May 27, 2006 LOUISA, VA -Through 13 events at the Region II championships both the boys and girls' meets were tight. The girls' stayed that way with Heritage seeking out a one point win over Western Albemarle, 45-44.  But Handley blew open the boys' portion of the meet, scoring 35 points in the final four running events to finish with 77 - 34 points up on 2nd place Fort Defiance (43).

 

Charles Washington led the Judges, winning both the 100 and 200 and anchoring the 4x400 team to a win in the final event. Alex Ball added a win in the discus with a huge toss and grabbed a shot put second.

The girls discus may have been the highlight of the meet. Park View's Natalie Baird upped the meet record three times and basically put it out of reach with her 157-10 throw, the #7 throw in the US. But even that record may not be safe since Baird is just a sophomore.

While Park View finished a close 4th in the girls' meet (39 points), Handley and Liberty finished in a tie for 5th with 33 points. Just back was Millbrook in 7th (31). Brentsville was 11th (24), Sherando 15th (18), Warren County tied for 20th (six) and Central tied for 22nd with 4 points.
 

Millbrook's Jillian Pollack came up big on the girls' side, wining both the 1,600 and 800 and lowering her own school records. In the metric mile she overcame a ferocious mid-race surge by Broad Run's Stephanie Garcia, catching her down the stretch to win in 5:06.58. In the 800, Pollack forged a huge lead of her own heading into the final lap and was never challenged en route to a 2:18.85 finish.

Handley's Ayla Smith had another full day and just missed two meet records. She won the 100 hurdles in 14.89 and took the 300 lows in 44.71. This coming after splitting a 2:20 anchor to move her 4x8 team into third and a few three-bounders where she took sixth.

Liberty's Carly Morse won the shot put with a huge toss of 42-4 and Sherando's Latasha Watson took the 400 in 58.54 to lower her own school record. Morse had an impressive toss of her own in the discus (130-8) but was completely over-shadowed by Baird. Watson added a close second in the 200 (25.54). Warren County's Chevon Parker added a huge six feet to her discus school record by heaving 124-2 to take third.

Not to be outdone, Ball threw a school record 167-1, topping his own mark by over three feet. Ball originally took the Handley discus record in a tri-meet -- a record which had stood for 42 years. Liberty's Brian Roof took second in that event (151-9).

In a replay of the Northwestern District meet, the pair traded places in the shot. Roof heaved a huge 55-1 for the win while Ball got out to 50-4.5 for second.

In another Northwestern replay, Washington took the 100 in 10.85 and the 200 in 21.87 -- almost identical to the times he put up a week earlier. His sterling anchor leg brought the baton home in 3:25.77 to cap off the evening.

The Judges also got big points from Donn Booker who took second in the 400 (49.96) and third in the 200 (22.44). Erin McWhorter finished second in the 800 (1:59.31) and along with Booker and Wally Williams joined Washington on the 4x4.

The horizontal jumps also belonged to the Northwestern District. Liberty's Matt Meyer won the long jump with a leap of 22-10.5 while Sherando's Terry Johnson bounded out to 45-0.75 for the triple jump win.

Liberty finshed fourth in the boys' meet with 37 points w hild Brentsville took sixth with 35. Sherando (18) was 12th, James Wood (14) tied for 16th and Millbrook (6) was 20th.