Boys' track & field notebook: Wood's Link getting stronger

WINCHESTER — James Wood senior Andrew Link threw his arms up after crossing the finish line in the 300-meter hurdles on Saturday at the H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Invitational on Saturday, and Colonels head coach Abeeb Badmus couldn’t have been happier to see it.

“He’s back!” Badmus said. “He’s back!”

It hasn’t been an easy season for one of the state’s best hurdlers, but there’s no doubt Link will be working hard to make the rest of 2023 memorable.

A two-time All-State performer in the 300 hurdles, Link won Saturday’s race after it looked like Woodgrove senior Brayden Nester was destined for victory. Nester surged past Link in the final 100 meters and still led Link after each cleared the second-to-last hurdle.

But Link found another gear, and he was able to catch Nester at the last hurdle and then push past him to win with a time of 41.05 seconds to Nester’s 41.13.

It was Link’s best time of the season by 3.82 seconds and a step toward the 39.84 that he was listed for in meet seedings. That was what Link ran last year, which ended with him placing fifth in Class 4 after winning Region 4C and Class 4 Northwestern District titles.

As a result of tendonitis, Link got off to a slow start this year. He said it’s been frustrating, but he wanted to do the best he could for his team on Saturday. Link spoke after his second-place finish in the 110 hurdles (15.96) and before he helped the 4x400 team to victory in an area-best 3:30.11.

“We work so hard each day,” Link said. “It feels good [to win] for the team. Every day in practice we grind. I’m looking forward to keep working hard and keep getting better.”

Obviously, Badmus was excited about Link’s performance.

“I can’t be more proud of him for all the hard work he’s been putting in,” Badmus said. “He’s been showing a lot of maturity and lots of efficiency.”

Badmus was also pleased to see what the team of Link, senior Ryen Knotts, junior Zach Smith and sophomore Trenton Manili did to win the 4x400. The group missed qualifying for the state meet by just 0.56.

“I’m very proud of them,” Badmus said. “I put that team together this week just to see if we could advance to regional and state. They’re working very hard. The competition is very high. We’ve got four or five people we can enter in that relay at any time.”

HandleyHandley only had one event win on Saturday, but it was definitely one of the more impressive ones of the day when you factor in the circumstances leading up to it.

The Judges’ goal was to achieve a state-qualifying time in the 4x800-meter relay, and the team of senior Pierce Francis, freshman Will Thomas and juniors Garrett Stickley and Will Pardue won the race by 7.68 seconds and ran almost three seconds faster than the Class 4 state standard by recording a time of 8:12.87.

The race took place at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, a little more than 10 hours after Pardue and Stickley arrived in Winchester from Philadelphia. The duo competed in Friday’s Penn Relays at Franklin Field in the high school boys’ 3,000-meter championship, and they more than held their own.

In a field of 25 runners, Pardue placed seventh in 8:37.57 and Stickley took 10th in 8:41.19. Pardue and Stickley are coming off an indoor track season in which they placed first and second, respectively, at the Class 4 state meet in the 3,200.

“The weather was not the best, but we placed well and we ran hard,” Pardue said. “It was a pretty fun experience. Both of us getting top 10 at Penn Relays, that was really good.”

Stickley said he and Pardue were actually out front at one point in the first few laps. The race was won by Rory Lieberman of Danville (Pa.) in 8:34.16. Six Virginia athletes ran, with only James River’s Quinn Parish (fifth) finishing in front of them.

“[On the public address system], they were like, ‘the Handley duo is leading the Penn Relays,’” Stickley said. “It was really fun to hear that, and then when we looked on the screen we were both right there at the top.”

On Saturday, Handley, James Wood and Sherando were all neck-and-neck until Stickley got the baton for the third leg. Stickley built up a lead of 10 meters after one lap and maintained that edge on the second lap.

“I knew I had to build up the distance between us and James Wood,” Stickley said. “I went out a little too fast and paid for it on my last lap, but I had a pretty decent split of 2:01. It was all right considering I had a race yesterday.”

Pardue said he was “hurting the entire time.”

“To be able to get a 1:58 or whatever and get our team a state qualifier less than 24 hours after running a tough race, it felt nice to come out here and compete and still do great as a team,” Pardue said.

The duo got to rest after that — it was their only event of the day.

Both Pardue and Stickley said their confidence continues to grow after what they did during the indoor season, and now with what they’re doing in the outdoor season. Pardue went to the Arcadia Invitational in California on April 7 and 8 and recorded a PR of 9:09.11 in the 3,200 to place 70th out of 176 runners.

Handley coach Mike McKiernan said he appreciates the effort that Pardue and Stickley gave considering what they did on Friday.

“You can tell they were tired, especially on the second lap,” McKiernan said. “Normally, with 150 [meters] to go in any race, they charge no matter how hard they’ve been running, and they just had nothing. But they helped get the relay through, and now we have options for that.”

MillbrookAfter some unlucky circumstances, The 2022 Winchester Star Boys’ Track & Field Athlete of the Year finally made his Virginia outdoor track debut on Saturday. Millbrook senior Nick Hayden — the defending 800 state outdoor champion and this year’s 1,000 state indoor champion — ran the 3,200 and took second in 9:43.87 to Briar Wood’s Zach Mitchell (9:36.50).

Like Pardue, Hayden also ran at the Arcadia Invitational, taking 43rd out of 63 competitors in 1:56.52 (Hayden’s best time is 1:53.79). Millbrook planned on having Hayden run at the Woodgrove Invitational on April 14, but Hayden didn’t get back from California in time. On April 22, Hayden would have competed in the Lake Braddock Hall of Fame Invitational, but most of the meet was rained out.

Millbrook distance coach Jamie McCarty put Hayden through a hard week of practice. He also wanted Hayden to run a 3,200 at a meet at some point this season, and the Pioneers decided to make Saturday that day.

“He’s fine,” McCarty said. “He said he was feeling a little tired today, and that happens sometimes.”

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