Brookville boys second, girls third in Group AA meet

By Ted Allen

Published: May 31, 2008

HARRISONBURG — High winds and high drama marked the final day of the Group AA state track and field championships at Harrisonburg High.
Brookville’s boys team received a second individual title from Ethan Nixon and repeated its runner-up indoor team finish to Western Albemarle.
After losing by two points in the indoor state meet at Liberty University, Brookville (45.33) came within 10 points of the Warriors (54).
“It’s good to finish second, but it is also tough with how close we are, just like in indoor,” Bees coach Ramsey Moore said. “They left all they had on the track.”
Nixon, who won the triple jump with his only attempt on Friday, defended his state crown in the 110-meter high hurdles in a wind-impeded 14.78 seconds. No other runner finished under 15.0.
“My hamstring’s really tight (so) I knew I had to run my race, stay comfortable and relaxed,” Nixon said. “That’s when I run my best.”
He placed third in the high jump by clearing 6-foot-4 on his second attempt, but didn’t qualify in the long jump and finished last in his heat in the 300 hurdles.
Heritage’s boys got fifth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 from Shawn Sutton, who also anchored the Pioneers’ third-place 400 relay, and a third-place finish from Corey Calloway in the long jump (20-6½) to take 11th as a team with 20 points.
“I scratched by a toe or I could have won it,” Calloway said as he brushed sand out of his hair and off his sweaty face. “I fell into the pit. I’ve tasted a lot of it today.”
Sutton compared running in the wind to running in sand.
“It was horrible,” he said. “Wind is your worst nightmare. It was like you’re running in quicksand. The faster you go, the slower you go.”
In the girls competition, Shelley Parker repeated her indoor pole vault title after running a leg of the 400-meter relay, which won after York was disqualified, to pace the Bees to a third-place showing. Brookville (39 points) trailed only Brentsville (45) and Park View-Sterling (42).
The girls meet had its share of controversy, starting with the opening 100-meter hurdles, which had to be re-run later in the day after Staunton River’s Sarah Witt was struck by a flying hurdle.
“A girl in the lane next to me hit a hurdle and it flipped back and hit my knee,” Witt said.
Witt wound up fifth in that race, after coming in seventh in the first run. But that may have taken a toll on her in the 300 hurdles, her strongest event, run a half hour later.
“In the 300, I was ranked first, so it was a little disappointing,” said Witt, who came in third in 46 seconds. “I’m happy to place in three events.”
Witt also came in seventh in the pole vault by clearing 9 feet, breaking her own school record of 8-9.
“That was probably my highlight of the day,” she said.
Parker matched the 11-0 height she cleared to win the indoor state title, after clearing 9-0 on her first attempt and skipping 9-6 and 9-9 to run on the Bees’ winning 400 relay.
She got over 10-0 on her first attempt and 10-3 with ease before clearing 10-6 on her first try, with Western Albemarle’s Nicole Harding getting over that height after missing twice.
Parker eclipsed 11 feet for the first time this season.
“That was really fun,” Parker said. “It was worth all the stress (of shuttling between the vault pit and track). I’m used to jumping in the wind.”
After mysteriously slipping to sixth place in the 3,200 on Friday, Heritage senior Laura Rapp took third in the 1,600 before winning her first outdoor state title in the 800 in 2:17.15, leading the Pioneers (23½) to an eighth-place team finish.
It was the third state title in Rapp’s career — one in cross country, one in the 1,000 in indoor and one in the 800 — all in her senior year.
“I went from sixth yesterday to third and first place today, so it was a nice progression,” Rapp said. “For my final high school race, it was pretty good, in spite of the wind.”
“The wind was insane,” she added. “I didn’t want to go out in the lead on the first lap. I wanted to hold behind the leader and when the wind was at my back on the back stretch of the second lap, I decided to go.”
The most dramatic moment of the day may have taken place off the track. A short time after running the third leg of Brookville’s winning 400-meter relay, as officials set up for the second run of the girls 100 hurdles, Dominique Marshall passed out. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she regained consciousness and was put on intravenous fluids.
“She’s passed out before,” Moore said. “It may have been a combination of the heat, a lack of food and stress.”
The Bees clearly missed her in the meet-ending 1,600 relay, which she would have anchored. Needing a third-place showing to overtake Brentsville or a fifth-place finish to surpass Park View, Brookville came in last in the fast heat and didn’t score.
“Unless you win the state championship, you’re going to lose your last track meet,” Moore said. “That’s disappointing.”
But the Bees have reason for optimism for the future.
“Everyone did what they could,” said Janel Reeves, who passed two girls on the last lap to place fourth in the 1,600 after surging into second in the 3,200 on Friday. “We’ll all be back next year, except for Candace Lewis, our only senior (the 400 relay anchor), so we’ll be just as good.”