Carlson stars to lead Sherando boys to second in district track meet

WINCHESTER — Opponents of the Sherando football team are used to seeing Micah Carlson throw past them and run around them.

After what transpired Friday at James Wood High School’s Kelican Stadium, they might need to start worrying about the Warriors sophomore quarterback jumping over them, too.

No one soared higher at the Class 4 Northwestern track & field meet than Carlson in a literal sense. And given his haul of five medals of bronze value or better, you can make the case that no one soared higher figuratively as well.

With a remarkable six-inch improvement, Carlson tied for the best mark in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 6 inches, only finishing behind Handley sophomore Hassan Akanbi (he’s incorrectly listed as a junior on milestat.com) and Fauquier junior Wyatt Shaw as a result of them needing fewer attempts to clear the bar at various points during the competition.

In addition to that third-place finish, the top-seeded Carlson won the discus — an event in which he earned Class 4 All-State honors as a freshman —by almost 18 feet with a mark of 144-6. He also tied his season PR in the long jump (20-9) to place second; took third in the triple jump (41-4.25) and helped the 4x100-meter team place third in 44.31.

Carlson’s stellar all-around performance led Sherando to second place as a team with 142 points, just five behind first-place Fauquier (147) in the seven-team boys’ meet. Handley was third with 104.5 points, James Wood was fourth with 84 and Millbrook was fifth with 70.

The top eight individuals and top four relays in each event on Friday, as well as those with qualifying times and marks, advance to Thursday’s Region 4C meet at Millbrook.

The top eight finishers in each event also scored points, and the Warriors scored in every event except for two. One was the 300 hurdles — which was something the Warriors could control — but the other was one they could do nothing about. Frederick County schools do not participate in the pole vault, and Fauquier picked up a whopping 27 points by taking four of the top five spots in that event, which was held Thursday at Handley.

“Our boys that were here really showed up and did the best they could,” said Sherando coach Brad Symons, whose team also received wins from junior Brady Hamilton in the 400 and senior AJ Santiago in the long jump. “It’s hard to overcome the pole vault. I’m really pleased with our guys’ effort and what they did today.”

Symons certainly couldn’t have asked anything more from Carlson. He finished his day with the 200, the only event in which he didn’t score.

Carlson’s workload was impressive, but not unusual. For example, anyone who watched him at the Apple Blossom Invitational at Kelican Stadium also got used to seeing him practically everywhere they looked. The versatile athlete competed in six events that day, including the 300 hurdles and the 4x400.

“It’s stressful, but at the same time, it’s kind of exciting,” said Carlson when asked what it’s like to run around from event to event. “You’re getting hyped for an event, you’re going back and forth and doing really well, and then once you’re done with all of it, even though you’re really tired, it feels good. It’s a good feeling of tired.”

Carlson exerted a lot more energy than he ever would have expected on Friday because of his performance in the high jump, which included Carlson clearing 6-6 on his third attempt. Akanbi won by clearing 6-6 on his second attempt, while Shaw needed fewer attempts than Carlson to clear the bar at a lower height, so he took second.

As a freshman, Carlson recorded a mark of 5-6 in his first meet. He suffered an injury in that meet, so the Warriors wound up shelving that event for him the rest of the season.

Nine days before the district meet, Carlson competed in the high jump for the first time since that freshman debut in a five-team meet at James Wood and won with a mark of 6-0. So since his first meet, Carlson has improved by six inches in each of his two high jump competitions.

The high jump is probably the hardest event in track & field to make statistical improvement in — there’s a reason why the bar is only moved up two inches at a time during competitions. Carlson might not have a lot of high jump training, but clearly, anything’s possible when you work as hard as Carlson does on strength and agility.

“Never in my life did I think I would ever jump 6-6,” Carlson said.

Carlson will have a lot of eyes on him in that event as well as the discus when the state meet rolls around on June 2 and 3 at Liberty University. Carlson placed eighth in the discus as a freshman in Class 4 and had a top mark of 142-2. This year, he’s repeatedly exceeded that mark and has a top throw of 150-8. Carlson said he’s currently ranked third in Class 4.

No one else in the district has cracked 140 feet this year. Carlson hasn’t had graduated All-State discus thrower Avery Dodson around to push him this year, but he has added a pretty knowledgeable tutor to help him for the postseason stretch. His sister and two-time state discus champion Ella Carlson is home after her freshman season at the College of William & Mary, which featured a ninth-place finish in the shot put at the Colonial Athletic Association meet.

Though Sherando didn’t win, Carlson felt the Warriors gave a great effort.

“I’m proud of our team,” said Carlson, who also combined to run 44.31 with Santiago, Jayden Patten and Quinn Christine in the 4x100.

Hamilton continued his impressive debut season on Friday and won the 400 in unusual circumstances.

Millbrook coach Joe Hall said the Pioneers decided to put defending 800-meter state champion Nick Hayden in the 400 to get him some speed work. Hayden — who has run under 50 seconds in the 4x400 relay at this year’s indoor state meet and last year’s outdoor state meet — did not have a seed time, so he ran in the first heat and blew away the field by 5.15 seconds with a time of 50.59.

Hamilton broke a school record that had stood since 2006 at the Apple Blossom Invitational with a 50.55. Hamilton — the top seed in the third and fastest heat — watched as Hayden motored around the track, but he said he didn’t feel any pressure on him when he stepped to the line.

Anyone who saw the ABI 400 knows that Hamilton doesn’t need anyone to push him to run fast. He won the ABI 400 by 1.3 seconds, and he won his heat by 1.46 seconds on Friday in recording a time of 50.56, 0.03 better than the runner-up Hayden.

“I just went,” Hamilton said. “If anything, I just run against myself. I don’t really worry about anyone else. But one of my coaches was telling me if me and [Hayden] were to race, we could have went sub-50.”

Hamilton also placed second in the 200 (23.03) and third in the 100 (11.69).

Santiago captured the long jump with a mark of 21-3 to beat Carlson by six inches, took second in the triple jump (42-3) and teamed with Noah Harris, Julean Mendez and Dylan McGraw to place second in the 4x400 in 3:34.36. Sherando was also led by Ethan Gonzalez (second in the shot put, 49-2.75), Charlie Clawson (third in the shot put, 46-8) and the 4x800 team of Ben Freilich, Jed Bell, Brock Smith and McGraw, which placed third (8:15.61).

Akanbi’s performance in the high jump was pretty significant in his own right.

Akanbi came into the year with a personal-best mark of 6-0 in the high jump. He continuously improved this year and set a PR of 6-6 at the Northern Virginia Invitational on April 15 at South Lakes High School.

But Akanbi hurt his knee at that competition, and it’s been a struggle for him since. Friday was the best he’s felt since the Northern Virginia Invitational. Akanbi said the competition from other athletes helped.

“I was surprised at how many people jumped 6-6,” said Akanbi of a mark that is better than last year’s Class 4 state championship winning effort of 6-5 by 2022 graduate JJ Gulley of Pulaski County. “Now I know I’ve got to work a little bit harder to get that state title this year.”

Akanbi said a better approach to the bar is making a difference for him this year.

“My bounce is there, but my coach Mike McKiernan said if you get your approach down, your jump is going to be good,” Akanbi said.

Handley’s other champions were freshman Jaishaun Proffit in the shot put (49-10 to win by 7.25 inches) and junior Garrett Stickley in the 3,200.

Stickley came in with a PR of 9:08.23, the fastest time in the area. Stickley did that while taking seventh at the prestigious Dogwood Classic in Charlottesville, but he ran a 9:18.74 on Friday running largely by himself.

James Wood’s Ethan Pratt-Perez — who had an outstanding performance to win the 1,600 earlier — clearly didn’t have the same energy as he did in the 1,600 and fell off the pace within the first two laps before finishing fourth in the 3,200. Stickley led a 1-2-3 Handley finish and won by 28.92 seconds.

“I love getting a solo 9:18, especially with the wind,” Stickley said. “That shows I have a lot more to prove when I have competition there pushing me. I also don’t think I’m at the peak of my season. I think that’s in the next two weeks.”

Will Thomas took second (9:47.66) and Pierce Francis (10:02.12) placed third in the 3,200. Those three teamed with Will Pardue (second in the 1,600 in 4:26.67) to take second in the 4x800 in 8:13.13. The Judges were also led by Brendan Campbell (third in the 300 hurdles, 42.76).

James Wood’s Pratt-Perez had his 1,600 go exactly going to plan. He wanted to make his final push with 300 meters to go. He only trailed Handley’s Pardue and he quickly got around him. The race was pretty much over at that point, as Pratt-Perez continuously pulled away to win in 4:21.23, a PR by 2.77 seconds and 5.44 seconds better than Pardue.

“[My season] is definitely on the up-and-up,” Pratt-Perez said. “I’m happy about that. It’s good.”

James Wood also received wins from senior Andrew Link in the 300 hurdles (41.32 to to win by 1.35 seconds) and the 4x400 team. Landon Burdock, Zach Smith, Link and Trenton Manili teamed up to win by 4.91 seconds in 3:29.45. The Colonels were also led by Link in the 110 hurdles (second in 15.71) and Manili in the 200 (22.39).

“Ethan is a champion and has a great work ethic,” James Wood coach Abeeb Badmus said. “His hard work and dedication came through today [in the 1,600], and I’m very happy for him. The more competitive Link gets, I think the better he’ll elevate his performance. When we get to regionals and states, hopefully we’ll see his peak. I’m happy for him right now, because he’s giving everything he’s got.”

Millbrook won both relays it entered. The 4x800 team of Elijah McGee, Travis Hambrick, Trevor Lloyd, and Hayden won in 8:12.60 to beat Handley by 0.73, with Hayden bringing Millbrook from fourth to first on the anchor leg after the Pioneers trailed by a second. The 4x100 team of Tyler Lam, Scott Montgomery, Logan Downs and Landon Baker won by 0.78 in 43.16 to improve on their school-record-time.

All three Pioneers relays have qualified for the state meet.

“The boys’ 4x1, those kids have been working hard, and those four have been chasing that school record for four years basically since they’re all seniors,” Hall said. “I was pleased they were able to come out today in less than favorable conditions with the wind. The 4x8 getting a state-qualifying time in impressive.”

Senior Raheem Rowe continues to impress in the 100. The second-year runner and school record-holder captured the race in 11.48, 0.09 ahead of the runner-up.

“Raheem has worked his butt off in practice,” Hall said. “He came to me and said, ‘Coach, I really want to focus on being a 100-meter specialist. What do I need to do?’ He’s been working day in and day out, trying to get better.”

The Pioneers were also led by McGee in the 800 (2:01.40).

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