15th Mobile Challenge of Champions Friday-Saturday, April 6-7, 2007 Mobile AL DyeStat on-site with Steve Underwood, John Nepolitan, and Arthur Mack

Julio Jones breaks out with huge LJ PR while others falter - Horizontal jumps by Arthur L. Mack

NEW - Record Javs - More Throws and Jumps by SteveU and Arthur L. Mack

Cold and windy weather caught many athletes off guard in the elite division of the Mobile Challenge of Champions at St. Paul’s Episcopal School’s E.E. Delaney Stadium.

It also made for some interesting scenarios in some of the events, as the runners, jumpers, and throwers still plugged away and left it all on the track, runways, and throwing areas. Certain events were surely affected by the weather conditions, but there were still many outstanding performances.

Julio Jones (left) took the triple jump and Ramon Gates the triple jump. Photos by John Nepolitan

The horizontal jumps proved to be quite an adventure, as athletes had to contend with swirling winds throughout the competition. It was enough to drive Olympic-class jumpers insane—let alone high school competitors.

Case in point—the boys’ triple jump. There were several competitors capable of going over 48 feet. Among them were Jonathon Keyes of Catholic-Baton Rouge LA, Ramon Gates of Cahokia IL, and Julio Jones of Foley AL.

All three, as well as the rest of the competition, had their problems with the wind, which sometimes swirled during the competition. As a result, nobody came even close to the 47-foot mark. Gates eventually won with a jump of 46-5 ¾ on his last attempt.

Gates said it was his teammates that got him going late in the competition.

“Triple jumping is an individual thing, but I always have my teammates clapping for me just for the motivation,” he said. “I couldn’t hear them because of the wind, and when they started clapping I couldn’t hear them because the wind was blowing in my ears and that got to my jumping a little bit. After a while, I could hear them, and it really got me pumping.”

There was no such drama in the girls’ long jump and triple jump. Brittany Porter of Towers HS in GA got off the biggest jump of all in the long jump, going 18-2 ½ to win by more than seven inches over Zandi Debowels of Pope HS of Georgia (17-7). Meanwhile, in the girls’ triple jump, Pope’s Saskia Kalmeijer—who finished sixth in the long jump, led throughout the competition and won the competition with a jump of 37-8 ¼.

Kalmeijer, originally from Belgium, said later the competition was very strong and was exciting about competing in the United States.

“I love living in the United States,” she said. “I also love track and field, and here in this country, the competition is a lot better. It’s a different world.”

It was indeed a different world for Foley’s Jones, whose personal best in the long jump during the season was 22-11. In fact, he was seeded only seventh in the invitational boys’ division. The favorites were Cahokia’s Clyde Young, who came into the meet with an indoor best of 24-8 ½, Macquavious Gilbert of Tupelo MS, and Brady Mullins of West Feleciana LA.

It was Jones, though, who prevailed in the windy conditions, as the rest of the competition had problems with their approaches. Jones’ second jump was 23-2, and his third was 23-4. On the final jump, he let it all hang out and put out the winning jump of 24-2—just missing the meet record of 24-3 set by Union County KYs Jonathon Brown in 1998.

“I came into the meet struggling with my approaches,” said Jones. “Since I came in as the underdog, I just went out and gave it my best. I got two or three jumps and started getting aggressive.”

Winning long jumper Brittany Porter (left) and triple jumper Saskia Kalmeijer. Photos by John Nepolitan.

Records With The Jav and More ...

The javelin competitors had by far the best success of any throwers Saturday. For the boys, Tyler Hamlet of Scottsboro AL blasted out a 187-00 on his very first throw, which was good enough for the win. He was somewhat off the meet record, which is a stellar 200-05.50 by Preston Chatham, but claimed an all-time Alabama best, which was no small consolation.

“I was pumped up after driving 7 hours here,” Hamlet said of his big first effort. “The conditions were ok out there. The wind didn’t affect us that much one way or another.”

On the girls side, Cedar Creek LA’s Ashley Aldridge was the lone record-setter of the meet on the field-events side, hitting 132-11 to beat the old mark from Mountain Brook AL’s Jane Johnson three years ago. “I was really nervous, because back home there's not much competition,” she said. “I didn't know what to expect, because I thought Meghan or one of the others would have come back to beat me.”

Jav winners Tyler Hamlet (left) and Ashley Aldridge. Photos by John Nepolitan

Outside the long jump, the best field event talent in the meet may have been thrower Wesley Wright of Villa Rica GA. But despite a mountain of determination, Wright couldn’t stay in the ring and only got off one fair throw, a “front-out” that would eventually get him second with 53-04. He was so distraught after the competition that he left the meet before awards were handed out.

He wasn’t the only one having problems. The wind was playing havoc with the throwers’ techniques and several others were resorting to the same tactics. Only one of the 14 was within a foot of his seed mark. In the end, though, it was second-seeded Tyler Guidry of South LaFourche LA that landed the best mark, a 53-06. “(The wind) affected me, but I overcame it,” he said. “It throws you off when you kick out of the ring. I’m happy to win, but I know I can do a lot better.”

Although they threw earlier out of a different ring, the girls shot putters had similar problems coming close to their marks. Marietta GA’s super soph Lauren Chambers had the top seed at 45-05 and, despite hitting just 39-09, was leading until the end. But St. Paul’s Angelica Howard pulled it out for the win with the only 40-footer of the day (40-01).

“It was freezing out there,” said Chambers. “The shot felt too heavy in my hand.”

Shot winners Angelica Howard (left) and Tyler Guidry. Photos by John Nepolitan

Boys discus winner Eric Gill. Photo by John Nepolitan

The results from the discus throwers were a little more mixed. On the boys side, top seed Eric Gill of Collins Hill GA was reasonably close to his mark and won by 4-1/2 feet with his 167-06. Here, Wright – who is much more of a weight and shot thrower – actually exceeded his seed with 157-01 for fourth. He is part of the Throw One Deep club and his teammate, Chambers, had similar results in getting 3rd on the girls side. Chalmette’s Danielle Martin took gold there in 117-02.

In the girls’ pole vault, hometown favorite Neal Tisher of St. Paul’s Episcopal had hopes of clearing 12 feet. In fact, she did so in practice two days before the meet. But on this day, it would be Dacula GA’s, Erica Penk who cleared the coveted height for the win, with Tisher finishing second with a vault of 11-6, while Nicole Polk of Oconee County GA was third with a vault of 10-6.

On the boys side of that event, there were six in the competition seeded at 14 feet or better, but no real skyscrapers like last year’s winner and meet-record-holder, Jordan Scott. However, it was a Scott teammate that got the win. Oconee County GA’s Adam Reed got his first 15-footer (15-01) to give the school east of Atlanta a gold and bronze in the combined vaults on the day.

Pole vault winners Adam Reed and Erica Penk. Photos by John Nepolitan

Top-seeded high jumper Jessica Merriweather of Bartlett TN was a little off her 5-10 PR, but still cleared 5-08 for the victory. For the boys, when top seed Brent Adams of South LaFourche was off form, it was Josh Tucker from Tupelo MS who came through to win at 6-04, winning on fewest misses over Cahokia IL’s Kendrick McRath.

Girls high jump winner Jessica Merriweather. Photo by John Nepolitan

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