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Parry McCluer High School junior Kovyk Chandler broke the school record in the boys’ 1600-meter run on Friday night, finishing in a time of 4:29.55 at the Walter Bass High School Invitational at Liberty University.
The previous record was 4:30.28, set by 2020 PM graduate Dylan May when he won the state indoor title in 2020. May is now a star sophomore track and cross country runner for Southern Virginia University.
On Friday, in breaking the school record by 0.73 seconds, Chandler placed 11th of 106 runners. Chandler said it was the most competitive race he’d ever competed in. Providence’s Landon Roemer won in 4:14.08.
Reviewing the race afterward and his preparation, Chandler said PM head coach Chris Poluikis “kept telling me that I needed to make sure that I didn’t get stuck behind someone coming though the first 400 meters. I came through the halfway mark at 2:14.6. I saw the time and I said during the race in my head, ‘There’s no way I can keep this pace up for another 800 meters.’” Chandler said he was sure he could break the record when he saw the time remaining in the last 200 meters. “I just had to close the last 200 meters in just over 30 seconds, which I knew I could,” he said.
When Chandler ran his then-personal record of 4:36.4 a week earlier at the East Coast Elite Meet at Virginia Military Institute, he finished the final 200 meters in 30.5 seconds, he recalled.
Proud of Chandler’s finish, Poluikis said, “He really finished strong. He had a great kick there at the end.”
PM girls racing at the meet, both in the 1600-meter run, were freshman Kyra Lee and junior Jasmine De Souza. Lee placed 49th of 70 runners in 6:21.35 while De Souza finished 50th in 6:23.94.
“They both ran the two-mile last week,” said Poluikis. “They haven’t had to handle this kind of pace in a while. They may have gotten caught in that two-mile pace, but they maintained the pace they had the whole race, so I know they can handle it.”
The Blues had four throwers at the meet, all competing on Saturday. Sophomore Rayshan Richardson led the way, placing 39th of 61 throwers in the boys’ shot put with a toss of 33 feet, 3.25 inches, a personal record (PR) by about two feet and just shy of his goal of 35 feet. Freshman teammate Griffin Harlow had a throw of 27-2.25 for 47th place.
For the PM girls, freshman Kamala Richardson placed 31st of 53 throwers with a toss of 24-3.25, matching her PR. PM throwing coach Danny Cole said Richardson “was pretty consistent.” Also competing for the PM girls was Katey Shifflet, coming in 44th with a throw of 19-9. “Katey came off of a short practice week and didn’t throw as well as she anticipated,” said Cole.
The Blues and Rockbridge County will compete locally on Saturday at the Walt Cormack Memorial Meet, sponsored by the Virginia Track Coaches Association.. The meet will start at 8:30 a.m. and will take place at the VMI’s Corps Physical Training Facility in Lexington.
