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Published Monday, April 18, 2011 in Sports

Prep Track: Heritage School strong in warmup for region meet

FROM STAFF REPORTS

sports@newnan.com

The goal for any track team is to peak when it counts the most. And that time has just about arrived for The Heritage School.

Last week’s “Friday Night Lights” meet at home proved to be a perfect warm-up for Heritage School lineups, who will host Tuesday’s Region 4-AA meet. The top placers move on to the GISA State Championships to be held April 28-30 at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.

Field events at the region meet will begin around 2 p.m.

It’s a chance for defending Class AA hurdles champion Chase Parker, who helped lead the Lady Hawks to an eighth-place finish a year ago, to make a run at consecutive state titles after placing in both hurdles events in her first two seasons on the track.

The Hawks, meanwhile, are primed to make a much bigger impact at the state meet than in 2010.

Last week’s home meet, which was held Thursday to avoid impending bad weather, may have been just what Heritage needed after being idle for a 19-day span. Heritage School went from three big meets in March over a week to the long layoff.

The two teams were coming off two other home meets, the Hawks Invitational on March 19 and its Classic meet on March 25. In between, Heritage attended a makeup meet on March 22 at Mill Springs.

“I have to admit it’s been an interesting experience for our team over the past three weeks,” said Heritage School track coach J.P. Weaver. “Our meet at home this past week was a great opportunity for our athletes to get their legs back under them one last time before region.”

Weaver might be hoping the ‘home field advantage’ pays off this week, having held a pair of middle school and varsity meets on its host track, especially since both programs turned in strong efforts last week.

"It was a big plus,” he said.

Parker, a sophomore, was again at her best to help lead the Lady Hawks, who were also missing senior long distance runner Aleisha Khan. A STAR Student at Heritage School, Khan was making a visit to a familiar school in Durham, N.C., where she’ll attend next fall.

“Aleisha had a very valid excuse,” Weaver said of Khan, a state cross-country champion will be a favorite this week in both the 800 and 1,600 meters. “She was visiting Duke.”

Parker, meanwhile, will be tough to beat not only in both hurdles, but the discus, high jump and 100 meters. On Thursday, she won all five events while also joining winning 400 and 1,600 relay teams with Julie Thames, Mollie Carter and Mackenzie York.

York won two events, taking both the shot and 400 run, while also finishing behind Parker in the 100 hurdles. Thames took second in the discus and the 100, also behind her Lady Hawks teammate, while Carter took third in the discus.

The Hawks were just as productive, led by freshman David Bready’s five top-three finishes. Individually, Bready won the long jump, finished second in the 100 and 400 and took third in the high jump.

He also joined John Veal, Trevor Sawyers and Joel Prock for a second-place finish in the 1,600 relay.

Veal and Prock also added victories of their own. A senior, Veal’s came in the 110 high-hurdles, while also taking second in the 300 intermediate hurdles, third in the discus and fourth in the shot.

Prock, a junior, captured a win in the 3,200 and also led a second through fifth effort from Hawks runners in the mile. John Dean, Tripp Brown and Jeffrey Dean were third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Senior Logan Kimball (shot) and Will Thompson (800) also picked up wins for Heritage School's boys. Thompson led a first through fourth effort in his victory with Cullen Dean, Tripp Brown and James Tiernan. Other scorers on the track included sophomore Will Duke, who was third in the 100 and fourth in the 400, the latter just ahead of Thompson.

In the field, Elliott Smith placed second in the discus while Dennis Breyne and Braeden Vandersluis finished fourth and fifth in both of the weight events.

Heritage’s middle school teams were strong in its season finale.

Chase Shuman earned wins in the 400 and 800 and fellow sixth-grader McCullough Burns won the discus and was third and fifth, respectively, in the 400 and 800. Runners Graham Newman and Daniel Kaas-Neel were also key contributors.

The girls saw good performances from seventh grader Casey Harcourt, who finished second in the 200 run, fourth in the 400 and fourth in the discus. Seventh grader Morgan Tiernan also finished fifth in the 400 and fifth in the discus.

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