4A Indoor Track State

LYNCHBURG — Millbrook senior Nick Hayden and Handley junior Will Pardue each won the first indoor state track & field titles of their careers on Tuesday on the second and final day of the Virginia High School League Class 4 meet at Liberty University.

Hayden — who has signed with NCAA Division I Columbia University — recorded a time of 2 minutes, 28.36 seconds to win the 1,000 meters by 0.89 over Pulaski County’s Cole Boone. It is the second state track title for Hayden, who won the Class 4 800 title in the spring of 2022.

Hayden also anchored Millbrook to second place in the 4x400. Landon Baker, Elijah McGee and Scott Montgomery also ran on the relay, which recorded a time of 3:26.74 to Blacksburg's 3:25.42.

Pardue won the 3,200 with a time of 9:17.55. Handley junior Garrett Stickley placed second in 9:22.27.

Blacksburg won the boys' meet with 64 points. Deep Creek was second with 44.5. Out of 38 scoring scoring teams, Handley was ninth with 24 points, Millbrook was 14th with 19, Sherando was tied for 21st with 8 and James Wood tied for 27th with 5.

Western Albemarle won the girls' meet with 73 points, four more than Blacksburg (69). Handley placed seventh out of 38 scoring teams with 31 points. Sherando tied for 23rd with 5 points and Millbrook tied for 27th with 4. James Wood did not score.

Three other area athletes earned silver medals. The top eight finishers in each event earned All-State status.

In the boys’ meet, Sherando sophomore Noah Harris placed second in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 2 inches behind Fauquier’s Wyatt Shaw (6-4). Harris also placed 15th in the 500 (1:10.77).

In the girls’ meet, Handley had two girls combine for three silver medals.

Judges sophomore Emeryce Worrell took second in both the 55 (school-record 7.09) and 300 (40.35) to Madison Whyte of Heritage (Newport News). Whyte recorded a 6.94 in the 55 and 37.28 in the 300.

Handley senior Elizabeth Imoh recorded a school-record 8.40 in the 55 hurdles to take second to Myzhane Soloman of Heritage (Newport News), who finished in 8.28. Imoh placed sixth in the high jump with a mark of 4-10 on Monday to earn All-State honors.

Worrell and Imoh also teamed with Madison Hobson and Monet Thomas to place fifth in the 4x200 (1:48.23).

Millbrook’s Jada Arrington placed fifth in the 300 (41.30). Sherando’s Emma Ahrens placed fifth in the 3,200 in 11:15.54 and Eva Winston took eighth in the 1,000 (3:05.86).

Also in the boys’ meet, James Wood’s Ethan Pratt-Perez placed fourth in the 3,200 (9:24.83); Handley’s Aaron Lee was eighth in the 300 (36.07); and the Millbrook 4x200 team of McGee, Montgomery, Logan Downs and Baker placed eighth in 1:32.76.

Handley’s Pierce Francis was 11th in the 3,200 (9:44.13) and the Judges 4x200 team of Lee, Christian Metzger, Rylan Stribling and Manno Lusca placed 11th in 1:33.34. James Wood’s Eli Clark was 17th in the 3,200 in 9:56.52.

On Monday, Handley’s boys’ 4x800 relay team of Max Ware, Stickley, Francis and Pardue recorded a time of 8:06.34 to finish fourth.