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.
NOKESVILLE -- Her last warm-up pitch flew high and outside, just out of the reach of her catcher, and Warren County freshman Nicole King dropped her head, shaking it in frustration.
FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline may have won the two extra-inning battles during the regular season, but it was Warren County that won the Northwestern District quarterfinals war.
WINCHESTER -- Handley forward Michael Paule-Carres said he couldn't do it. He couldn't run with the Warren County backs, his legs weren't under him. He couldn't create any open space in which to take shots and he couldn't manipulate the ball.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando took advantage of two goals in the first four minutes of play to take a record-breaking 3-0 victory over Warren County on Friday in the opening round of the Northwestern District girls soccer tournament.
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.
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.
Daily Staff Reports SHENANDOAH -- Stonewall Jackson's boys soccer team took care of business against its main competition, Wilson Memorial, and polished off the rest of the Shenandoah District in convincing fashion to claim the league title for the first time since 2006. That title,...
Daily Staff Reports SWOOPE -- Patrick Bain put himself in the Stonewall Jackson record books on Friday night. Bain had four assists in the Generals' 8-0 Shenandoah District win over Buffalo Gap to break the school mark for assists in a season. Bain now has...
Player: Nicole King School: Warren County Sport: Softball Year: Freshman Position: Pitcher Q: What do you remember most about the no-hitter you threw against Millbrook on March 30? A: That was good. I didn't even realize I had a no-hitter until coach Stock told me....
FRONT ROYAL -- Millbrook and Warren County were already locked into the Northwestern District's play-in game, which will take place once the regular season ends.
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.
WINCHESTER -- The Handley Judges girls soccer team employed a new defensive set, and freshman midfielder Cassandra Alamo scored her first varsity goal in their 3-0 win over the Warren County Wildcats on Tuesday.
FRONT ROYAL -- All David Ko had to do was sit back and watch. Watch as Randolph Boppe was moved from center back to forward, where he played last year and so is one of the more experienced Judges at the position.
FRONT ROYAL -- For a team that has been in a recent slump, the last thing Handley needed to see was top pitcher Brian Tavenner have to leave Monday night's Northwestern District baseball game at Warren County early due to an injury.
FRONT ROYAL -- Four innings of nearly flawless pitching wasn't enough for Nicole King and the Wildcats. Breakdowns in defense rattled Warren County in the fifth and an inability to muster any offense against Handley ace Chelsea Hamric resulted in the Wildcats self destruction in a 5-0 Northwestern District softball loss on Monday night.
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.
BERRYVILLE -- A pitchers' duel was brewing between Clarke County ace Jordan Wolford and Warren County's Nicole King on Wednesday as fans watched from the edge of their seats.
Daily Staff Reports Softball Handley 12, Millbrook 3 WINCHESTER -- Handley played a near-flawless game against Millbrook, scoring in all but two innings and exuding patience at the plate. "We were happy about the win," Handley coach Tim Mondell said. "Millbrook's a young team so...
FRONT ROYAL -- The experienced battery tandem of Central junior Brea Hinegardner and senior Ashley Ebersole squared off against Warren County's freshmen battery of Nicole King and Taylor Bass on Saturday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- Central's Sam Dowdy took the mound Saturday and pretty much turned off the lights at Bing Crosby Stadium as the visiting Falcons shut out Warren County, 2-0, in a pitchers' duel.
STRASBURG -- The Rams overcame a 3-0 deficit after the top half of the first inning to rout the visiting Madison County Mountaineers, 13-3, in a five-inning Bull Run district baseball game on Friday.
STEPHENS CITY -- One big inning and Nicole Musser's pitching were just about all Sherando needed to defeat Warren County, 5-1, Thursday in Northwestern District softball action.
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.
Daily Staff Reports FRONT ROYAL -- On the heels of a no-hitter, the Warren County Wildcats received another strong performance from budding ace Nicole King. The freshman struck out 12, walked none and held visiting Luray to one hit in Warren County's 5-2 non-district softball...
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.
Daily Staff Reports Baseball Millbrook 10, Warren County 5 WINCHESTER -- Quinn Courtney went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to lead the Pioneers past the Wildcats in Northwestern District action. Michael Dillow went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs for the...
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.
SHENANDOAH -- Strasburg took advantage of six Page County errors, six walks and six hit batsmen to defeat Page County, 12-4, in nondistrict baseball action on Wednesday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- Jon King's 11 strikeouts kept Warren County hitless through five innings, but it was King's acrobatics at third base that may have secured Skyline's 8-4 win.
FRONT ROYAL -- Warren County Wildcats freshman Nicole King and Skyline Hawks senior Amanda Litwin engaged in a ferocious pitchers' duel, featuring 19 strikeouts and no-hitters through four and five innings, respectively, in a nine-inning Northwestern District softball game Friday night.
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.
FRONT ROYAL -- Sherando coach Patrick Anderson wasn't so much impressed with how many goals the Warriors scored as he was with the variety of ways in which they scored.
FRONT ROYAL - The Warren County Wildcats were considerably wilder in their fielding, and other aspects of defensive execution, and the Sherando Warriors capitalized on the opportunities with an 18-6 win in Northwestern District baseball action Monday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline never recovered from a first-inning home run by Page County, as they lost 8-0. It was the Hawks' first loss of the young season.
WOODSTOCK -- In their Northwestern District boys soccer season opener, the Central Falcons were overly gracious hosts for the Warren County Wildcats in a steady drizzle on Saturday.
WOODSTOCK -- Eventually one team was going to break through in Central's 2-1 victory over Warren County in Northwestern District softball action on Friday night.
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.
FRONT ROYAL -- Until he was in seventh grade, Rueben Shanks' athletic focus was baseball. That's when he found that throwing shot put and discus came easy to him.
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.
FRONT ROYAL -- Listening to the public address announcer broadcast his name at least 11 times during the third quarter, Skyline forward Eric King was obviously having a stellar night. But even King, a senior forward whose previous career high in points was 16, lost track of how many field goals he actually had during a crucial eight-minute stretch against Warren County on Friday.
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.
Both Sullivan Parkes and Mara Smith will get the opportunity to fulfill their dreams next season -- and they'll be able to do it competing against each other.
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.
FRONT ROYAL -- It was Brandon Seal's finest moment of the day. Seal, a sophomore at Millbrook, was trailing Matt Murphy by four points in the Pioneers' 152-pound bout against Freedom (Loudoun) at the Wildcat Scramble Duals held at Warren County High School on Saturday.
WINCHESTER -- One night after clinching the Northwestern District regular-season crown, the Handley Judges avoided a letdown and beat Warren County, 78-63, on Saturday night.
WINCHESTER -- Handley girls basketball coach Marvin Scott wasn't at all surprised by the Judges' solid 56-26 victory against the Warren County Wildcats on Saturday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- Handley head coach Marvin Scott said it's too late in the season to be turning the ball over as much as the Judges did against Skyline on Friday. However, he added that this late in the season, he'll also take a win.
FRONT ROYAL -- Warren County basketball coach David Cramer had been talking about needing four quarters worth of intensity from his Wildcat team heading into the teams' non-district game against Freedom High School on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats exceeded Cramer's expectations by going end-to-end for six periods in their thrilling 77-75 double-overtime victory over the visiting Eagles.
FRONT ROYAL -- Andrew Thorne admitted he was anxious to get back in the game. Moments after a dazzling dunk in the first quarter, he was charged with his second foul and relegated to the bench for the duration of the first half.
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...
FRONT ROYAL -- The Warren County Wildcats had their claws out and showed their teeth in leading the Central Falcons in each of the first three quarters, taking a three-point lead into the fourth quarter on Wednesday night.
WOODSTOCK -- Central used a stingy defense and an even contribution on offense to rout Warren County, 64-18, in Northwestern District girls basketball action on Wednesday. Ashley Ebersole led the way for the Falcons with 13 points, while Kelsey Bowman and Ashley Jernigan each tacked...
FRONT ROYAL -- Step through and twist and throw was how Alan Kroh described the head drag.
The 215-pound Skyline sophomore called it his main move -- one that's he been practicing all season. And moments before Skyline's 36-29 victory over rival Warren County, he was even kind enough to offer a demonstration -- even when it seemed his Wildcats opponent, Eddie Stevens, was stepping on his toes.
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.
STRASBURG -- Warren County coach Matt Wadas hugged Strasburg senior Justin Sager following the match between the Rams and the Wildcats at the Strasburg Ram Duals held on Saturday.
WINCHESTER — When Clayton Rodney’s first shot of the evening successfully swished through the basket with five minutes remaining in the first period, he was momentarily confused by the sound of the buzzer and his Millbrook teammates rushing onto the court toward him. It wasn’t until the announcer proclaimed seconds later that he had scored his 1,000th-career point that he realized what he had done.
STRASBURG --Until Saturday, Andrew Kibler's approach on offense was timid. The senior forward, whose obedience was never in question, just needed a little nudge.
STRASBURG -- Strasburg's offense seems to have finally gelled. In the girls semifinal round of the Daily Classic on Saturday afternoon, the Rams outscored the Warren County Wildcats 60-25, marking the third time this season that Strasburg has posted 60 points, and the second time it has done so in three games.
FRONT ROYAL -- He'll wear the T-shirts, boast about the super-sized high schools in his former backyard and has embraced a nickname -- "Texas" -- that has shadowed him since moving to the commonwealth.
FRONT ROYAL -- When eight or more bodies can contribute, the Hawks are finding different means of winning with each game, and are simultaneously getting more difficult to defend against.
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.
FRONT ROYAL -- It took Clarke County roughly a quarter of turnover-prone and sloppy basketball to get going. But once the visiting Eagles did get rolling, there was no looking back.
WOODSTOCK -- The Central Falcons used balanced scoring, a full-court press, eight 3-pointers, and two lopsided quarters against Warren County on Wednesday.
