Wood's Pratt-Perez earns first outdoor state medal

LYNCHBURG — James Wood senior Ethan Pratt-Perez said he didn’t feel his best on Saturday after waking up unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

He didn’t let that stop him from finally delivering a performance befitting of his ability at Liberty University’s Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex.

Prior to Saturday morning’s 3,200-meter race, the runner bound for NCAA Division I Bucknell University had never finished higher than 14th in an individual race at the Class 4 outdoor state track & field meet.

In just his second time running the 3,200 this spring, Pratt-Perez ran a season-best time by nearly 15 seconds and was 1.42 seconds away from his career-best time. Pratt-Perez placed third in 9:16.62 for his first outdoor track state medal. Pratt-Perez passed two runners in the final 225 meters.

“I was starting from the back and trying to move up,” Pratt-Perez said. “That was the plan. Not feeling 100 percent, so I didn’t want to go for anything like trying to sprint to the front and holding it. I’m really happy with how I performed with how I felt.”

James Wood coach Craig Woshner would have liked to have seen Pratt-Perez start off a little faster, given that Pratt-Perex was in 11th place and that four people were already four seconds in front of him.

“After the first 400, he spent the next five laps playing catch-up,” Woshner said. “He did do a fantastic job of getting himself back in the race and kind of gradually closing in on people and picking them off one at a time. With about 500 meters left, I was a little worried because he had spent all that time catching up that I didn’t know if he was going to have enough gas in the tank for that last lap.”

Pratt-Perez had actually moved up to fourth after six laps but dropped back to fifth prior to the last lap. But he started flying on the backstretch to pass one runner with 225 meters to go, then another with 125 left. Woshner was happy for Pratt-Perez to get third after closing with a final lap of 1:03.48, his best lap by four and a half seconds.

That strong finish wound up giving Pratt-Perez the highest finish for a Winchester-Frederick County boy on the track at the state meet. Pratt-Perez also earned All-State honors in cross country (second) and indoor track (third in the 3,200) this year.

“I’m very happy with my state performances this year,” he said.

Later in the day, Pratt-Perez also ran in the 800, where he was seeded fourth in 1:56.47. He took 14th in 2:00.31.

“I didn’t feel tired, but I think my legs were,” Pratt-Perez said.

Pratt-Perez appreciated the coaching he got in his high school career from Woshner, head cross country coach Matthew Lofton, and cross country and track assistant Tyler Cox-Philyaw.

“I’ve loved the coaching, and my teammates were good,” he said. “I had a really good high school experience overall.”

Pratt-Perez also ran on the 4x800 team that placed ninth on Friday. The Colonels finished nearly three seconds behind their seed time, which would have given them All-State honors had they matched it.

“Both the boys and the girls [4x800 teams] were three seconds off what they had run at regionals,” Woshner said. “When you get to the state level, you hope that everybody steps it up another notch, and that didn’t happen. We had a couple legs where their times weren’t as good as what they had been last week, and that was kind of a difference.”

Woshner said James Wood’s program needs to show a little more hunger on track’s biggest stage.

“For the most part, with our kids on both teams, they were close to where they were coming in, whether it was their season-best or PRs,” Woshner said. “We had a couple of good performances, and everybody else was steady. At this level, you don’t need steady. You need to go to that next level. That’s what we need to do as a program. We’ve had that issue for maybe the last few years where we’re happy enough to get here and not taking advantage of the opportunity to step it up another notch.”

Woshner said in terms of improvement, junior Trenton Manili probably had the best weekend. In the 200, he came in with a seed time of 22.84, ranking 22nd out of 25 athletes, and he took 10th with a PR of 22.57. Manili was 0.12 away from qualifying for the eight-runner finals.

“Dropping that much time in the 200 is great,” Woshner said. “That’s an example of somebody stepping up to the competition, so I was really happy with what he did.”

Sherando

Another distance star who closed out his high school career with his first individual outdoor state medal on Saturday was Sherando senior Dylan McGraw. Seeded fifth in the 800 with a seed time of 1:57.50, McGraw set a personal record with a time of 1:57.25 to finish fourth.

After the Northwestern District meet, McGraw said he ran in both the 1,600 and 800 that day because he planned on running in both at the state meet. After checking out what the rest of the state was doing in the 1,600, however, he decided his best bet was to skip the 1,600 and focus on being completely fresh for the 800.

McGraw got caught up in some traffic around the 200 mark after deciding he did not want to be in first. He got boxed in, and was in sixth place after one lap. But at the 525-meter mark, McGraw found another gear and moved up to fourth with 110 meters left. McGraw held that position from there.

“That second 400, I knew I had to do some work. I went out to Lane 2, passed a couple of guys and finished faster than my first lap,” said McGraw, who ran a 57.28 second lap after a 59.97 first lap. “What really powered me was that I didn’t want to say in my head, ‘I’ve got more left.’ I just thought, ‘It’s the last one [for the 800]. Go out there and give it everything I’ve got,’ and that’s what I did.”

McGraw started his weekend helping the 4x800 team of junior Jed Bell, sophomore Hatcher Smith and senior Brock Smith place eighth in the 4x800 in 8:05.53. Hatcher, Brock’s younger brother, was running 2:18 in the 800 earlier this year but improved to 2:05 at the end. That was an important development for the relay and for junior Noah Harris, who previously ran on the 4x800 and was able to focus on winning the high jump state championship, which also took place on Friday.

“I’m proud of my guys,” McGraw said. “We worked all season. One second slower than regionals, but we’re happy with it. [Hatcher] stepped up at regionals and states and filled the role that we needed him to fill.”

McGraw also ran on the Sherando 4x400 team that placed 15th in 3:29.12, a season PR. Sophomore Peyton Sullivan, Brock Smith and Harris also ran on the relay.

McGraw — who will run for the NCAA Division III Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s premier cross country and track program in the University of Lynchburg — enjoyed running for Sherando greatly.

“I’m proud of myself for finishing a great high school career,” McGraw said. “I can’t thank Sherando enough. It’s bittersweet in that it was a great season, but it’s sad that it’s ending now. I’m very happy with my improvement this season. I ended up staying pretty healthy, which was one of my main goals. I’m excited for the next chapter.”

Sherando coach Brad Symons said McGraw deserved his success.

“Great end to his career,” he said. “He’s done a great job in the classroom and on the track. He’s going to be hard to replace because of how he performs and what he does as a leader. He’s a great kid.”

Handley

The Judges had an excellent Saturday in the sprints. The team of senior Christian Metzger, senior Manno Lusca, junior Savion Thomas and sophomore Rylan Stribling won the second of three heats and placed fifth in a season-best 42.75. McKiernan said assistant coach Lloyd Phillips did an excellent job with the sprinters this year.

“At the beginning of the year, I think most people would not have expected our 4x1 to place [at the state meet],” McKiernan said. “I thought we had a chance, but I heard some skepticism. Coach Phillips and the kids believed. He does a great job.”

Stribling set a PR to take seventh in the 100 (10.92), this after setting a PR of 10.93 in Friday’s prelims. Stribling was the 15th seed at 10.97 coming into the meet.

“For just a sophomore, I thought he ran very, very well,” McKiernan said.

After the Northwestern District meet, McKiernan wasn’t sure if junior Hassan Akanbi would compete again in the high jump this season because of his knee issues. Akanbi — the state runner-up in the high jump last year and for indoor track this year — took eighth place with a mark of 6-1. His top mark is 6-6.

“He tried,” McKiernan said. “He was not his full self, but he gave it a shot. That speaks to his competitive nature. I just want him healthy for football.”

Senior Will Pardue managed to earn All-State honors by taking eighth in the 3,200 in 9:32.12. He also took 19th in the 1,600 (4:30.17), but he did not have the season he wanted given his past accomplishments.

Pardue placed fourth in the 3,200 and eighth in the 1,600 at last year’s state meet, placed second in the 3,200 at indoor states and fifth in the two-mile at indoor nationals this year, and had times of 9:02.70 for the 3,200 and 4:19.10 in the 1,600 earlier this spring.

Pardue said he had some issues this year with gluten, and thought he might have overtrained at times this year. He had fast workout times, but those workouts didn’t always translate to strong race performances.

“It was a tough season, but I’ve got four or five more years,” said Pardue, who will run for NCAA Division I New Mexico next year. “I was just happy to be healthy to run today.”

In Pardue’s final race, the 1,600, he wore the singlet that used to belong to Handley distance legend Bobby Lockhart. He passed three people in the final 200.

“Two of those guys got me in 3,200, so I just wanted to end high school track on a surge,” Pardue said. “There’s so much history running for Handley. Every time I put on the Handley singlet, I just have pride. I’m just honored to be out here.”

McKiernan said he appreciated Pardue’s effort this year.

“He didn’t have the season he was looking for, but it wasn’t lack of work,” he said.

Handley senior Garrett Stickley, headed to Florida State, was listed in the entries for the 3,200, but he ultimately wasn’t healthy enough to run after missing almost the entire season with an injury. He was the 3,200 state runner-up in 2023.

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