Lee boys, Fort girls win Southern Valley track meet

Waynesboro’s Tim Brown, no doubt, earned the nickname “Slick” for his laid-back approach to life.
On Friday, at the inaugural Southern Valley District outdoor track and field meet, the stone-faced senior managed to contort his face into a smile and open his eyes wide in excitement. He’s wanted to hit 45 feet on the triple jump for quite some time and in windy and cold conditions at his home track, he nailed it.
Though it took some convincing from Little Giant jump coach Charlie Cox.
In his final attempt of the day, Brown lifted off for his third stage about a foot away from the sand and plummeted into the soft, brown stuff with near-perfect form.
“Nah, I didn’t get it,” he said. “That’s not it, coach.”
Waynesboro coach Ed Driskill, who was watching the always exciting jump battle, quickly guessed he had hit it. Brown still didn’t think so. That is until Cox, who kept the official distance for the jumps, put the measuring tape down.
“Forty-five, three,” Cox yelled.
Brown, shook his head and finally smiled. He had hit his personal best and beat the Group AA qualifying mark of 44-1.5 by more than foot.
“It didn’t feel right,” said a still-smiling Brown after his jump.
Brown held out his hand to shake coach Driskill’s. The veteran coach pulled his senior in and gave him a hug.
“That’s his best,” Driskill said. He could only repeat that line as he walked away. “That’s his best.”
It was a tale of tears, suspense, revenge and wide-eyed excitement that would have been fitting if Martin Scorsese produced and directed it for the big screen. Brown provided the wide-eyed excitement and R.E. Lee provided the measure of revenge earlier when Virginia Military Institute-bound Rajah Jenkins caught Waynesboro’s Ian Henneman in the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay. The Little Giants, however, would be disqualified for Henneman leaving his zone too early.
That mattered little to the Leemen — Jenkins, Devante White, Dae Quan Scott and Mark Anderson — who were happy they could avenge a close loss they suffered at the hands of the Little Giant foursome at last week’s City/County Meet.
“That was definitely in our minds,” Jenkins said.
The suspense ended the day in the girls’ side of the meet that came down to the final event — the triple jump — between R.E. Lee and Fort Defiance.
With the Leemen having already wrapped up a 170-100 win over Fort Defiance for the top spot, the Lee Ladies and Indians were in a heated battle — a repeat of the district’s indoor meet that also came down the triple jump.
Lee’s freshman phenom Karissa Jenkins – already having wrapped up the long jump trophy — took first in the triple with a 35-11.75 fling.
But Fort Defiance’s Christine Jarvis (30-1.50) and Jasmine Diggs (30-9) slipped into the fourth and fifth slots giving the Indians a nail biting close 158-156 win over Lee.
“I told the girls at team meeting [Thursday] that it would come down to the triple jump again,” Fort coach Dave Stewart said. “And Jasmine and Christine did great.”
Tears flowed as the Indian girls were handed the first Southern Valley District outdoor trophy.