Girls' Track & Field Coach of the Year: James Wood's Abeeb Badmus

James Wood’s Abeeb Badmus is The Winchester Star Girls’ Track & Field Coach of the Year in his first year leading the girls’ team for the Colonels.

Badmus guided James Wood to the best local finish at the Class 4 Northwestern District meet. The Colonels scored 139 points, 52 more than third-place Handley. During the regular season, James Wood won the City-County meet by 39 points, Strasburg’s Ram Country Invitational by 62 points, and the Colonels’ Apple Blossom Invitational which featured all five local schools by 92 points.

James Wood also had solid performances at the Region 4C meet (eighth out of 16 teams) and the Class 4 state meet (20th out of 40 scoring teams). At the Class 4 meet, senior Aubrey Grove placed third in the discus and the 4x800 team of senior Lauren Beatty, junior Lillian Lovelace, freshman Ruby Ostrander and junior Quetzali Angel-Perez placed sixth to earn All-State honors.

Q. How did this season go based on your preseason expectations?

Badmus: The goal was to get as many girls into districts, regionals and states as we could, and I think we did a pretty good job of getting a lot of people through to those meets. The 4x8 girls made it to states and had their best time, the 4x1 girls made it to states. I’m very happy with getting two groups of girls to states.

Q. What qualities stood out about your team this season?

Badmus: The work ethic, which I preach each and every day. I want them to have that when they’re stretching, when they’re practicing, when they’re at the meet, so they can give their best and give their all. The team was very hungry, worked very, very hard, and they stayed together. We also preached staying together and cheering each other on. The girls pushed each other every day at practice and at meets, and it was great to see them come together as one.

Q. Any particular meets that you thought were significantly important in the team’s development?

Badmus: Every meet is important, but one meet that was I very happy with was the Apple Blossom meet. We had a lot of teams there (18), and when I was looking [at the seed times and marks], it didn’t look like we have a chance. That meet is a big deal in the community. We were able to win the meet, and the girls were very excited about that.

Q. What was your most memorable moment?

Badmus: We had several. The beginning of the season, we won the invitational at Strasburg. To do as well as we did there, and at Apple Blossom, districts, regions and states, I’m just happy overall for the girls. They deserve it and work very hard. They had a great season from the beginning to the end. I can’t complain at all.

Q. What are your expectations for next year? (James Wood has nine athletes returning from the area leaderboard.)

Badmus: The expectations remain the same. We want to be physically ready and mentally ready. We’ve got some young athletes coming back, and hopefully, they’ll perform just like they performed this year. We’ve also got girls from middle school coming who I’m excited about. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to win the district. We’ll keep getting better and keep improving.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki