Leading the pack

By Shane Mettlen

Published: April 24, 2008

When it came down to it Wednesday evening at Broman Field, Culpeper County High School went the distance. The Blue Devils rode impressive performances in the longest races of the day to win their home track meet.

Junior Steven Reynolds skipped his best event, the 800-meter run, but came away victorious in both the 1600-meter and the 3200-meter. Reynolds, who finished the 1600 in 4:41, led four Culpeper runners that finished the race in less than five minutes. Reynolds then followed it up with a 10:51.14 to win the 3200. Teammate Daniel Austin came in second with a time of 11:05 as the Blue Devils took home the top five spots in the race.

“I did a hard sprint workout on Monday so I understand not doing the 800 right now,” Reynolds said. “(CCHS coach Kim Williams) wanted to a do a distance workout today so the mile and two-mile, you can’t get much more distance than that. Distance is a strength for us. We come in thinking that we can score a lot of points.”

CCHS finished with 111 points, ahead of second-place Liberty with 78 and Reynolds’ two gold-medal finishes were part of a big day for the Blue Devil boys. Culpeper won six events with B.J. Minor picking up two wins for Culpeper He ran the 100-meter dash in 11.17 seconds and also won the 200 in a time of 23.1. Kyle Majors took first in the long jump, leaping 20-feet, 10½ inches and Cameron French took the triple jump crown at 39-10.

Former CCHS athlete Mark Simpson won the shot put for Liberty with a throw of 45-feet, 1½ inches and another former Blue Devils, Osbourn’s Melvin Villaita won the high jump, clearing 6-6.

With all-around star Dira Hansen sitting out the meet, the Culpeper girls failed to win any events, but saw handful of solid performances.

Meyhonia Layne took second in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Layne finished the 100 in 12.86 seconds and the 200 in 28.16.

Dominique Danquah finished third in the 100 at 12.89 and Denae Rogers finished third in both the long jump and high jump.

LaPorshea Morton took third in the triple jump and Sarah Granillo finished third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 59.7 seconds.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or