Skyline finishes third in the meet

By Jeremy Stafford -- jstafford@nvdaily.com

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.

When one is performing well, the other is full of congratulatory praise; and when one seems to be missing on her throws, the other is full of heartening advice.

But when both are on top of their game, Rasmussen and Jackson can become the most bitter competitors.

"If we're going against each other and we're kind of running the same marks, we're kind of competitive," Rasmussen said. "We don't really talk to each other during competition."

"We kind of get in each other's head," Jackson added.

So it was yesterday at the Region II track meet at Louisa County. Rasmussen had narrowly reached the discus finals, and Jackson was having one of the better performances of her career. That is, until Rasmussen hurled a throw of 115-05, taking over first place and eventually winning the event. Jackson's throw of 113-09.5 was good for second, and the two helped the Hawks garner a third-place finish in the meet with 50 team points.

Sherando (24) came in eighth and Millbrook (19) tied for 10th in the meet. The Central girls (10) finished 17th while James Wood (8) took 19th and Handley (4) and Warren County (2) rounded out the final two teams of the meet.

Rasmussen also took first in the shot put with a throw of 39-11, and Jackson took fourth.

But Skyline's third-place finish in the meet couldn't have happened without the bounding leaps of freshman Oshene Kelly, the third and final Skyline girl who qualified for the region meet. Kelly won the long jump (17-01) and, hungry and exhausted after four hours of work under the May sun, readied herself for the triple jump.

Her final leap stretched 35-08.75 feet into the light brown sand, good for a momentary stay at first.

"I couldn't hit the board, but when I did get close to the board I jumped to second place in one jump, so that was good," said Kelly, who had scratched on her second to last jump and was later replaced by Sherando senior Carolyn Thiel with a leap of 36-00.25.

"I've been a very specialized track athlete since my freshman year," said Thiel, who competes in the triple jump and the 4x100 relay. "I've had lots of ups and downs, and for it to come to this, it's really exciting.

"Especially since this year we didn't have a specialized triple jump coach, so basically just getting this far with what I've learned from my previous coach and what I know on my own, I have a really big feeling of accomplishment."

Indeed, the performance of Rasmussen, Jackson, Kelly and Thiel is evidence enough that the region meet isn't about the number of athletes a team brings so much as how specialized a select few athletes are.

And the Millbrook boys 4x400 relay team is further proof of that.

After a slow start which saw Brad Beauregard fall to fourth place, the Pioneers managed to make the final baton exchange between Josh Cecil and Neil Bishop before anyone else.

But Louisa County runner Travis Yancey flew past Bishop just after the exchange and there seemed to be little hope that Millbrook would repeat as regional champions in the mile relay.

Until Bishop countered Yancey's great start with his own superb finish, chasing the Louisa County runner down by the final 100 meters, and then overtaking him in the final 25 meters.

"Pretty much whoever has the best last kick is gonna be the team who wins, no matter who's in first," Bishop said. "For some reason, coming off that last bend, I have a pretty good kick."

Millbrook coach Jeremy Wright said that even though Bishop had lost the lead at the onset of the final exchange, there was little doubt within the team that Bishop wouldn't come through.

"We know he's got it -- we know he's got that in the reserve," Wright said. "They don't get scared or anything because they know he's got a lot left."

Millbrook's win in that final event of the day bumped the Pioneers (25) to eighth place. Warren County (18.5) and James Wood (18) finished 10th and 11th, respectively, and Handley (10) and Sherando (8) placed 12th and 14th, respectively.

Bishop said that the win in the 4x400 relay made up for the Pioneers' disqualification in the 4x100 relay, the result of a dropped baton during the final exchange.

Millbrook senior Schavon Springer, who said she's had plenty of experience with dropped batons, mentioned that when teammates are disqualified, the best thing to do is to simply let them work away the pain of the situation on their own.

Besides, Springer had her own nagging pain to deal with.

Only minutes before the Millbrook boys dropped their baton, Springer pulled her groin during an exchange in the girls 4x100 relay. The Pioneers finished fourth in the race and set a personal record (51.38), but Springer's pulled muscle sent her limping through the 300 meter hurdles, an event she had expected to win.

Springer did win the 100 meter hurdles (15.09), though, and so considered the day "bittersweet."

"In my trials [my coaches] told me not to exert so much energy on it, like, don't go as hard as I could on it, but I accidentally did," Springer laughed. "When I did it in the finals, it was way faster than I usually did and I was proud of it."

Central's Lindsey Toothman took second in the girls high jump and fifth in the triple jump. Vy Davis (6-00) won the boys high jump for Handley, while James Thorne of James Wood and Millbroook's Bobby Stanley tied for second (5-10). Warren County's Japheth Chunn place fourth in the boys long jump (20-11.75).