By Jeremy Stafford -- Daily Sports Correspondent

MANASSAS PARK — While Clarke County track and field coach Andre Kidrick expected his girls to place first in the Bull Run District track and field championships on Wednesday, he wasn't sure how his boys would fare.

As the final scores were announced after the meet, Kidrick's face lit up with a smile: His girls, as expected, placed first with 182 points, and his boys joined them in the winner's circle with a meet-best 140 points.

"Our girls are expected to win states, so I had high expectations for them," said Kidrick, who was voted the Bull Run District Coach of the Year after the meet. "For the boys, I was hoping this would be the first of the big three stepping stones: districts, regionals, states. They came through today."

The Clarke County boys were led by John Lilly, who scored 24 points for the Eagles in three throwing events, including a first-place finish in the discus throw. He won the event on his first and only throw.

Last year, Lilly couldn't participate with the team because of a knee injury he suffered while playing basketball, but he hasn't let his brief hiatus hold him back this year.

"Having him back this year, as you can see in the field events, is just awesome," Kidrick said. "The worst thing about it is there's so many of those [events] going on at one time, he's getting lost trying to keep up and trying not to get scratched out of events."

Ben Veilleux placed first in both the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run, and awarded the Eagles 20 points, which they needed to finish ahead of second-place Manassas Park.

Clarke County edged the Cougars by a mere 3.8 points.

The margin of victory was far greater for the Clarke County girls, who finished 97 points ahead of Strasburg.

London Brown dominated the girls field events for Clarke County, scoring 28 points by placing first in the high jump and triple jump, and second in the long jump. Her high jump height of 5-01 is a personal best for her.

The points were more spread out for the Eagles in the running events, as Sophia Holmes, Andrea Gaither, and Amanda Reap scored a combined 52 points for Clarke County; none of them finished lower than second place in an event.

Gaither, a freshman, made her presence known early, as she ran neck-and-neck with Manassas Park's Sharise Roberts in the 200-meter dash and the 100-meter dash, but finished second in both races.

"I was honestly glad to see that she was a little upset that she came in second in the 200," Kidrick said. "That just means she's hungry."

Gabe Giersch of Strasburg was also hungry. She participated in six events and scored 24 points for the second-place Rams, including a second-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles.

Andrew Kibler, also of the Rams, was named Boys Athlete of the Year after the meet. Kibler placed first in both the 110-meter hurdle and the 300-meter hurdle, second in the triple jump, and sixth in the long jump.

"It's a surprise to me, I've never really won at something this big in track before," Kibler said. "I just came in hoping to at least make it to regionals in some events."

Comment on this story | View Comments |