Nelson County track competes in district meet

By Laura Clark

Published: May 22, 2008

The girls’ team finished second and the boys’ team was fourth at the Dogwood District track and field meet at Appomattox on May 16.

It has been a challenging season for many athletes because of injuries and the time constraints of being dual-sport competitors.

Kate Collins, as well as Briana Ross, Megan Campbell, Hannah Lilley and Fiona Jones will continue juggling soccer commitments while preparing for the Region B track meet. Softball player Arielle Giles qualified for region by placing second in shot put and fourth in discus.

All the girls are on relays. Jones won the 800 and placed second in the mile. Collins won the 100 hurdles and finished fifth in high jump, sixth in long jump and ninth in triple jump as well as running the 400 and 1,600-meter relays.

“I think my major contribution today was the hurdles,” she said. “I haven’t really been running a lot this season, but I still went out there and ran into the headwind. That made me feel good and gave me some confidence to keep pushing hard in my other events.”

Collins said sometimes she feels like she’s letting the track team down because of soccer, but she loves both sports.

“I think it’s been a big challenge this year because we have some girls that are all track, and they do that every day. It’s hard when you don’t get to practice with those girls.”

Track-only girls moving on to the regional meet are Brittney Ross, Elizabeth Alderfer, Megan Graves and Carmen Thomas. Ross was sixth in the triple jump. Alderfer was fourth in the two-mile. Thomas was third in discus. Graves was second in both hurdles and ran May 16 on a slightly sprained right ankle.

“It only hurts when I land on the hurdles because it’s my lead leg, so it’s the first one down and it’s catching all the force of pulling through,” Graves said.
Graves said it was tough to be doing hurdle workouts on her own this season.

“I used to run with L.J. Thomas (now at Lynchburg College), and he was at the point where he was not too much faster than me, but fast enough to make me push myself.”

Male hurdler Cody Shannon was a top competitor for the boys’ team, finishing third in the 110 and second in the 300 event. He tied for fifth place in high jump. He and teammates Brandon White, Jacob Ashley, Josh Morris and Matt Brown will represent Nelson at the regional meet.

Brown won the two mile and finished fifth in the mile. Ashley placed fourth in the 400. Morris was fourth in the mile and sixth in the 800. The boys 1,600 relay was third behind Chatham and Appomattox. White was fourth in shot put, and said it was his best performance because the area was protected from the wind. He threw a personal best 46-03 feet.

“Long jump, I was running into the wind and downhill,” White said. “High jump was running into the wind. It just kind of threw me off with everything except shot put.”

White said he felt unprepared today, because like Morris, he’s playing soccer this season. His performance made him look past the rest of the outdoor season.

“I’m ready for indoor where I can focus on just track itself,” said White, a junior. “Trying to balance track and soccer isn’t working for me this year.”