Exceeding Expectations

5/21/2026

As the spring track season neared its conclusion, Collegiate’s coaching staff — all experienced and successful practitioners of the sport in their day — issued the Cougars a time-honored challenge they hoped would resonate in the championship meets: Outperform the performance list.

Their athletes had trusted the process. They understood that they’d been through the training and tapering phases of their season. They’d established marks in their events in weekday meets and weekend invitationals, and those marks would determine their seeding in the final competitions.

The time had arrived, their coaches told them, to put the finishing touches on their season by doing all within their power to surpass those marks and, by so doing, outperform the performance list.

In both the league and state meets, contested May 9 and May 16, respectively, on the Gus Lacy Track at Fork Union Military Academy, the Cougars did just that.

“There were a lot of personal bests,” said Beth Kondorossy, head girls team coach. “There was a good vibe up at Fork Union. We showed up, and we competed to the best of our ability.”

Collegiate’s girls placed second in the League of Independent Schools (LIS) meet and third in the VISAA.

Virginia Harris was honored as outstanding running event performer in both competitions.

In the LIS meet, she won the 1600 (5:11.24) and led a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the 3200 (11:40.50) with teammates Rosie Ferrell (11:51.44), Anne Lewis (12:03.81), and Samantha McMullin (12:19.82) behind her.

Ferrell won the 800 in a personal best 2:21.08, and Addison Purcell, whose seed time in the 300 hurdles was 53.26, won in 52.30.

Purcell, who also finished fourth in the 100 hurdles (personal best 18.83) also placed fourth in the high jump (personal best 4-10), and Sallie Martin finished fifth in 4-8, a personal best by four inches.

Destini Spain placed third in the triple jump (34-2, well beyond her 30-2.25 seeding) and fifth in the long jump (16-1.25, an improvement over her previous best 14-9.50).

Collegiate’s boys team, competing without standout springer/jumper Nasir Diggs-Majied, who was injured, placed fifth in the Prep League meet.

Juniors Reade Lewis (4:43.09) and Jack Porter (4:44.36) finished 4-5, respectively, in the 1600 in personal best times.

Watson Andrews (5-10), Tae’Veon Johnson (5-8), and Kyle Spicer (5-8) placed 4-5-6, respectively, in the high jump, and James Bonbright (12-0) and Wally Becker (12-0) placed 2-4 in the pole vault.

“Everybody understood that we would be missing points because Nasir couldn’t compete,” said Brent Miller, head boys team coach. “As a captain, he was out there encouraging and making sure they worked hard, and they did what they needed to do to the best of their ability.”

On a hot afternoon at the VISAA championship meet, Harris placed in the 1600 (first, 5:06.70), 3200 (second, 11:45.53), and 800 (third, 2:21.38), which accounted for 24 team points.

Anne Lewis (fifth, 12:07.17) and McMullin (sixth, 12:18.22) also placed in the 3200 to provide the team 15 points in the penultimate event that solidified the Cougars’ third-place finish.

Ferrell ran negative splits (71.5/69) to win the 800 (2:20.15) and also ran a leg of the 4x800 relay (fourth, 10:32.79) and 4x400 relay (third, 4:12.42).

“They worked hard all season,” said distance coach Matthew Richardson. “They practiced competing in their events. They did a good job of coming out, running them well, running them together, and not backing down from the competition. They ran some challenging doubles. They just went out and did what they knew they could do.”

Ashley Grace Johnstone won the state title in the shot put (personal best 36-3.25), Kamryn Williams finished third (personal best 33-5), and Aleigha White-Barfield finished seventh (31-3). In the discus, Wiliams also placed fourth (99-7) and Johnstone fifth (96-9).

Spain finished her Sophomore season ablaze with personal bests in the triple jump (third place, 35-2), long jump (fifth, 16-5), and high jump (eighth, 4-8).

Collegiate’s boys team finished tenth in the state. Bonbright placed second in the pole vault (12-6) and J.D. Chen fifth (11-6). Reade Lewis (sixth, 4:40.74) and Porter (tenth, 4:42.69) lowered their 1600 PRs. The 4x800 team (Ben Thalhimer, Thomas Galahan, Carter Shields, and Kieran Johnston) placed fifth (8:48.77), and Spicer (fourth, 5-10), Johnson (seventh, 5-8), and Andrews (eighth, 5-8) picked up three places in the high jump.

“Our athletes came out and really worked hard,” said Miller of the combined effort. “It’s always nice when they outperform the performance list.”

~Weldon Bradshaw

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