For the first time since 2009, Clarke County High School stands atop the state in girls’ track & field.
The Eagles’ won the meet-concluding 4×400-meter relay to surge past Lee and win the Class 2 state meet with 64 points to Lee’s 56.5 on Saturday, the second of two days of action at James Madison Universiy in Harrisonburg. There were 36 scoring teams in the meet.
The team of senior Reagan Myer, freshman Kendall Harman, sophomore Grace Gerenski and senior Teya Starley won the 4×400 by 2.86 seconds in 4:11.94. Starley also won an individual state championship in the 800 by 0.09 in 2:18.57 and scored 20.5 points.
“I can’t say enough about the girls on that team,” said Clarke County coach Andre Kidrick, who is in his 18th and final season coaching the team. “The girls we had this year, led by our seniors, Teya, ‘Megatron’ (Myer), Abby [Cochran], Molly [Husted]. I can’t say enough about the mentality and the mental toughness that this team has constantly put on display. … They had a great day. PR’s all over the place.
“It is an honor and a pleasure to have coached them, and they are all big dogs. I can’t say enough about this girls’ team. Everyone of them needs a hug, needs to be lifted up. I’m just so proud.”
Starley couldn’t have more pleased.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “I’m so happy for my team. I’m really impressed with how much work that we put in this year.”
In the boys’ meet, Clarke County placed fifth with 37 points. Floyd County won with 76 and Bruton was second with 66. Senior Jackson Ellis highlighted Clarke County’s performance by winning the 800 by 0.24 in a school-record 1:54.89.
It meant a lot to Starley that the 4×400 team could put the Eagles over the top. Clarke County trailed by 2.5 points heading into the 4×800. The second-seeded Eagles led from start to finish, with Starley running a 1:02.06 anchor leg.
“It was so much fun,” Starley said. “I knew we could do it. Of course we always have doubt creep in a little before, but I think that we all stayed positive enough. And we just trusted each other to run what we knew we could.
“Once I saw Reagan take off and she was crossing the line in first after the first lap, I was like ‘OK we’ve got it.’ And I got more confident as it went on. I was really happy and proud of my teammates.”
Kidrick had no doubt the group would perform well.
“Teya [before the race] was telling her mother ‘Hey, I’m going to do what I got to do for this girls’ team. We are going to win it,” Kidrick recalled. “I went up to the [4×4 team] and I usually have some saying, some motivational speech, and I looked at them and I said ‘Hey, I got big dogs in this group. I ain’t really got to say nothing. Go out and take your title. Go out and take it.’ And they did.”
A big reason why the Eagles were in position to win the title was because of Myer, who wasn’t projected to score points in either the 200 or triple jump but scored a total of nine by taking fourth in the 200 (26.41) and fifth in the triple jump (34-2.75).
The 200 preliminaries were canceled on Friday because of the stormy weather, so the event was in run in two heats on Saturday. Myer was seeded ninth and ran in the slower heat. She improved on her seed time by 0.63. In the triple jump, Myer was seeded 16th and with a mark of 31-7 and improved by 2 feet, 7.75 inches.
Myer also anchored the 4×100 team of Harman, Gerenski and freshman Kenedy Money, which took second in a school-record 51.30.
“Reagan Myer is such a special person,” Kidrick said. “You don’t [improve as much as she did in one meet]. She did it because she wanted it in her heart. She went after it.”
Naturally, the Eagles couldn’t have won without Starley’s individual efforts, either. Starley was the second seed for both the 800 and 1,600. She won the 800 in 2:18.57 to beat her seed time of 2:20.20, and she ran 5:19.33 to take second in the 1,600.
Starley was passed by Floyd County’s Reagan Lynch for a few seconds with about 100 meters left in the 800. But Starley regrouped for the win.
“It feels great,” Starley said. “I was hoping that I would get some kind of win today.
“To be honest, I was a little tired going into it [after running the 1,600 earlier]. I was a little bit worried, but I was like ‘it’s my last real individual race. So I just need to put it all out there.’ And once I hit the second lap, I was like ‘I’m just going to go’ and so I went as fast as I could.”
Kidrick said it was awesome to see Starley perform and win.
“She worked like a dog all year,” Kidrick said. “Leadership, lead by example, taking young people under her wing, showing them how it’s done. She wanted that one and she went and got it. She ran hard. She did a great job.”
In the 1,600, Starley finished 18.76 seconds behind Elizabeth Trant of Poquoson and 1.04 seconds ahead of Annika Beegle of Floyd County.
“That was nice,” Starley said. “I was definitely not really warmed up enough. We got stuck in traffic coming to the state meet and I got here right before I had to go warm up. So I was a little tired, especially because I slept in the car, but I think it was a good race.”
The Clarke County girls were also led by its 4×800 team (Abigail Cochran, Emma Husted, Molly Husted, Mia Timberlake), second in 10:29.25; Molly Husted (3,200, third, 11:53.72); and Gerenski (fourth in 400, 1:01.68).
In addition to winning the 800, Ellis helped the boys’ 4×800 team break the school record it set earlier this year by taking second on Friday in 8:16.65 after coming in with a seed time of 8:23.63. The team also featured his brother sophomore brother Brody as well as seniors James Casey and Aidan Kreeb.
The Eagles were also led by sophomore Isaac Nei (second in long jump, 22-3.35, fourth in 100, 11.03); Landon Horton (sixth in 1,600, 4:36.18); and Elijah Abdulbarr (sixth in 110 hurdles, 15.58 after running 15.34 in prelims).
Kidrick will be director of operations for Clarke County Public Schools next year. He appreciated the athletes he coached this year.
“This group of seniors, boys and girls, hands down the best group I’ve ever coached,” Kidrick said. “They take care of each other. It’s everything you want in a team. These guys and girls, I’m so proud. I am so honored.”
For more coverage of the Class 2 state meet, see Tuesday’s edition of The Winchester Star.
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