HARRISONBURG -- Millbrook's Schavon Springer ran a different preliminary than Pulaski's Amber Church and Harrisonburg's Mandy Kaufmann on Friday night in the trials of the 100-meter hurdles.
Winning a state title in any sport is hard enough; so to repeat as state champions, even for a Clarke County track and field team that brings 22 male and female athletes to Saturday's Group A state meet at Radford University, is a rare feat in its own right.
MINERAL -- Ashley Rasmussen and Tootie Jackson, who compete in the discus and shot put for the Skyline girls track and field team, are like most close teammates.
WINCHESTER -- While playing basketball at Musselman (W.Va.) High School in the late 1980s, Rhonda Slider was scared to face James Wood. Now she's hoping to make other teams in the area fear the Colonels.
STEPHENS CITY -- Much of Zach Carney's time Tuesday night was spent with a scorebook in his hands. But once Sherando baseball coach Pepper Martin called on Carney to pinch-hit late in the Warriors' Northwestern District semifinals game against James Wood, the junior proved that he was just as skilled with a bat in his hands as a pencil.
WINCHESTER -- The never-give-up Colonels of James Wood came to life again Friday night at R. Hott Field, scoring the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Skyline 3-2 in the Northwestern District baseball quarterfinals.
NOKESVILLE -- Kari Pope wore her frustration on her face. No matter what the James Wood senior tried in her match against Handley's Sarah Moomau, nothing worked.
NOKESVILLE -- James Wood's Kari Pope and Headley Wilson zone out everything around them during a match. They're not thinking about the score or who they're playing. Maybe that explains why as Handley's Katie Gordon served for the match in the second set, they were unaware of how dangerously close they were to losing for the first time in almost a year.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando senior Nick Merchant told coach Pepper Martin on Thursday that he wanted to pitch in the Warriors' Northwestern District tournament quarterfinal against Handley. Martin decided to let Merchant start the game and put him on a pitch cout. Merchant didn't disappoint as hed led the Warriors to a 6-2 win over the Judges in baseball action on Friday.
WINCHESTER -- Handley's Brittany Myers was a bit tired after winning her second distance race in as many days. Still, the freshman had enough left in her legs to give the Judges' 4x400 relay team a win in Thursday's final event of the Northwestern District Track and Field Championships.
NOKESVILLE -- Most of Handley's girls tennis top six is used to playing in postseason matches. The Judges return five of their six from last year's state championship team. For junior Taryn Burke, the postseason is a whole new world.
STEPHENS CITY -- Two days after beginning their game against James Wood, the Sherando Warriors kept their chances of becoming district champions alive by finishing what they started, blanking the Colonels 4-0.
WINCHESTER -- On the first day of the Northwestern District Track and Field Championships, Warren County's boys and Skyline's girls proved just how strong they are in the field events.
QUICKSBURG -- The Generals may have lost, but they went down fighting. In its home finale, Stonewall Jackson fell, 8-4, to Shenandoah District foe Buffalo Gap on Wednesday. But even with the loss, head coach Michael Hunt was gushing about the performance of his seven seniors.
WINCHESTER -- It was the last chance for several area tracksters to qualify for their district, region, and state meets Friday at Millbrook High School, and athletes from several area schools came through with photo finishes.
WINCHESTER -- James Wood went from being at the bottom of the Northwestern District tennis two years ago to finishing second last year. With a 5-4 win over Sherando on Thursday, the Colonels moved a step closer to duplicating last year's feat.
WOODSTOCK -- The James Wood Colonels got a complete game effort from Matt Copley and timely back-to-back hitting in three innings to top the Central Falcons, 4-2, in Northwestern District baseball action Thursday night.
WOODSTOCK -- Ashley Ebersole found the perfect way to cap off her senior night on Thursday. The senior belted a two-run homer, her seventh of the season, in the bottom of the eighth to give the Falcons an 8-6 win over James Wood in Northwestern District action.
NOKESVILLE -- Central hung tough with Brentsville this time around. The Falcons got a solid outing from pitcher Brea Hinegardner and another homer from Ashley Ebersole, but still fell to the Tigers, 4-1, on Tuesday in Northwestern District softball action. The two teams met last week and the Tigers came away with a 14-3 win.
WINCHESTER -- The host Colonels haven't won the Apple Blossom Invitational in so long that not one James Wood coach could remember how many years it's been.
WINCHESTER -- There's a little extra excitement in the air for James Wood's boys track team as it gets ready to host today's 41st annual H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Invitational.
WOODSTOCK -- The thought of his older sister going away to college was weighing on Mason's Smith mind. So throughout basketball season, the James Wood sophomore continually tried to talk her into coming out for the Colonels' track team this spring.
WINCHESTER -- Thanks to Hunter Leight's stellar pitching performance and his offense's red-hot bats, James Wood made easy work of defeating Millbrook 10-1 on Monday night.
WINCHESTER -- Things haven't gone as smoothly this season for Handley's girls tennis team as they would have liked, but on Saturday the two-time defending Group AA state champions showed things are starting to come together.
Bobby Herrell sports@nvdaily.com WINCHESTER -- James Wood scored two runs in the bottom of the first Friday night and held on behind the pitching of Matt Copley to defeat Kettle Run 10-6. With his pitch count up, Copley was pulled after six complete innings and...
WINCHESTER -- James Wood took advantage of two Handley errors and came up with some timely doubles to pull out a 3-1 Northwestern District baseball victory over the Judges on Thursday.
FRONT ROYAL-- With the string of losing seasons the James Wood girls soccer team has sustained in recent years, the Colonels are more than used to playing with a deficit.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh and then scored the winning run in the eighth as the Warriors defeated Millbrook, 4-3, in Northwestern District baseball action on Wednesday.
WINCHESTER -- Cody Vorous had a career day on Saturday. The James Wood junior hit three home runs to lead the Colonels to a 17-7 win over Loudoun County in nondistrict baseball action. The game was called after six innings due to the mercy rule.
WINCHESTER -- With her team down by two runs entering the top of the seventh inning, Ashley Ebersole entered the dugout and implored her team to keep fighting.
WINCHESTER --James Wood was hoping for a quick seventh inning on Tuesday night, so they could try to win the game in the bottom half of the inning, but the Falcons had other plans.
LURAY -- Sam Herndon went 3-for-4 with six RBIs, inlcuding a two-run homer to lead Clarke County to an 18-2 nondistrict softball win over Luray on Tuesday.
BERRYVILLE -- Clarke County's Brianna Smith was in a hurry to get the game over with. Smith hustled around the bases with seven steals, swiping home twice as the Eagles pounded Stonewall Jackson, 15-0, in a five-inning game.
WINCHESTER -- James Wood overcame sloppy play in the field and scored seven runs in the fifth to pull away with a 14-4 win over Millbrook on Friday in Northwestern District baseball action. The game was called after five innings due to the mercy rule.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando's boys tennis squad hopes to pick up where it left off last season. The Warriors lost a couple of their top six players to graduation, but with two talented newcomers added to the team, they have good reason to be confident this year.
WINCHESTER -- Having won back-to-back Group AA state titles, Handley's girls tennis team was rewarded in the offseason with a lot of recognition and even some bling.
WOODSTOCK -- The spring of 2007 was a special time for the Central softball team. Following a winless campaign in 2006, Jill Yew's first season as the Falcons' head coach, pitcher Brea Hinegardner and catcher Ashley Ebersole were reunited at Central, after playing years together in various leagues, and paraded the Falcons to nine wins in 2007 and 11 in 2008.
WINCHESTER -- Handley used timely hitting to knock off defending Northwestern District champion Brentsville, 6-4, on Wednesday in softball action. The win snapped Brentsville's 17-game winning streak in the district.
QUICKSBURG -- Stonewall Jackson coach Nate Hissong stands in the middle of a barren field, his soccer team scrambling in every direction around him and dribbling soccer balls as they go.
WINCHESTER -- Often meaningless before a pitch has been thrown, the early-season expectations for James Wood -- as they were last Tuesday -- haven't always been so high.
SALEM -- The image of Jake Crawford leaping into the outstretched arms of Millbrook coach Chris Haines spoke more to the jubilation of the moment than words ever could.
STEPHENS CITY -- Moving from Pennsylvania to Virginia before his first year of middle school meant more for James Wood senior Josh Shaffer than simply changing his home address: It provided him with a new love for wrestling.
STERLING -- James Wood is holding onto a slim lead over county-rival Millbrook after the first day of the Region II wrestling meet. The Colonels have 70 points, while Millbrook is in second with 68.5 points and Sherando is in third with 61 points. The tournament concludes today at Park View High School. The top four in each weight class advance to next week's state tournament in Salem.
By Tim Tassa -- Daily Staff Writer WINCHESTER -- The joyous screams inside the visiting locker room boomed throughout the hallway just after Sherando's 67-56 Northwestern District quarterfinals victory over James Wood on Thursday. "Isn't that the prettiest sound in the history of the world?"...
WINCHESTER -- With only a small pool of applicants for the James Wood boys soccer position, Chris Hild decided to step up and take the reins. Hild, who was the Colonels' junior varsity coach in 2006 and 2007, applied for the position recently and on...
STEPHENS CITY -- Millbrook wrestler Derrick Borlie remembers the last time the Northwestern District tournament was held at Sherando High School: He was "embarrassed" and pinned in the championship bout by A.J. Bakos.
WINCHESTER -- Sherando has struggled at times this season putting points on the board, but on Friday night the Warriors found the perfect recipe for success.
At least one area player is still holding out hope for a FBS scholarship. James Wood kicker Andrew Lloyd recently decided to accept an offer to walk-on at a major school, but there's still a possibility he could be offered a scholarship by another program.
WINCHESTER -- James Wood's Matt Johnson called it a "schoolyard" play. After Johnson missed a shot in the waning moments of the Colonels' 68-65 win over Skyline on Saturday, the Hawks' Andrew Thorne collected the rebound and players from both teams darted up the floor -- except for Johnson.
WOODSTOCK -- Following a missed free throw -- his only miss from the charity stripe all night -- Central junior Aaron Heishman twisted his head around and revealed a face of anguish.
WINCHESTER -- Cory Chipman can't resist the temptation. The James Wood senior knows it would be easier on his heart if he didn't constantly follow the war in Iraq, but still he finds himself watching the news whenever he can. Chipman has a very special reason to watch -- his father Alan is there.
WINCHESTER -- Millbrook guard Andrew Oates and James Wood forward Matt Johnson are good friends off the basketball court. Occasionally, the two even go to the beach together.
FRONT ROYAL -- It took the Skyline Hawks nearly a quarter to re-adjust to playing basketball. Head coach Andrew Lacey had given his team "three-to-four" days off from practice -- measures for flu-like conditions that had plagued his team. Once they found their rhythm on...
WINCHESTER -- Erin Drumheller sank four free throws over the final minute and 30 seconds Friday to lead Handley to a 48-43 girls basketball victory over Central. Drumheller led the Judges with 18 points and helped seal victory for the formerly beleaguered club, which had...
WINCHESTER -- Seth Fauver just had to hold on. The James Wood junior knew all he had to do was keep from being pinned or lose by technical fall by Millbrook's Allen Silver to give the Colonels a win Wednesday night.
WINCHESTER -- Handley started strong and finished strong on Tuesday night against James Wood. The Judges used a solid first quarter to build a big lead, only to have the Colonels close the gap in the third quarter. Handley once again rose to the occasion with another offensive outburst in the fourth quarter to pull out a 70-50 win over James Wood in Northwestern District action.
WINCHESTER -- With both squads just over halfway through their 22-game basketball schedules, the time is ripe for making any adjustments necessary for improvements during the stretch run. The Warren County Wildcats have a somewhat longer to-do list than their hosts, James Wood, especially after the Colonels' 74-46 win on Monday night.
STEPHENS CITY -- Coming into Friday night's game against Sherando, James Wood junior Trae Tinsman knew that the Colonels' record wasn't indicative of the team's talent.
WINCHESTER — During the Central Falcons’ latest practice, head coach Roger Wilkins made sure his team put a special emphasis on free-throw shooting. During the practice, each player was asked to step up to the line and try to put together a string of consecutive free throws. The Falcons went 13-for-13.
FRONT ROYAL — Andrew Thorne and Terrell Matthews just needed a hint of eye contact. As Skyline adjusted to James Wood’s zone defense, spreading the court at coach Sonny Dyke’s will, Thorne — stationed in the right corner — and Matthews — on a wing — connected.
WINCHESTER — Classes don’t resume until Monday, but prep sports didn’t take a break for the winter holidays. As a case in point, the James Wood Colonels hosted the Skyline Hawks in their first meeting of the girls basketball season in a Northwestern District game Friday night.
Daily Staff Reports STRASBURG -- The Rams used their defensive preesure to jump out to an early lead and cruised to a 66-34 nondistrict girls basketball win over Moorefield (W.Va.). "I think the kids really played pretty well," Strasburg coach Joel Morgan said. "They came...
FRONT ROYAL -- With only a two-point advantage over Old Mill (Md.) in the semifinal bout of the Border Wars Tournament at Skyline High School, the James Wood Colonels weren't yet in desperate need of points from junior Gage Swartz, but they certainly could have helped the Colonels' situation.
WINCHESTER -- Heather Armel had trouble sleeping Friday night. After a disappointing loss to Millbrook, in which she only took six shots in the game, the James Wood junior was determined not to suffer the same fate Saturday against Handley.
WINCHESTER -- Getting over a cold, but coming down with the flu, Danziel Cartwright wasn't sure he was well enough to even play basketball, much less start against James Wood on Monday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- There's a 'W' in James Wood Colonels and two 'W's' in Warren County Wildcats, but both teams were looking for their first final score 'W' on Friday night.
