Park View a Close Second in Track

By Matthew Stanmyre

Sunday, June 1, 2008

When the Brentsville girls won the Virginia AA track and field championship Saturday at Harrisonburg High, the reaction to the school’s first track and field title of any kind could have been more upbeat.

But it was difficult for the Tigers to react to the title with uninhibited joy after earning it amid controversy. A timing error in the critical 800-meter event midway through the day prompted meet officials to strip a sixth-place medal from a Park View athlete and award it to a runner from Brentsville. Those three points proved to be the difference as the Tigers edged the Patriots for the title, 45-42.

Although it was determined that meet officials made the correct decision in the race, it was not the only decision by organizers that raised questions or left participants with mixed emotions.

“I honestly thought that since there was a possible mess-up, we were probably going to get second or tied for first,” said Brentsville’s Danyelle Kent-Robinson, who racked up 29 points by winning the 100 hurdles and placing second in the 300 hurdles and the high jump. “But either way I would have been happy.”

Western Albemarle won the boys’ title with 54 points, ahead of Brookville (45.33) and Blacksburg (38). The highest local finisher was Brentsville, which scored 30 points to place sixth. Millbrook (23) finished eighth.

As the Brentsville girls’ team posed for pictures and passed along the gold championship trophy, Park View Coach Randy Kerico spoke loudly with meet director Joe Curcio. In addition to the error in the 800 meters, Kerico said that order violations in the long jump weren’t caught by meet officials. Kerico also said there was confusion over the time of one of his runners in the 100-meter girls’ event.

“I’m not [happy],” Kerico said, “and it’s just because of the inconsistencies, the way things were run today. I know the rules are rules, but it hurts a little bit. . . . I’m happy for Brentsville winning, but you want to win in the fair conditions, everything being equal.”

The Brentsville girls did not avoid controversy, either. After Kent-Robinson won the 100 hurdles in 15.12 seconds, meet officials took away all of the medals they had awarded and declared that the heat needed to be run again because of a violation that occurred between two other competitors.

“I cried,” Kent-Robinson said about having her medal taken away. “I finally won it, and it was being taken away from me.”

Kent-Robinson had the option of running the re-race, or keeping her time from the first race. She chose to keep her first mark, and it held up to earn her first place.

“Everything that was wrong was righted,” said head meet referee Joe Hubble, who added that no appeals were made about violations in the long jump. “Everything was taken care of officially and properly.”

The Brentsville girls did enough to edge 2007 girls’ champion Park View, which almost won the title behind its talented stable of throwers. Led by All-Met Natalie Baird, the Patriots’ throwers piled up 39 points. Baird won the discus on Friday with a Virginia state-record throw of 161 feet 7 inches, and claimed the shot put yesterday with a hurl of 46-7.

Baird, who will compete for William & Mary next season, has won seven individual state titles and has swept both the discus and the shot put in each of the past three seasons.

“You just don’t come across athletes like her very often,” Kerico said. “She’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of athlete that you get to coach. She’s just been phenomenal.”

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks