Upon Further Review

Just when you thought you’d have an easier road to a long or triple jump championship, along comes another Jenkins and, well, we’re sorry about that feeling you have in your gut right now. You know what it is, that feeling that you’re going to have to wait a little while longer if you ever hope to sniff gold in either of those events in the Southern Valley District.

Sure, Alicia and Angela Jenkins tore up Group A over at Buffalo Gap and saved the Southern Valley (or “old” Valley ... geez people, let it go!!) from any embarrassment. But the five-school district won’t be so lucky now that Karissa Jenkins is in the mix.

Jenkins hurled her body 16-8 in the long jump and 36-1 in the triple jump, beating veterans like Stuarts Draft’s Christina Fenske and the like en route to gold in both of those events at Friday’s Southern Valley Meet brought to you by Fort Defiance but hosted by Waynesboro (or something like that).

“A lot of it has to do with my uncle,“ the freshman (yes, I just typed freshman) said of her performance. Who’s her uncle? Well, it’s the guy that trained Angela, Alicia and Rajah Jenkins—Roger Jenkins.

The 15-year-old Lee Lady smiled. She knows something the rest of us know already—she’s gonna be scary.

And another thing: Fort Defiance girls track coach Dave Stewart is, literally, a man for all seasons. He led the Indians girls cross country team to a Southern Valley title, then his girls won indoor track over R.E. Lee and, of course, beat R.E. Lee again on Friday to win the district outdoor track.

The funny thing about Stewart is you’d never know he was the head coach. He celebrates with the girls and smiles probably just as much (if not more) as they do. Yeah, another example of what a high school coach should be.

Talk about coincidence or irony or, whatever: During the indoor season it came down to the triple jump between R.E. Lee and Fort Defiance girls with the Indians taking the top spot that time. On Friday, it once again came down to the triple jump and, despite Jenkins’ (I know, I know, there’s another one. I’m sorry female SV District jumpers, don’t blame me, though) performance the Indians managed to pull two-point win over the Lee Ladies for the district team title.

It was all thanks to Christine Jarvis and Jasmine Diggs, two Indians that managed to squeeze themselves into fourth and fifth place in the triple jump, giving Fort six much-needed points for the victory.

Don’t worry, R.E. Lee coach David Tibbs isn’t crying too much today. His boys team hammered away at the competition, scoring 170 points to Fort Defiance’s 100.50. They did it with speed, power and a specimen by the name of Rajah Jenkins.

Anybody remember this kid when he was an eighth grader at Fishburne Military School? Sure you do, and he literally looked like a rabbit. Small, quick and tough to catch. Seeing the now-senior and VMI-bound Jenkins walking around the Waynesboro track Friday had you doing double takes. Folks, he’s built strong and ready to return kickoffs and punts for the Keydets. And the best part is he can’t wait to head down there and play.

On the SV District Track Meet hosted by Fort Defiance being at Waynesboro: The host school is in charge of actually organizing and running the meet. This includes securing the best possible venue for the competition, which the hosts (Fort) did by selecting Waynesboro HS because as you so accurately pointed out, “Waynesboro has far superior (and newer) facilities”. So, in the future you may want to actually research the topic before you spew your condescending rants.
- Tom

Sorry, Tom. Didn’t mean to insult a district that does everything right and always takes the kids into consideration. Yes, that’s sarcasm.

This district is a sham in every sense of the word and everybody should feel bad for the coaches and athletes who have to play and coach sports under any of these administrators. Need proof?

Take a look at the trail of terror this district has wrought: The heck with you basketball fans. You have to choose between girls or boys or, maybe even, your own son and daughter. Oh and players, to heck with you. Oh yeah, we’re afraid of byes, so despite the fact that we could give the No. 1 seed in any of your tournaments a game off, instead we’re going to drop the No. 5 seed and not give them a chance to do anything in postseason play.

Or how about, hey, we know this district is going to break up, so let’s lock ourselves into two-year contracts with what soon will be the Massanutten District. Yeah, that was a great idea too. So instead of Southern Valley soccer and football teams exploring other opponents outside of Region III, they’re still saddled playing a schedule left over from the old Valley days. And we wonder why people can’t let go and soccer teams won’t be making it out of regionals this year. Yeah, good on the Southern Valley District. Good job.

So, to summarize, yes, this district deserves every bit of “spew” from one of my “condescending rants,“ Tom. And yes, we do know how track meets work, but thanks for asking.