Heritage girls nip Brookville for Region III track title

By Ted Allen

Published: May 24, 2008

With the Region III girls track and field team championship in the balance, the anchor runners from Brookville, Heritage and Turner Ashby crashed across the finish line simultaneously in Saturday’s meet-ending 1,600-meter relay at Liberty University.
Clinging to a two-point lead on Brookville, Pioneers sprinter Amanda Wimbush passed Bees’ distance runner Janel Reeves on the back stretch and barely held off a strong kick from Reeves while TA’s Molly Skidmore skidded across the finish line in first place by a baton’s length.
The Knights won in 4 minutes, 7.28 seconds followed by Heritage (4:07.36) and Brookville (4:07.41), but the Pioneers emerged as team champions with 81 points to the Bees’ 77.
“The girls wanted it so bad so we all picked it up,” said Wimbush, who ran for the first time in two weeks after spraining her ankle in the pole vault. “Everybody was giving their all. I knew the team was depending on me on the last lap. I gave all I had.”
“We knew she was capable of doing it,” Heritage coach Theo McIvor added, noting the time was five seconds off its fastest. “Normally, we run with Laura Rapp. Today, we ran a freshman, two sophomores and a junior.”
Destiny Dubose and Jamie Long got the Pioneers out in front before the Bees’ Dominique Marshall surged ahead on the third leg, setting up the dramatic finish.
McIvor and Brookville coach Ramsey Moore knew the meet would hinge on the final relay.
“That was the best we could put in there,” said Moore, who stacked his team with Shelley Parker, Uniquequa Jackson, Marshall and Reeves. “It was a heartbreaker.”
He said mental mistakes cost his girls team at least a second.
“One girl ran in Lane 2 the whole way, which made it about eight yards longer, and we didn’t have good handoffs,” Moore said.
He hopes the Bees can learn from the race and be ready for next Friday and Saturday’s Group AA state meet at Harrisonburg.
“We’ve got to be motivated for next week when it really matters,” Moore said.
That’s also what he expects from his boys team, which broke open a two-point lead on Turner Ashby after Friday’s field events and withstood a strong charge by Heritage (69) to defend its team title with 97 points.
The Bees also held off the Pioneers for second place in the 1,600 relay, with anchor Chad Mason edging Dakota Pellman down the stretch.
Brookville won the 400 relay, with 110 hurdles and high jump champion Ethan Nixon filling in for Hugh Oulds at anchor as he did in the Seminole meet, and qualified on time in the 3,200 relay. In all, the Bees will carry more than 25 boys to Harrisonburg, giving them an edge in depth over most of the field.
Logan Thomas placed third in the 110 and 300 hurdles and fifth in the discus.
“Every time he’s run this year, he’s dropped time,” Nixon said. “From the first time he ran the 110s to now, he’s dropped three seconds, which is an unbelievable improvement.”
Nixon pulled out of the 300 hurdles and the triple jump due to a nagging hamstring injury, but plans to compete in all three jumps, both hurdling events and possibly anchor the 400 relay again at the state meet.
“I feel like it’s my responsibility to do all I can,” he said. “Hopefully, we can go out an win the state as a team.”
Brookville has won two indoor state titles, but none outdoor.
Heritage swept all three sprints on Saturday, led by Shawn Sutton (100 and 200) and Corey Calloway (400 in a PR 49.08). Calloway also finished runner-up to Sutton in the 200 after winning the long jump and placing fourth in the triple jump.
“He got the lead in the 200 and I couldn’t even catch up,” Calloway said.
Sutton ran his fastest time in the 100 trials, clocking a 10.95.
“He got away from the field from the get-go,” Calloway said.
In the 400 relay, as he did at the Seminole meet, Nixon barely survived Sutton’s anchor kick, winning by 0.07 seconds in 43.34.
Heritage senior Laura Rapp repeated her Seminole distance sweep, defending her Region III title in the 800 (2:15.48) and outrunning Reeves in the 1,600 (5:10.32) and 3,200 (11:19.07).
She was relieved not to have to run against Blacksburg, which moved to Region IV with the River Ridge District, and Northside’s Catherine White, who staged the distance sweep as a senior at the state meet last year.
Rapp already had qualified for state in all three events.
“That took most of the pressure off,” she said. “I’m trying to peak at the right time and get my best times when it really counts.”
Liberty’s Kenara Hurt, who sat out last spring with a broken ankle suffered in basketball, placed second in the 100 (12.83) and 200 (26.35) and third in the 400 in a PR time of 1:00.13.
Staunton River senior Sarah Witt won the 100 hurdles in 15.46 and set a Region III meet record in the 300 hurdles (45.62).
Golden Eagles boys teammate James Bell overcame a back injury to win the pole vault by clearing 14-3, an inch off his indoor state title effort. Jefferson Forest’s Josh Drablos (14-0) placed second and Brookville’s Andrew Epperson (13-6) third.