Park View Celebrates First Title . . . at Prom

Patriots End County's 31-Year Dry Run

by Special to The Washington Post

Thursday, June 7, 2007

After the Park View girls won the Virginia AA track and field championship at Harrisonburg High School last weekend, there was no team photo, no track-side celebration, no trophy presentation and no ice water dumped on Coach Larry Hinders.

Four of the six girls who lifted the program to its first state title had left to get ready for the prom, and a storm washed out the trophy presentation.

Good thing Park View's achievement spoke for itself.

The team's 51 points were 16 points better than second-place Charlottesville and made for the best finish by any team from Loudoun County in meet history.

The Patriots became the first outdoor track team from Loudoun to win the title in three decades.

Loudoun Valley was the last team to win, in 1976.

This season, Park View also won its first district title in 19 years and the program's first region title.

"They went home with the outcome of the meet in doubt and with the feeling that we might win, but not with the assurance that we had," said Hinders, who drove the trophy directly to the prom for an impromptu celebration.

"We knew that [the program] had never won a regional championship or state championship and the things that we were doing were firsts for our track program, and we took a great deal of pride in that."

Junior All-Met Natalie Baird took first place in the shot put (42 feet 3/4 inch) and first in the discus (159-4). Her throw in the discus was more than seven feet better than her record-setting throw last year and 29 feet better than this year's second-place finisher.

"My goal is always to get my personal record," said Baird, who has won all three AA titles in the discus and the last two titles in the shot put. "It's really exciting to be a part of that. The whole school was really supportive and congratulatory."

Junior Julia Anyaugo took third place in the discus (122-8) and fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (47.36), and sophomore Megan Barnes took third in the 800 meters in 2 minutes 19.17 seconds. Junior Lauren Tomlinson took fourth in the shot put (39-8 1/2 ) and classmate Charlene Fowler took second in the long-jump (17-7).

"With the throwers, it's automatic. They are so consistent in what they do," said Fowler, who medaled in five events and scored 38 of Park View's 121 points in the district tournament win May 16 at Heritage. "The runners, we just keep it up and add the points on."

Tiffany Brown was the only senior to score a point for Park View in the state meet.

Brown ran a leg for the 4x100 relay team that finished in 51.7 seconds and took eighth place.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks