a good regional showing, then I can go to states for that,” Grove said. “I haven’t PR’ed in both the disc and shot in quite a while, so I’m very excited about that.”

The 4x400 team consisted of freshman Ruby Ostrander, senior Kameron Strosnider, sophomore Ella Kiesewalter and junior Quetzali Angel-Perez, who recorded a time of 4:26.18.

Kiesewalter also took second in the 400 (1:03.55) and helped the 4x100 team that also included freshman Olivia Boyce, junior Macey Payne and senior Alana Bradford take second in 52.20. Others who starred for the Colonels were junior Lillian Lovelace (third in the 100 hurdles, 18.20, fourth in the 300 hurdles, 51.64), senior Lauren Beatty (third in the 1,600, 5:29.08), senior Elena Farinholt (third in the 3,200, 12:40.23), Angel-Perez (third in the 800, 2:30.29), Ostrander (fourth in the 1,600, 5:34.41), Boyce (fifth in both the long jump, 14-10.5 and triple jump, 30-11.5) and sophomore Sarah Moss (fifth in the 3,200, 13:05.55).

Individually, no one wracked up more points than Handley junior Imoh. The junior simply dominated both hurdles events, recording her best times of the year in both the 100 hurdles (15.71 to win by 1.91 seconds) and 300 hurdles (48.89 to win by 1.97 seconds). Imoh also won the high jump by two inches with a mark of 5-2 and anchored the 4x100 team of senior Mikayla Balio, freshman Emeryce Worrell and sophomore Madison Worrell to a win by 1.13 seconds in 51.07.

Worrell was hoping to break her career-best time of 15.44 in the 100 hurdles after working on her rhythm and stride patterns in that event recently, but she was still pleased to improve her time.

“My arms have been kind of all over the place recently,” Imoh said. “I think that was better today. And also getting my legs down faster just so I’m sprinting for more time.”

Handley coach Mike McKiernan noted that Imoh wound up being a full hurdle ahead of the field in the 100 hurdles. McKiernan said Imoh has also been stuttering her feet in the 300 hurdles, so the Judges are trying to have Imoh develop a technique where she can lead with either leg when jumping over the hurdles.

After being the state runner-up in both hurdles events last year, Imoh wants to do whatever it takes so she can put herself in the best possible position to succeed this postseason.

“Those experiences at states have really motivated me a lot,” Imoh said.

The 4x100 team was just a little short of its best time, but everyone except Imoh had soccer practice Saturday morning. Balio, Worrell and Hobson are three of the six Judges’ varsity soccer players who scored points for the Judges on Saturday.

“They had a game [Friday] and practice before they came here, so they all said their legs were dead,” McKiernan said. “But the young ladies are tough.”

Handley was also led by senior Peyton Duvall, who took second in the 3,200 with a PR of 12:34.32; Worrell (third in the 100, 13.15); junior Takira Washington (third in the shot put, 31-5.75); and junior Alivia Ricci, who placed third in Friday’s pole vault held at Handley with a mark of 8-0.

Overall, McKiernan couldn’t have asked for a better performance from his team.

“To finish third, I thought was great, considering we don’t have big numbers and we’re not deep,” McKiernan said. “A lot of the girls performed very well.”

In addition to Carlson, Sherando was led by junior Emma Ahrens, who won the 3,200 by 21 seconds in 12:13.00, and senior Victoria Corbit, who placed second in the triple jump (33-10) and third in the long jump (15-4.25).

Millbrook was paced by freshman Jada Arrington, who won the 200 by 1.18 seconds in 25.92 and took second after Liberty’s Isabelle Cavins outleaned her at the line, recording a 12.80 to Arrington’s 12.81.

Clarke County was paced by sophomore Bailey Beard, who placed fifth in the 100 in 13.32 and eighth in the long jump (14-5.25) but was held out of the 200 because of a quad injury. Beard was seeded second in the 200 behind Arrington.

For more meet coverage, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1