Brookville’s Nixon jumps to state title

By Ted Allen

Published: May 30, 2008

HARRISONBURG — Brookville senior Ethan Nixon couldn’t have asked for a better first day at Friday’s Group AA state track and field championships at Harrisonburg High.
Heritage senior Laura Rapp couldn’t have envisioned one much worse.
Running into a steady headwind, Nixon needed just one attempt to claim a state title in the triple jump, covering a distance of 45 feet, 5 inches.
“I attacked the board and felt really good on all of my phases and I got my PR by far,” said Nixon, who has been nursing a hamstring injury all season. “Hopefully, it will hold up through all the stress I’m going to put it through this weekend.”
Nixon skipped his last two preliminary jumps to qualify in the 110 hurdles, his strongest event which he won last spring and again in indoor this winter. He won his heat in a wind-impeded 14.87 seconds, and is seeded second for today’s final behind Caroline’s Marcus Dorsey, who won an earlier heat in 14.80.
Nixon wound up not having to make a single attempt in the triple jump finals.
“It held up,” he said. “I just wanted to limit the number of attempts as much as possible.”
Waynesboro’s Will Walter, seeded first going into the meet at 46-2, scratched on his final attempt and came in second at 44-8, followed by teammate Tim Brown (third in 44-5½).
“Everybody’s hitting the board well today, but you’ve got that headwind holding people up,” Nixon said. “Hopefully, we won’t have a headwind (today for the 110 hurdles).”
Brookville stands in second place in the team standings after the first day with 19 points, trailing only indoor champion Western Albemarle’s 34.
As usual, in the girls 3,200, Friday’s final event, Rapp took the lead from the start, with Brookville’s Janel Reeves right on her heels for the first two laps before taking the lead for a lap. Rapp maintained second place through the sixth of eight laps before struggling over the last half mile and finishing sixth.
“It wasn’t my best race,” Rapp said. “It was one of those days as soon as the race got started, I could tell it was not my best day. It was an unfortunate day for it not to be my best day, but there’s always tomorrow.”
That would be today, when Rapp will compete in the 800 and 1,600 events.
Reeves, who has been Rapp’s runner-up in everything from cross country to the two-mile over the past year, placed second in 11:14.09, two seconds behind Blacksburg’s Laurel MacMillan.
“The last three laps, the girl from Pulaski County took the lead and it became a race,” Reeves said. “The last three laps were a rush.”
She moved up from fifth place to second as Rapp dropped more than 100 yards back from the frontrunners.
“She told me she felt dizzy,” Reeves said of Rapp after the race.
“I was just focused on the front of the pack the whole time. The last two laps, I was able to use my kick.”
Brookville freshman Talisha Watts came in third in the high jump by clearing a personal best height of 5-2. 
Liberty’s Tyler Hatcher placed fifth in the shot put with a personal best distance of 49-2¼ on his second throw.
Hatcher threw 43 feet last year and placed ninth in the indoor state meet with a heave of just over 46 feet.
“It was a great day to throw,” he said. “I exceeded my expectations. I came in seeded 10th and I got fifth. I couldn’t have been more happy.”
Turner Ashby’s Justin Smith, who finished second to Liberty’s Erik Kuchar at last year’s state meet, won with a toss of 54-2.
Brookville’s 3,200 relay team of Jacob Arthur, Nathan Turner, Jake Wilson and Jason Paljug came within a second of setting a school record, placing sixth in 8:08.86 after being seeded 17th. Region III champion William Byrd finished first in 8:00.63.
Heritage’s Shawn Sutton won the third of four heats in the 100 preliminaries and qualified second in 11.33, which tied top-seeded Kevin Pearson of Orange County, who won the final heat. Sutton later placed third in the 200 trials in 22.59.
Liberty’s Kenara Hurt qualified fifth in the 200 with a time of 26.02.
Action picks back up today at 9:30 a.m.