Success will breed success.
The Beckley girls track team has been successful and according to head coach George Barbera, the team continues to rise.
“The girls have won the regional five years in a row except the year that it cancelled due to Covid,” Barbera said. “Our program continues to grow in numbers and we only have two seniors on the team. We are expecting everybody back, plus hopefully more next year.”
The most notable area of increased success has been in the sprints. Barbera credits that in large part to the addition of assistant coach Amy Ince who was a two-time state champion in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays at Oak Hill.
Her daughter Kyndall is one of the top sprinters on the team.
“The kids are developing well. Coach Amy does a great job with the sprinters. All of the sprint relays, including the shuttles qualified for states,” Barbera said. “This is the first year we have qualified for the state meet in every relay.”
“The first year I came on we only had six sprinters with Kyndall being one of them,” Ince said. “We have built that part of the program up. I think some of that was the lack of success.”
Not only did the Flying Eagles qualify in all five relays, they were regional champions in the 4×100, 4×200 and the 4×400. Beckley placed second in the 4×800 and third in the shuttle hurdles.
“There is so much skill involved,” Ince said. “People don’t think about hand-offs and block work. A lot of middle schools don’t even teach (block work). George also does a great job with the conditioning.”
Kyndall Ince leads off both the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relays. The junior standout also qualified for the state meet in the long jump. Add in the fact that she is one of the top cross country runners, Ince is a unique athlete that you don’t often see.
“Kyndall is knocking down that myth that cross country makes you slow. She was our top distance runner in cross country, then she comes out here and qualifies for the long jump and is the lead-off in two relays,” Barbera said.
Ince gave the distance events a try at first, but she seemed destined for the sprints when it came to track.
“I really like sprinting more. Cross Country is so much running,” Ince said. “Going into track season, sprinting seems a lot easier, but a lot of that is cross country which helps me stay in shape.”
After battling a medical condition at the first of the year, Ince finally feels back to 100 percent just in time for states.
“I had to get my appendix taken out and that set me back pretty far. It happened early in the track season and I was having a super strong track season before that,” Ince said. “I had to ease back into it. I did some light work, but just recently I finally started to feel good. I really saw it in the 4×200 relay at regionals. I was super strong all the way through.”
After a top-10 finish in the long jump last year in the state meet, Ince has the fifth best jump across the state in the regular season this year.
Admitting she loved the beach, she also seemed destined to find her way to the long jump pit and the sand.
“I picked it up in middle school because I had never done a field event and sand was fun,” Ince said, laughing. “I kind of taught myself how to do it by watching a lot of YouTube videos and my mom helped me. I also now have a long jump coach that has helped me.”
Salia Harris (sophomore), Ama Ackon-Annan (junior) and Somalia Nelson join Ince in the 4×100 meter relay. Sophomore soccer standout Mya Wooton runs with Ince, Harris and Nelson in the 4×200 meter relay.
“I just have to make sure to get (the baton) from Kyndall and if she yells at me I just do what she says,” Harris said, smiling. “Communication is key. Kyndall tells me when to run. When she is ready to hand it off, she will yell stick, and I take it from her.
Ackon-Annan is also a standout soccer player who made the switch over to the sprints this year.
“Last season I was doing more middle distance stuff and this year I wanted to do more sprints,” Ackon-Annan said. “I have worked on my accelerations which has improved my speed over shorter distances and that has paid off.”
Ackon-Annan runs lead-off for the 4×400 relay team and also qualified for the state meet in the 200 meter dash. She credited a full year of varsity soccer in the fall as a key contributor to her sprinting success.
“With soccer you think of running for longer distances, but where I play as a striker, I need to be ready to burst into speed at any moment to chase the ball down the field and start a counter-attack,” Ackon-Annan said. “That is where my sprinting comes into play there. This track season will also help me next soccer season in a couple of months.”
Ince, Harris, Wooton and Nelson finished second in the state meet last year in 4×200 meter relay.
“We will have a way tougher time than we did last year,” Ince said. “We are all finally back though, healed from injuries and we are getting stronger.”
Nelson, who runs the anchor leg, is confident they can make a run at the top spot this year.
“We have been working really hard this year and we are trying to get No. 1,” Nelson said. “I think as long as we prefect our hand-offs, we will have a good shot.”
Following Ackon-Annan in the 4×400 is freshman Bria Donatelli, then Nelson and Wooton.
Wooton was the regional champion in the 400 meter dash and also qualified for the state meet in the 100 meter dash. Donatelli qualified for the state meet in the 1600 meter run.
Lani Misch (sophomore), Cecilia Lindley (junior), Elise Vredeveld (sophomore) and Donatelli make up the 4×800 relay team, while Mia Houck (junior), Lexi Thomas (freshman), Nevaiah Simmons (junior) and Nevaeh Howard (junior) combine for the shuttle hurdle relay.
Houck qualified in the 100 meter hurdles, while Simmons will be at the state meet to compete in the 300 meter hurdles.
Nelson was the regional champion in the high jump where she is tied for the best leap in the state.
Bella Staples was first in the discus and qualified for the state meet in the shot put, giving her two events where she will contend for the championship.
Joining Staples in the shot put with be junior Leiloni Manns who is competing in the shot put for the first time.
“I just got back from states in basketball, so two in one year is pretty good,” Manns said.
Manns admitted that making the state meet did come as a bit of a surprise.
“My first week, I was throwing it like 20 feet and now I am up to 32. Bella taught me the ropes and everything I needed to know,” Manns said. “We have been friends for awhile and she asked to come throw. I have really enjoyed it, but I really wasn’t expecting to go to states and it happened in my first year.”
While the competition will be stiff as always, Barbera is excited and confident his girls will do well.
“This is one of the best teams we have had since the 80’s,” Barbera said. “We think we can compete with anybody in the state and we are going down there to win.”