Region 4C girls' track meet

WINCHESTER — Based on the performance lists for the athletes in Region 4A, 4B and 4D, Handley senior Elizabeth Imoh will not be the top seed for either the 100-meter hurdles or the 300 hurdles at the Class 4 state track & field meet at Liberty University.

If Imoh responds to the challenge in front of her in the same fashion that she dealt with the one presented to her at the Region 4C meet, the rest of the girls in the state better brace themselves.

Seeded second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 hurdles, Imoh shattered her personal records to win both races on Thursday at Millbrook High School. In between she chased at least two girls down and caught Kettle Run just before the finish of the 4x100 relay to give Handley a win in that event by just three-hundredths of a second.

Imoh started her day on the track by breaking 15 seconds for the first time in the 100 hurdles, recording a time of 14.97 to beat Tuscarora senior and No. 1 seed Chelsea Boykins by 0.21. Imoh’s previous best was 15.32.

She ended it with a performance that was both gritty and sizzling, beating the top-seeded Boykins with a time of 43.96 to Boykins’ 44.09 in the 300 hurdles. Imoh had not only never broken 44 seconds before, but had never broken 45 before. Her previous best was 45.26.

“I got to say I was a little bit worried when I looked at those heat sheets,” Imoh said. “But I was excited for sure to have people pushing me. It started off with good momentum in the high hurdles, then going on into the 4x1 and then into the 300, I just felt more confident as the day went on.”

Handley won five events overall, with sophomore Emeryce Worrell running a blazing second leg on the 4x100 in addition to sweeping the 100 and 200. The Judges placed fifth as a team with 69 points to lead local schools.

Led by 1,600 champion and senior Eva Winston, Sherando placed seventh with 40 points. James Wood was eighth with 39 and Millbrook was 13th with 12 in the 16-team meet. Tuscarora won with 97 points and Kettle Run was second with 95.

The top four placers in each event, as well as those with qualifying times and standards, advance to the Class 4 state meet on June 2 and 3 at Liberty University in Lynchburg.

Imoh pumped her right arm as she crossed the finish line first in the 100 hurdles, then got excited again when she saw her time flash on the scoreboard.

“I hadn’t PRed in those in a really long time,” said Imoh, who will run for the University of Virginia next year.

In the 300 hurdles, Imoh led after the second-to-last hurdle, but Boykins started to creep up on her as they made their way to the last hurdle. Imoh found another gear though to win.

“The 300 hurdles, the competition definitely helped in that one,” Imoh said. “That was a fight to the finish. That one was rough. I don’t think there was a point in the race where I was like, ‘Ok, I got it.’”

Judges coach Mike McKiernan thought Imoh — who also placed third in the high jump with a mark of 4-10 — could turn in performances like the ones she had Thursday at some point. It was just a matter of when.

“Her workouts were indicating that she was capable of running much better than she had so far,” McKiernan said. “I was really excited for her.”

Imoh will certainly have some tough competition at the state meet. Tori Lewis of Monacan has run as fast as 43.93 in the 300 hurdles, while Myzhane Solomon of Heritage (Newport News) has recorded a 14.51 in the 100 hurdles.

Imoh also provided an exciting finish in the 4x100 after junior E-Zani Venable, Worrell and junior Madison Hobson ran the first three legs. Worrell helped the Judges make up ground with her second leg, but Handley still trailed a couple teams by the time Imoh got the baton.

It looked like Kettle Run might still win, but Imoh had a furious push in the last 30 meters to help Handley to a season-best 50.14. Kettle Run took second in 50.17. Had the Cougars — who beat Handley at the district meet — won, they would have scored two more points and tied Tuscarora for the team title.

“We were a little further back than I was hoping to be, but we had a really strong first three legs,” Imoh said. “Because of districts last week, I thought we had to get it back. That pushed me a lot.”

With Millbrook sophomore Jada Arrington only competing in the 400 on Thursday, Worrell won both the 100 and 200 handily. She captured the 100 by 0.38 in 12.39 and took the 200 by 1.4 seconds over Sherando freshman Aliza Murray, who set a PR with a 26.51. Worrell recorded a time of 25.11.

“She was dominant today,” McKiernan said. “There was nobody in her zip code.”

Worrell was hoping to run under 25 seconds in the 200, but she’ll take what she did on Thursday.

“There’s definitely some technical things I can work on, but that’s every meet,” Worrell said. “I’m happy with the results.”

The Judges were also led by Znyah Johnson (second in the pole vault, 8-6).

Sherando’s Winston had a couple of big runs on Thursday.

She opened with a personal-best split of 2:22.6 in the 4x800 to put the Warriors in first. The Warriors team that also included Ryleigh Combs, Emma Ahrens and Gracie Defibaugh wound up taking third in 9:58.12 to qualify for the state meet. Seeded fifth, the Warriors finished 14 seconds ahead of their seed time.

Winston said the 4x800 team has grown significantly.

“Gracie Defibaugh started going really fast this year,” Winston said. “She and I have had similar splits all season. That’s exciting. Emma and Ryleigh really came together today.

“Everyone just had a really good day. It was exciting [qualifying for the state meet], because we’ve been working for that all season, and this was our last chance.”

Winston then beat her personal best by 3.25 seconds to win the 1,600. Winston was behind Lightridge’s Taylor Gibson by about 25 meters at the start of the last lap. With the strain on her face evident, she took the lead with about 90 meters to go.

“I was like, ‘Can I do it? I don’t know,’” said Winston of the final lap. “But then [in the last 200] I was like, ‘I can do it.’ [When I passed Gibson], I was just trying to hold on for dear life.

“Winning wasn’t quite on my radar [at the start of the race]. I was just trying to be top three. Those are good days when I can respond to what’s happening while I’m running.”

Sherando coach Brad Symons was impressed.

“Awesome run,” Symons said. “She did a great job. She just keeps improving. She’s kind of peaking at the right time.”

Symons was also glad to see Murray do as well as she did in the 200.

“She really works hard and I’m really happy for her,” Symons said. “She was seeded [seventh] and came on strong.”

The Warriors were also led by junior Sarah Starling, who took third in the shot put (33-11.5).

James Wood was paced by its 4x400 team of Omaie Aarami, Ella Kiesewalter, Mallory Juvinall and Quetzali Angel-Perez, which placed third in 4:12.01.

Freshman Kate Konyar placed fourth in the 1,600 in 5:17.85.

“[Konyar] had already qualified for states in the 3,200, and today she was able to accomplish her goal of making states in the 1,600,” Colonels coach Abeeb Badmus said. “I’m very happy for her. She’s been working very hard. She deserves all the credit today.”

Millbrook’s Arrington is one of the premier 400 runners in the state, but she faced an unusual situation on Thursday. Fauquier junior Cassidy Scott — who won the 1,000 and 1,600 at this year’s Class 4 state indoor meet, the 800 and 1,600 at last year’s outdoor state meet, and was the state runner-up in cross country in the fall — decided to run the 400 on Thursday.

Arrington led most of the way, but Scott took over with about 50 meters left. Scott recorded a 56.52 while Arrington still ran a 57.99, not far off her PR of 57.74.

Millbrook coach Joe Hall thinks Arrington will learn from the race. Hall said Arrington likes to run the first 200 hard and then hold on from there, but Scott’s endurance won out in the end.

“Instead of backing off the accelerator a little bit, she ran the first 200 too hot,” said Hall of Arrington, who has also qualified for the state meet in the 100 and 200. “She was asking questions about how do we get prepared for state knowing that could potentially happen again.”

Hall said he enjoyed that Millbrook hosted the region meet.

“Seeing so many people here to support the track program was great,” he said. “We had a lot of people volunteer their time, and that means a lot.”

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