Boys' Handley Invitational

WINCHESTER — With six scholalrship offers already from NCAA Division I schools, Handley junior lineman Jaishaun Offutt has a bright future ahead of him in football.

As evidencd by the fact that Offutt has his shot put personal record listed on his X profile page, he takes a lot of pride in what he’s doing in the present in track & field, too. Saturday’s Handley Invitational was just the latest example of why.

In his first invitational meet of the spring, the Class 4 indoor state champion led the way in a field of 36 shot putters with mark of 52 feet, 10 inches, well ahead of second-place Ethan Gonzalez of Sherando’s top mark of 45-2.5.

Only three people at last year’s Class 4 outdoor meet and this year’s Class 4 indoor meet threw as far as Offutt did on Saturday. His performance on Saturday was one most people can only dream of, but Offutt is always looking to establish new levels of reality. He won the state indoor shot put with a mark of 56-1, and he opened the spring season with a winning mark of 54-1 at the Judges’ home quad.

“He was a little disappointed he only threw 52, but it was a good day for Jaishaun,” Handley coach Mike McKiernan said.

The Judges had a good day as a team. Handley placed third out of 22 scoring teams with 72.5 points, finishing only behind Potomac Falls (96) and Woodgrove (82). Led by discus champion Micah Carlson, Sherando tied for eighth with 42 points. James Wood was 11th with 22, Clarke County placed 14th with 16 points and Millbrook did not score.

“I didn’t think we wracked up as many points as we had [until near the end],” said McKiernan, who couldn’t pay close attention to everything due to the responsibilities that come with hosting an invitational. “I think for us to score more than 70 points is really a good sign for the quality of the team. I felt in the preseason we would be better in meets like this than we would in a dual meet. I was very pleased. We have more depth than I was anticipating. I feel like we still have a lot of room to grow. There’s a lot of opportunity for improvement with this team.”

Offutt continues to get stronger every year, but he’s spent more time this year practicing with the shot put, and it’s paid off with improved technique. And winning the indoor state shot put title has improved his confidence. He won it with his last throw.

“I just gave it my all,” said Offutt of indoor states. “[Today], my last throw scratched, but it was probably my best throw all day. It probably would have been a 54 or 55.”

With offers from William & Mary, Towson, New Hampshire, Elon, Georgetown and Morgan State, Offutt has plenty of reason to be excited about football. Offutt — who also plays basketball — enjoys the responsibility that comes with an individual sport.

“You can put in as many reps as you need to get better at your throws,” Offutt said.

Handley was also led by Gavin Williams (11-0) and Peter Kim (10-6), who took second and third, respectively, in the pole vault.

In his first year competing in track, senior football and basketball player Breylon Miller placed third in the high jump with a state-qualifying mark of 6-1.

Last year’s state runner-up in the high jump, junior Hassan Akanbi, also jumped 6-1 but placed fifth based on needing more attempts to progress through the competition than Miller. McKiernan said the knee of Akanbi — whose personal best in the high jump is 6-6 — has been bothering him, but Akanbi still managed an impressive mark of 21-2.5 in the long jump to place third.

“That was good to see him do that,” McKiernan said.

Handley was also led by Ryan Stribling (third in the 200, 23.38, fifth in the 100, 11.76), Will Thomas (third in the 3,200, 9:47.62) and Brendan Campbell (fourth in the 300 hurdles, 42.90).

Judges senior Will Pardue was seeded second (4:16.56) for the first-ever boys’ invitational mile at the Handey Invitational, but the New Mexico signee and indoor 3,200 state runner-up finished sixth out of 13 runners in 4:25.83 after being in third place halfway through the race.

“I thought he ran a smart race, but with 300 to go, his legs just didn’t respond,” McKiernan said. “I feel like his workouts indicate he’s in better condition than he may have shown today. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on there.”

There was a lot of distance talent on display in the invitational mile, but Saturday’s attendees didn’t get to see all of the stadium’s top distance talent in action. Handley senior Garrett Stickley was actually listed in the meet heat sheets as a participant for the 3,200 meters, but he’s been on crutches since Tuesday and will not compete the rest of the season.

The 2023 Winchester Star Boys’ Track & Field Athlete of the Year and Florida State signee missed almost the entire cross country season with a stress fracture in his right leg, and McKiernan said he’ll miss the rest of the outdoor season because of a left hip injury. McKiernan said it had been bothering him for two weeks. Stickley appeared to be primed for a big spring after taking second in 9:08.82 in the two mile at the indoor adidas Track Nationals at the Virginia Beach Sports Center on March 16.

Another member of the area’s talented distance scene, James Wood senior Ethan Pratt-Perez, found himself toward the back early in the invitational mile. He worked his way up and found himself in second behind Thomas Edison’s Rami Dib with 250 meters to go. But Loudoun Valley’s Ty Blair — the Class 4 3,200 indoor state champion and state runner-up in indoor track this year — came from behind with a strong late kick in the final 200 meters and passed both of them. Blair won with a time of 4:19.51, Dib was second in 4:20.62 and Pratt-Perez took third in 4:22.11.

Given the windy conditions, Pratt-Perez — who took third in the indoor 3,200 this winter — was pleased with his day. He also took third in the 800 in 2:03.03 after maneuvering around another runner who fell in front of him about 10 meters from the finish line.

“[The invitational mile] was fun,” said Pratt-Perez of the race in which runners were introduced with their accomplishments over the public address system by James Wood cross country coach Matthew Lofton while they jogged 100 meters to the start line. “I’ve never experienced one of those. I liked the introduction.

“I thought my strategy was fantastic. Third place out of the people in that race, I’m not disappointed with how I finished.”

Pratt-Perez feels good about the way he’s been running this season. He’s already recorded a time of 1:56.69 in the 800, though he feels best about what he can do in the 3,200.

“I’m very comfortable about my first two meets,” he said. “I think I have a really good chance at doing well in states as opposed to the last few years.”

James Wood coach Craig Woshner didn’t want Pratt-Perez to go to the lead early in order to avoid taking on the brunt of the wind, so he thought he managed his race well.

“When you’re dealing with some of the top kids in the state, those kids can all kick well,” Woshner said. “Ethan’s kick, we’ve just got to work on that and fine-tune that a little bit, and we feel he’s going to be there by the end of the year. I thought he ran a smart race given the conditions and given the field.

“If the conditions were better, everyone would have a run a lot faster. I know the goal was to try and get as many guys as close to 4:15 as they could have. If it was a dead wind, those guys would have taken off from the gun. Nobody really wanted to take the lead, so that kind of impacted the times. But the event was a great highlight for the meet.”

Also for the Colonels, Jude Miller took fourth in the discus (132-0).

For Sherando, Carlson had a top mark of 151-2, which was 11-9 better than the runner-up. The Warriors were also led by Noah Harris (second in the high jump, 6-3), Quincy Walker (fifth in the shot put, 43-2) and the 4x400 team, which ran a time of 3:35.09 to take the first of the two heats and placed fourth overall. Dylan McGraw placed eighth in the invitational mile (4:30.08).

Freshman Isaac Nei paced Clarke County, taking fourth in the long jump (21-2) and fifth in the 200 (23.49). Will Booker placed sixth in the high jump (5-11) and the 4x100 team took sixth (44.91).

Woodgrove’s Connor Salmin earned Most Oustanding Track Performer honors, winning the 100 (11.15) and 200 (22.07) and running a leg on the winning 4x100 team (43.17). Taking the Most Outstanding Field Athlete Performer award was Potomac Falls’ Joseph Ernest Jr., who captured the long jump (22-9.5) and triple jump (45-4.5).

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

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at
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