By Tim Tassa -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — The taunt was issued when a peer questioned his athleticism not long after he transferred to Millbrook as a junior in 2007 from Chesterfield.

"He challenged me," said Brenton Parham, now a senior, unable to recall the name of his antagonist.

"He was like, 'You're not fast at all.'"

To prove his adversary incorrect and reap the credit his legs craved, Parham joined the Pioneers' track team for the spring. Accentuated by his strict training and focus, Parham reacted to the jab the way any great athlete does — with earnest.

"It challenged me to come out there with all I have," he said.

Now a year and change later and a Group AA state champion, Parham can conclude:

"It turns out, I was better than I thought I was."

By better, however, Parham — The Northern Virginia Daily's Boys Track Athlete of the Year — was actually the best.

"He's had a great season and he's just a really hard worker, he goes out every day and gives it all," teammate Josh Cecil sad. "He's relentless — he only knows what's best for the team. He just goes out and gets it done."

At the Northwestern District meet on May 15, Parham was easily the most decorated in the competition at Skyline High School. Helping the Pioneers to a second straight boys title, Parham won the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles and added a first-place performance in the team's promising 4x400-meter relay.

Parham was the anchor of the foursome that featured Cecil, Brad Beauregard and Neil Bishop. They replicated their top performance at the Region II meet May 21, edging Louisa County.

"He was our strongest leg and we needed him every time we ran," Bishop said. "We needed him to be there — be our finishing leg."

But it was earlier during the region meet that Parham overcame his season's greatest challenge and literal hurdle.

During the 300-meter hurdles, he fell along the backstretch, creating what is normally insurmountable ground to cover. Yet he quickly maneuvered to his feet and salvaged a third-place finish.

"Everything I do I try not to give up, as a matter of fact, everything I do I don't give up," said Parham, citing family, friends and coaches as motivational cues in his life.

"So you know to come in third, it's not first but it's a great accomplishment because it allowed me to see how well I can recover if something happened like that."

Following regionals, another challenge loomed for Parham in correcting the technical flaws that were cause for his fall. But working hard, according to teammates, has never been an issue since he began the sport.

A receiver and free safety on Millbrook's football team, Parham said that to build the endurance necessary for success in the 300-hurdles and a 400-meter sprint, he'd continuously run hills and practice 450-meter runs.

"You have to work hard in practice to be able to do what you want to do," Parham said.

With just more than a week to prepare for the state meet in Harrisonburg, Parham focused on perfecting jumps with Millbrook's coaching staff, while battling a sense of nervousness, according to head coach Jennifer Ireland.

But the jitters weren't a factor and the extra work paid off, as Parham took top honors in the 300-meter event at Harrisonburg High School in 39.22 seconds, more than six-tenths of a second more than the second-place finisher. Millbrook's 4x400-relay finished in second place in the meet's final event.

"It just shows his character right there," Ireland said. "He was a hard worker. He always tried to do his best, and even when something like that happened, he never gave up."

R Contact Tim Tassa at ttassa@nvdaily.com

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