The Nansemond River High School girls’ outdoor track and field team did not have all of its stars throughout the VHSL Group 4A state championships in Harrisonburg over the weekend, but it ended up having more than enough points to become back-to-back state champions.

“It was exciting,” Lady Warriors coach Justin Byron said, especially in light of the fact the school’s graduation ceremony in Norfolk was occurring at the same time as the meet on Saturday.

Some of Nansemond River’s top seniors like Kara Lyles, Candice James and Courtney James opted to attend graduation, missing at least part of the state meet, and Byron said graduation is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I definitely understand.”

Those girls would have provided a significant number of points, and their absence left NR feeling a bit anxious, but Byron said that nervousness later turned to adrenaline.

Junior Brandeé Johnson and senior Zakiya Rashid produced phenomenal performances, and the team’s younger and newer additions stepped up.

The Lady Warriors finished with 115.5 points, 47.5 ahead of runner-up Phoebus High School, which had 68.

“A college coach described Brandeé as a one-man wrecking crew,” Byron said.

Johnson won the girls’ 200-meter dash with a time of 24.02 seconds, the 100-meter hurdles in 13.86 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.71 seconds.

Combined with her third-place finish in the triple jump and her fifth-place finish in the long jump, she scored 40 of the Lady Warriors’ points on her own.

“I’m sure that she would have been competitive at the meet if she had been her own team,” Byron said.

In fact, she would have placed fourth out of 35 teams that scored points, just after E.C. Glass High School, which had 46 points.

Rashid won the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 1.5 inches, and she won the discus throw with a throw of 144 feet, five inches.

She also finished second in the 100 hurdles and helped the 4×100-meter relay team finish first, but unfortunately that team was disqualified after it was judged to have executed a handoff too early on the anchor leg.

Rashid produced 28 points total and — combined with Johnson — would have tied Phoebus with 68 points.

Byron said his team has Johnson as the one-man wrecking crew, and “Zakiya as probably the most versatile athlete in the state.”

As dominant as those two athletes are, Nansemond River showed it has additional talent that can make a sizable impact, as well.

“The rest of the team still is extremely competitive when you remove those top two heavy hitters,” Byron said, as the Lady Warriors generated 47.5 points outside of Johnson and Rashid.

Sophomore Syaira Richardson claimed the state title in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.78 seconds.

“She kept the 400 title at Nansemond River,” Byron said, noting Lyles won it last year.

Richardson also took fourth in the 100-meter dash, a new event for her.

Junior Dajae’ Goulet finished third in both the 100 and the 200, producing personal records in both cases, while freshman Asia Crocker took fifth in both events.

Juniors Monae Bynum and Kiara Price and sophomores Karah Foster and Anaya Monroe had never run in a 4×400-meter relay event at a state meet before, but they did so over the weekend and took fifth.

“Literally everyone ran about two seconds faster than they normally run,” Byron said.

Nansemond River’s boys’ team took seventh out of 39 teams that scored points, and senior Kadeem Middleton won state titles in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 48.60 seconds, and the long jump, leaping 24 feet, 3.25 inches.

Similar to struggles Rashid went through transitioning quickly from running to throwing events, the schedule was not friendly to Middleton.

“The long jump and the 400 were about the same time,” Byron said, noting Middleton’s goal was to make it to the finals with one jump and quickly run the 400 before returning for the long jump finals.

But Middleton’s first jump ended up being all he needed to win. The leap currently ranks No. 3 in the state and No. 11 in the nation.

“His jump was so big that college coaches were texting me 10 minutes after the jump,” Byron said.