Girls' track & field notebook: Kieffer leads strong distance effort for Wood

WINCHESTER — As a first-year runner in 2023, James Wood’s Alina Kieffer certainly had her share of success, which included placing third in the Class 4 Northwestern District in the outdoor 3,200 meters and recording a top time of 11 minutes, 58.11 seconds.

But her sophomore year has been elite, and Saturday’s 55th H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Track & Field Invitational at James Wood was the latest example of that.

Kieffer won the 3,200 by a whopping 38.2 seconds with a time of 11:36.59. It wasn’t her best time of the year — she did that during the indoor season, when she had a top time of 11:27.62 and eventually placed fourth in Class 4 with a 11:30.31. But it was her best time of the spring, and given that she already left the 12-girl field well behind her for good by the end of the first lap, it was a disciplined performance that bodes well for the future.

James Wood coach Craig Woshner said the team’s distance runners have been running a lot of miles during hard workouts so far, with the goal of being at their best in the postseason. Race days haven’t necessarily resulted in peak performances as a result. For example, two weeks prior at the Handley Invitational, Kieffer led the 3,200 for the first three laps before she fell back to sixth, finishing in 12:23.

“She’s been a little frustrated the first part of the season,” Woshner said. “They’ve been training pretty hard. I don’t know if any [of the distance girls] have been racing at capacity yet, which is kind of the plan. She was sick for one of the races, didn’t have a good 3,200 at Handley.

“So today was a good bounceback for her. I was happy to see that. She was happy with the performance, maybe not time so much, because she ran faster indoors. But she wasn’t pushed and challenged today.”

Kieffer said she was hoping to finish Saturday’s race in 11:20. She was on pace for that time through 1,600 meters, coming through in 5:40.

“I went out really hard and kind of died off toward the end,” Kieffer said. “In past races, there’s been someone in front of me, so I could push toward that. Towards the end, I’m able to try and get a little closer to them. But there was no out there for me [to chase] today.”

After not knowing what to expect out of herself as a freshman, Kieffer now has higher standards for herself. She had a standout cross country season and placed 24th in Class 4 prior to All-State indoor track season. She said trusting her coaches and improved training have made a big difference.

“I think as a fairly new runner, it’s still pretty easy for me to go in and get big PRs, just because I don’t have a lot to base off of,” Kieffer said. “The workouts and long runs have gotten me to get to this point.”

Kieffer expects her best times will come in the postseason, where there will be plenty of competition from Region 4D and Class 4. Kieffer said she’ll have to push herself hard to get All-State in outdoors like she did in indoor. For example, her sophomore teammate Kate Konyar — who won the Handley Invitational and ran an 11:20.46 at Woodgrove’s Wolverine Classic but only ran the 1,600 on Saturday — is at least one girl who did not participate in indoor track that Kieffer will have to contend with in the outdoor postseason.

“I’ll just have to do my best,” Kieffer said.

The Colonels nearly won the 1,600 earlier in the meet as well. Konyar and James Wood junior Ruby Ostrander were running next to each other and came through three laps in the lead at 4:06. But they were passed on the final lap by both Warren County’s Kaley Tanner (5:23.35) and Loudoun Valley’s Eryn Lackey (5:24.12), and Konyar took third (5:27.26) and Ostrander placed fourth (5:32.16). Both Wood runners have run under 5:20 previously in their careers, with Konyar having already met the state-qualifying standard of 5:20.32 this year.

“Ideally, you always want somebody else to be the rabbit in the race, and have your kids be able to leach off them a little bit,” Woshner said. “But I always believe you can’t let people dilly-dally around with the pace. At some point, you have to make a decision whether you’re going to go after it. We’ve got girls going after state qualifying. Kate’s done it, but Ruby hasn’t, so that 5:19, 5:20 barrier is where we need her. If the race is going slow, you need to make a decision to push it.

“Even if the end result wasn’t good as far as what their times were, I like the effort and I like the fact that they went after it. That’s the mentality I want. You’re never going to run fast by playing it safe. The fact that they’re willing to put themselves out there and try to keep the pace honest, that’s what we want to see.”

Millbrook

Janai Washington continued her impressive freshman season for the Pioneers on Saturday, taking the high jump with a mark of 4-10 and taking sixth in the 200 in 28.56. Washington did not run the 400, where she has the area’s No. 2 time this year (1:01.98).

“I did not expect to do this well as a freshman,” Washington said. “I’m really excited with how it’s going.”

Washington’s best high jump mark in middle school was 4-9, but she’s jumped at least 4-10 at each of Millbrook’s last three invitationals with a best of 4-11. She hit 4-10 at the Class 4 state meet during indoor track to place sixth.

“In middle school, we didn’t really learn much technique,” she said. “I just kind of went and jumped for it. This year, I’m learning how to get over the bar technically and powerfully, which helps a lot.”

Washington jumped during a time when it was raining on Saturday. Millbrook coach Jamie McCarty said the feeling was that Washington might have cleared 5-0 in dry conditions based on how good her attempts at that height looked.

This is Washington’s first year doing the 200. In the 400, she has dropped seven seconds from her top middle school time.

“The weight room has made my legs a lot stronger, and has made it easier for when I am tired to push through,” Washington said.

Washington’s performance was part of a strong day overall for Millbrook. The Pioneers took third despite having an unsuccessful handoff between the first and second legs on the 4x100. (Millbrook was disqualified after finally making the handoff after a complete stop outside of the zone. The Pioneers kept running and still boasted one of the better times.) Millbrook also did not have two of its better runners in Savannah Florek and Addison Stover due to another commitment, so the Pioneers did not have 4x800 or 4x400 teams on Saturday.

“We feel like we’ve got a good group of six, seven, eight girls who can contribute, and when we get to these invitationals it’s been showing up that way,” McCarty said.

Clarke County

The Eagles took fifth even though they wound up pulling out some people who might have scored points. They also scored 22 more points than defending Class 2 state champion Strasburg.

Clarke County coach Andre Kidrick said both of his teams had some athletes pull out due to some issues with soreness and tightness, adding that the Eagles will have prepare themselves better going forward. Kidrick said he heard plenty of complaints about the conditions, but he liked how the Eagles responded when they needed to. Both of his squads placed fifth.

“They stepped up and were still willing to compete,” said Kidrick, adding that he had two girls volunteer to run the 4x400 when they learned one of the girls who was supposed to be run wouldn’t be able to do it. “We’ve got a lot of athletes on both teams who are young or don’t have a lot of experience, but I’m excited about both teams.”

Sophomore Alainah McKavish couldn’t run the open 400 because of a muscle issue in one of her legs that had bothered her earlier in the week, but the addition of the basketball star to this year’s team makes a difference. She helped the 4x100 team take second place and she took fourth in the triple jump.

“Most weekends, she’s gone at a basketball tournament, so we were glad to have her today,” Kidrick said. “She’s got to learn track, but she’s doing well and enjoying it. Right now, she’s still figuring out what she wants to do. She’s doing the triple, and I think she wants to try the long jump.”

Unfortunately for the Eagles, they will not be at full strength the rest of the season. All-State distance runner Teya Starley was diagnosed with a significant leg injury earlier in the week and will miss the rest of the season.

“We’re going to miss her leadership and her ability,” Kidrick said.

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