Springer finishes third in hurdles

By Greg Brill -- sports@nvdaily.com

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.

In between winning her heat, Springer was taking and, eventually, trading notes with her stiffest competition heading into Saturday's final section during day two of the Group AA Track and Field championships.

The trio went 1-2-3 in the finals, and placing third behind Church and Kaufmann was fine with Springer.

Seeded fifth heading into the weekend, Springer was happy she was able to snag a top 3 in the 100 meter hurdles for the second straight year. Church blew away the field in 14.95 seconds, followed by Kaufmann, on her home track, at 15.31 and Springer at 15.49.

Springer added a sixth place later Saturday in the 300 hurdles (46.47) to score all nine points for the Pioneers on the second day and help Millbrook to an overall team placement of 11th (22 points).

"My goal for both races was to not place any lower than I was seeded at," said Springer, who plans to compete for Hampton University next season. "When I got to third, I was like, 'wow.' I was excited.

"Those two girls, Amber and Mandy, work so hard. We were talking and said we had all improved so much from when we started. I'm glad they won, because they deserved it."

Skyline, third after the first day, added a pair of fourths from thrower Ashley Rasmussen and jumper Oshene Kelly. Coupled with Tootie Jackson's seventh in the shot put, Skyline finished the meet with 27 points and in a solid seventh place. The second-year school was just 11 points shy of taking home some hardware.

Just a freshman, Kelly has improved her leaps in the long jump in each post-season meet. Kelly nailed one of her first jumps in the pits at Harrisonburg High School, recording 17-3.25. That was good enough for fourth, just a day after she had the same placement in the triple jump.

"I'm very excited," said Kelly, who had not been seeded any higher than 10th in either of her jumping events. "I didn't even think I would place, going up against girls who have jumped 18 [feet]. I came out to do my best."

The long jump is such a favored event for Kelly that Skyline coach Steve Burton said she "has that hunger to do better."

"You go out and [attempt] to do your best each week," Burton said. "It's not the quarter-inch improvements, it's the two or three inches each time that you want from them."

A performance like Kelly's could lead to Burton handing out more uniforms next spring, as well.

"It not only does well for [Kelly], it does well for our team," Burton said. "To see that a freshman goes out there and does well, it's a great recruiting tool."

Just a day after she won the discus, and Skyline's first-ever state championship of any kind, Rasmussen, was looking to gain a double Saturday by taking the shot put. Seeded second coming in, Rasmussen gained her top throw of the day in the preliminaries (38-10).

That heave left her in third heading to the finals, behind top seed DaQua Scott (39-2.75), of Robert E. Lee, and meet leader Jericah Glover (39-4.75), of Amherst County.

The emergence of Glover, who was seeded fifth coming into the state meet, somewhat surprised Rasmussen.

"I'd seen her before [at an early-season event] but she wasn't throwing 39 when I went against her," Rasmussen said.

In the finals, Rasmussen fouled on her first two throws and could not top her earlier mark on her last toss. Glover stayed in first, Scott in second, and William Monroe's Tamesha White threw 38-10.75 on her last attempt of the day to edge Rasmussen for third.

"The way it came off my hand [on the two fouls], I knew it was wrong," Rasmussen said. "I'm still on Cloud 9 from [Friday]. I wanted to take two, but [Glover] was pretty good."

Blacksburg captured the girls title with 52 points. Brookville was second with 41 and Potomac Falls finished third with 37.

On the boys side, defending state discus champion Rueben Shanks, of Warren County, suffered a tough day. Third last week at the Region II meet, Shanks had trouble against a strong field, barely reaching the final round. Shanks threw 145-8 and finished in eighth.

Even when it came time for him to come to the awards stand, the infield announcer asked for "Shanks Rueben."

"It was tougher," Shanks said of the discus field. "I came out and pushed it, but I couldn't [finish higher]."

The winner of the discus was Omar Omokodian, of Briar Woods, who threw 167-0. In a twist of irony, Omokodian's coach at Briar Woods is Duane Colebank, who happens to be the father of Shanks' throw coach, Kelly Cupp.

"There were a lot of kids coming in with 150 [feet] plus, and any guy thrower that's 145 and above, any day of the week, they can whip it out there," Cupp said. "That made this field extremely competitive this year.

"We just couldn't put it out there today like we did last year. Rueben's worked hard all season, and he's going to go on and throw in college. Some days you can do it and some days it's just not there."

In the final event of the day, Millbrook's 4x400 relay squad, which had three members back from the runner-up squad it put on the track at last season's state meet, were hoping to win a title this time around.

Though they ran a good race, the Pioneers could finish only third in their heat (3:25.90) and fifth overall.

"I don't think it was us running poorly, it was just the other guys' day," said lead baton Brad Beauregard. "It's unfortunate it happened, but we can't beat ourselves up too much. I'm proud of these guys either way."

James Wood finished seventh in the 4x400 relay for its only two points of the meet.

The top three teams were separated by three points. Western Albemarle won with 48 points, edging Brookville's 46 and Louisa County's 45. The Warriors had to sweat it out, since they were not entered in the 4x400 relay and Brookville and Louisa both were. However, Brookville did not place and Louisa finished eighth and gained just one team point.