LYNCHBURG — With the sun beating down on a day in which temperatures reached the mid 80s, Millbrook High School sophomore Janai Washington moved around gingerly as she tried to balance a bag of ice on her neck following her run in the 4×400-meter relay on Saturday at the Class 4 state track & field meet at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
As for what happened earlier in the day, few girls were moving faster. And absolutely no one soared higher.
Washington set a personal record to win the high jump by two inches with a mark of 5 feet, 4 inches; improved on her seed by five spots to take fourth in the 200 meters in 25.14 seconds after setting a PR by 0.43 (25.10) in Friday’s preliminaries; and ran a solid 1:03.36 as the opening leg on Millbrook’s second-place 4×400 team.
“[The state title] feels really good, because I’ve worked so long [to improve] for high jump, and I didn’t know what I could do for a while,” said an emotional Washington after the 4×400. “That God gave me the strength to be able to do something like that, it feels amazing, honestly.”
The four girls on the relay team — Washington, junior Ella Mannarino and seniors Savannah Florek and Jada Arrington — combined to score 37 points, good for sixth place and the highest finish among local high schools. Arrington scored points in the 200 and 400 for the fourth time in her career by taking second (24.91) and third (57.30), respectively, in those events.
Defending champion Blacksburg led 33 scoring teams by compiling 111.5 points, 52 more than runner-up Atlee (59.5). Led by 3,200-meter champion and junior Kate Konyar, James Wood tied for 11th with 20 points. Sherando tied for 28th with 3 points and Handley did not score.
The Judges only had senior defending 100-meter champion and 2024 200 silver medalist Emeryce Worrell compete in the 4×100. She did not compete in Friday’s prelimaries so she could play in the Region 4D championship soccer game at Handley.
The girls’ high jump competition was very much a toss-up heading into Saturday. There were 25 girls entered — 10 had a seed mark of 5-2, two had seed marks in between 5-0 and 5-2, 12 had seed marks of 5-0 and two came in at 4-10 — though only 23 actually competed on Saturday.
Washington was one of the girls whose best mark this spring was 5-0. That was the mark at which the competition started, which meant most of the girls were going to have perform their best immediately off the bat. Eleven of them weren’t able to clear the bar in three attempts.
Washington cleared 5-0 on her first attempt, but she couldn’t surpass 5-2 on her first two attempts. When she did it on her third, she bounced on the mat and held her hands to her mouth as she looked toward the Millbrook coaching staff and her supporters. The last time she cleared 5-2 was the Region 4D indoor meet.
“It felt good to know [my previous 5-2] wasn’t a mistake,” Washington said. “I could do it again.”
Washington was one of three people who cleared 5-2. She then cleared 5-4 on her second attempt, and she bounced even higher off the mat as she made the same motion with her hands and looked over at the Millbrook contingent. When no else cleared 5-4, she was a state champion, an accomplishment that was celebrated by several other high jumpers, including Sherando’s McKenna Hardy and Mercedes Silver and Handley’s Elisabeth Pitcock.
“It’s a really good community for the high jump,” Washington said. “We’re all so close because we know how it feels to go really high, and then you can get stuck at a point. I just love the high jump community. They’re all amazing.”
For them and Millbrook coach Jamie McCarty, Washington was amazing to watch.
“We knew that there was more there, and she kind of got that monkey off her back today,” McCarty said. “Once she was over 5-2, 5-4 was great. And she had a couple of really good jumps even at 5-6.”
McCarty said Washington truly deserves what she accomplished this weekend.
“It’s just the amount of work that she’s put in just in general,” McCarty said. “Not just as a high jumper, but as a leader for us, and as a sprinter for us. That improvement has been amazing. She’s been a great leadoff leg for our 4×4. She’s kind of assumed that role of, ‘We know Jada’s leaving. Who wants to be the next person to step up?’ I feel like she’s kind of taken that by the horns and said, ‘All right, I can be that person.'”
Washington wasn’t expecting to do as well as she did in the 200.
“I’ve been training to get faster,” Washington said. “Everything I’ve worked for all season has finally come into place. It felt good for it to come at states.”
McCarty said having Arrington in the same heat on Friday likely helped. On Saturday, they ran next to each other in lanes 1 and 2 in the 200, with Washington able to look at Arrington ahead of her in lane 2.
“[Washington] chases [Arrington] in practice all the time, so it was almost like a practice day for her being in there with Jada,” McCarty said. “She knew if she could hang close to her [in the prelims], she could give herself a shot [at the finals], and that’s what she did.”
Washington was glad the seniors Florek and Arrington could end on a strong note with the 4×400 team. In achieving a time of 4:04.42, Milbrook improved on its season-best time by 1.52 seconds and bested its time from the indoor state meet, when the Pioneers took third in 4:04.89. Blackburg won on Saturday with a 3:56.79.
Charlottesville crossed the finish line before Milbrook on Saturday, but the Black Knights used a grouping that wasn’t permissable due to runners having maxed out their total running events for the meet, and they were disqualified.
Headed to Norfolk State, Arrington closed her high school career out by passing two people completely on the last lap of the 4×400 and running a split of 58.14, the second-fastest anchor leg of the event. This year marked the first time Arrington ran in a relay at a state outdoor meet after doing the 100, 200 and 400 each of her first three years.
“I love chasing [people],” said Arrington when asked about the 4×400. “I always get [the team] in a better place than what we’re already in.”
McCarty praised each member of the relay, noting that Arrington and Washington were run down after having run the 200 about a half hour before on a hot day.
“Every one of them has a different strength,” McCarty said. “The way we’ve structured, it fit together perfect. Ella (1:02.40) and Savannah (1:00.53) both ran really, really great legs. I can’t say enough about both of them. Ella coming over from soccer and being able to get a couple weeks of training in, we see the difference versus her from the last time she ran on it.”
Konyar led the 3,200 throughout the race and won with a time of 11:02.34, 3.26 seconds ahead of Blacksburg freshman Lola Olsen (11:05.60), for the first state of her career. Later, Konyar placed sixth in the 1,600 (5:17.67) in the fast heat while Colonels senior Ruby Ostrander, who ran in the first heat, placed fifth in 5:16.64.
On Friday, Konyar and Ostrander teamed with junior Katelyn Palmer and sophomore Ally Oliver to place seventh in the 4×800 in 9:47.76.
James Wood also led by Erin Link (eighth in the shot put, 33-11) and four girls who each took 10th — senior Olivia Boyce (long jump, 16-5.75); junior Isabelle French (100 hurdles, 16.18), junior Alina Kieffer (3,200, 11:38.52) and Emma Messick (discus, 96-2), who was the only freshman in the 18-girl discus competition on Friday. Messick’s best mark this year is 104-11, and she’s qualified for New Balance Nationals.
Sherando’s only points came on Friday from the senior Hardy. She took sixth in the triple jump (34-10.25).
The sophomore Pitcock had Handley’s highest finish in the meet, tying for 11th in the high jump (5-0).
For more coverage on the Class 4 meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
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