|
May 28, 2002
Oakton and Gar-Field teams stand out
While whether or not girls and boys sports are on equal footing
is a
constant source of debate, both the Oakton and Gar-Field boys and
girls teams
proved equal as they showed their heels to the rest of the field
in sweeping
regional track titles this past weekend.
In the Northern Regional meet held this past Thursday and
Friday at
Jefferson High, the Oakton girls put up 120.5 points to easily claim
the team
title while Lake Braddock was a strong second with 80 points and
Centreville
third with 45 points. The Oakton boys did not produce as many points
as the
Cougars girls but they also grabbed the first place trophy after
their score
of 63 points proved more than sufficient with Hayfield the runnerup
at 44
points followed closely by Centreville (41), T.C. Williams (40)
and Mount
Vernon (39) rounding out the top five.
At the Northwest Region Championships held last Friday at
Lannigan Field in
Charlottesville, the relatively young Gar-Field girls team was an
easy winner
with 115 points with Cave Spring notching second place with 65 points
while
North Stafford (47.5 points) just edged Osbourn Park (47 points)
for third
place. The Gar-Field boys matched the Indians' girls success as
they put up
135 points to more than double all their opponents with Potomac
finishing
second (62) by a scant one point over third place Woodbridge (61
points).
In the Northern Region meet, the pre-meet favorite Oakton girls
did not hit
on all cylinders but still had plenty of gas in the tank to easily
claim the
outdoor crown to go along with their regional indoor title. The
Cougars were
led by junior Kathleen Woody, who won both the long jump (17 feet,
6.75
inches) and triple jump (36-10.75) in addition to finishing second
in the 100
dash (12.62 seconds) and fourth in the 200 dash (25.94) to personally
account
for 32 of her squad's points; in scoring which is through six places
on a
10-8-6-4-2-1 basis.
Oakton also recorded wins from senior Keira Carlstrom in the 800
run and
freshman Danielle Light in the 1,600 run. In the 800, Carlstrom
led the field
through the first 400 in 65 seconds and then repelled a strong finish
from
Centreville sophomore Dacia Barr on the homestretch as Carlstrom
won in a
swift 2:13.12 with Barr a close second in a personal best of 2:13.43.
In the 1,600 run, Light was in a close pack of six runners who went
through
the 1,200 meter mark at 3:58 but Light was determined not to be
denied and
took the lead about 70 meters from the finish from West Springfield's
Huma
Husain and her 71 second final 400 gave her the victory in 5:09.37
with
Husain second at 5:09.81.
The Cougars also piled up important second place finishes from
Bonnie
Meekins in the 100 hurdles (15.90), Emily Adams in the 3,200 run
(11:25.52),
Lindsay Pearson in the discus throw (126-4) and from their 4x100
relay team
of Meekins, Woody, Caroline Epley and Jenee Moore (48.94).
Runnerup Lake Braddock battled hard but could not overcome the
loss of
their top point scorer and team leader in senior Alexandra VanHeuven,
who had
to scratch from the meet due to a leg injury. The Bruins received
victories
from junior Kelly Swain, who successfully defended her title in
the 3,200 run
(11:15.47), their 4x100 relay team of sophomores Courtney Sanders
and Jessica
Preko, freshman Jenny Eakin and junior Cristina Zuniga (48.90) and
their
4x800 relay squad of freshmen Gabi Subert, Erin Harrison and Kelsey
Snowden
and junior Meredith Brill on anchor (9:35.73) in addition to second
places
from high jumper Ashley Haislip (5-5) and their 4x400 relay of Zuniga,
Brill,
Sanders and Eakin (3:57.56).
Third place Centreville had senior Sarah Lewis repeat as the 300
hurdle
champion for the second year in a row, this time at 45.23 with Westfield
freshman Karen Woolley second (46.68) and Lewis also anchored the
winning
Centreville 4x400 relay team which also included Dacia Barr, Elizabeth
Dunning and Sierra McPhaul ( 3:57.52).
Fourth place Jefferson (40 points) saw Molly Mahar claim her first
ever
regional title with a win in the high jump (5-5) and Mahar also
finished
third in both the 300 hurdles (47.04) and 100 hurdles (16.23) while
fifth
place South Lakes (33 points) was paced by senior Latasha Ewell's
first place
in the discus with a personal best of 127-8 and a pair of second
place
finishes by junior Adrienne Mayo in the long jump (17-6.25) and
triple jump
(36-8.75).
Wakefield was sixth with 32 points with the bulk of their points
from
junior Fatima Shuler, who was a convincing winner for the second
year in a
row in the 100 dash (12.21) and 200 dash (24.60) in addition to
placing third
in the long jump (17-0.75).
The other winners were T.C. Williams senior Junique Morris in the
400 dash
(57.64) with Morris also second in the 200 dash (25.01), Annandale
junior
Afua Amponsah in the 100 hurdles (15.07), Hayfield junior Ashley
Crocker in
the shot put (39-0.75) and hard working Centreville senior Kerri
Claussen who
went a personal best of 10-6 to score an upset win in the pole vault.
The Oakton boys did not pile up as many points as their girl counterparts,
but still tasted the same amount of success in winning the regional
team
title at the same site, Jefferson, in which they had become the
first Fairfax
County school to ever win the regional team title way back in 1970
with their
Mike Ragland, Bruce Lauer-led squad.
The Cougars scored three individual victories with seniors Neville
Jiang
winning the high jump (6-3) and Phil Gaeta the 1,600 run and 400
dash. In the
1,600 Gaeta set the early pace of 64 at 400 meters and 2:08 for
800 meters.
Wakefield senior Abdi Dubed then took over the lead with 500 meters
to go and
he and Gaeta were at 3:13 with one lap to go. Dubed and Gaeta then
battled
back and forth before Gaeta took the lead for good on the final
homestretch
to win in 4:15.50 with Dubed second in a personal best of 4:16.24.
Gaeta then came back just 30 minutes later for the 400 dash finals,
in
which he had been the fastest qualifier from the day before, and
the smooth
striding senior had enough in reserve to pull off the tough double
to win in
49.82.
Runnerup Hayfield posted one victory with senior Robert Malone
winning the
long jump at 21-8.75 to just nip Langley junior Nick Crumpton (21-8.5)
with
the top five finishers all within less than five inches of each
other and
Malone also anchored the Hawks 4x100 relay squad which included
Marcus Tyus,
Adam Bush and Randle Logan to second place (42.38) in a very tight
finish
with the winning West Potomac quartet of Darren Baker, Anthony Payouway,
Jerome Morgan and Cornelius Smith (42.36).
Centreville's team in third place had sophomore Daniel Bailey greatly
improve on his pair of fourth place finishes from the regional meet
last year
in the 100 and 200 meter dashes all the way to the winner's circle
this year
as he took the century in a personal best of 10.90 and then came
back in the
200 for a decisive victory at 22.22.
Fourth place T.C. Williams claimed a win in the 4x800 relay with
their all
juniors team of Timothy Nunn, Nulie McCarthy, Chidi Muomaife and
Kennedy
Kyei-Mensah running 7:59.03 to just turn back runnerup Lake Braddock
(7:59.13) while fifth place Mount Vernon got a win from junior Ernest
Asante
in the 300 hurdles (38.78).
There were two meet records set on the boys side, one by Centreville
senior
David Sullivan in the pole vault and the other by South Lakes senior
Richard
Smith in the 800 run.
Sullivan was the lone competitor in the vault for about an hour
after the
best of the rest of the pole vault field finished at 13-0. Sullivan
first
went after the meet record set last year by Mark Kupets of Centreville
at
15-0 and shattered that with a 15-6 clearance. Sullivan then went
after his
personal best of 15-9 and moved that mark up with his scaling of
16-0 and
then the Wildcats senior delighted the crowd with his final clearance
at an
uppity 16-4.
Smith of South Lakes was entered "fresh" for the 800
run with the intent of
looking to go under 1:50 and came very close to his pre-established
goal.
Taking the lead from the gun, Smith opened up a sizable lead at
200 meters
and went through 400 meters at 54.82 with Sharif Karie of West Springfield's
1997 meet record of 1:50.18 in sight. Smith then put almost an equal
400 in
the books as he toured the second lap in 55.26 to set the new regional
meet
mark of 1:50.08.
Smith then came back later in the evening as the anchor for the
Seahawks in
the 4x400 relay and after hanging in second place for most of the
race, hit
the accelerator button hard for the final 100 meters as the squad
which also
included seniors Tony Shipp, Matt Greenspan and Justin Smyser won
in 3:19.27.
Other winners included Robinson junior Steve Huntzinger, who won
both the
shot put and discus crowns for the second year in a row. Huntzinger
won the
shot put by almost three feet at 56-6 and the discus throw by almost
thirty
feet with a personal best toss of 176-11. Lake Braddock's Korey
Gross was the
triple jump winner at 45-2.5; Moh Williams of Annandale won the
110 hurdles
in 14.87 in addition to his second place in the 300 hurdles (39.55)
and the
Jefferson distance corps was very impressive in taking four of the
top six
spots in the 3,200 run with Jefferson sophomore Christo Landry winning
in
9:22.89 and his Colonials teammate Keith Bechtol second at 9:30.65.
The Gar-Field girls team, thought to be maybe a year away from
dominating
the region and being a force at the state meet, looked to have exceeded
those
expectations with their big fifty point win over the weekend. The
Indians
were led in the field events by junior Tiffany Evans and on the
track by
freshman Kharya Brown.
Evans, who has had to endure the state wide shadow cast by one
of the
nation's best throwers in F.W. Cox senior Lindsay Neuberger, continues
to
make a name for herself as she once again was a double victor in
taking the
discus throw at 125-2 and the shot put by over five feet at 42-8.
Brown pulled off a sprint double victory by first winning the 100
dash in
12.24 with her senior teammate Latesha Coulter second in 12.34 and
Brown also
won the 200 dash in 25.33 with Coulter second again (25.53) and
Gar-Field
sophomore Raina Brown third (25.57) as the Indians piled up 24 points
in the
200 dash alone.
Gar-Field was also strong in the 400 dash in going 1-2 with junior
Tonetta
Harris the winner in 58.10 and Raina Brown the runnerup (58.30)
and the
Indians also took the 4x100 relay by over 10 meters with the team
of Harris,
Coulter, Kharya Brown and freshman Chavonne Green racing to a time
of 48.42.
Fourth place Osbourn Park had a double winner in sophomore Devon
Alston,
who won both barrier races with a time of 15.27 in the 100 hurdles
and an
almost two second win in the 300 hurdles (45.45) and Osbourn Park
also won
the 4x800 relay at 9:42.03 with the team of senior Moriah O'Brien
and
freshmen Amanda Olson, Lindsay Simon and Emily Arena with Stonewall
Jackson
second (9:45.80) and Woodbridge third (9:45.97).
Woodbridge was fifth with 38 points and had sophomore Tishika Ferguson
as
the triple jump winner at a distance of 35-11.5 while C.D. Hylton
finished
sixth with 35 points and got a distance double win from junior Jemissa
Hess
as she swept the 1,600 (5:04.32) and 3,200 runs (11:24.15). Stonewall
Jackson
scored 34 points for seventh place with Kelly Morris winning the
high jump at
5-3 and Potomac was ninth with 23 points as junior Corvette Johnson
won the
800 run in 2:20.32.
The Gar-Field boys put on a dominating performance as they won 7
of the 17
events contested at Lannigan Field. The Indians had three different
seniors
win in the field events in long jumper Tyree Carr (22-1.25); Eric
Lewis in
the triple jump (46-2.25) and from Larry Evans in the high jump
(6-4).
The Indians were led on the track by senior Antoine Woods, the winner
of
both the 110 high (14.71) and 300 intermediate (39.64) hurdles.
Woods was
also part of the winning 4x400 relay team for the Indians which
included
Dominic Williams, Larry Watson and Terry Jackson (3:24.18) and Gar-Field
also
won the 4x100 relay with Jackson, Carr, Lewis and Yaw Owusu Boama
in 43.48.
Runnerup Potomac received the bulk of their point scoring from
sprinter
Antwan Stewart and thrower Ivan Parker. Stewart won a tight four
speedster
battle in the 100 meter dash in a swift 10.85 and then had a more
comfortable
time of it in claiming the 200 dash (22.15) while Parker won the
shot put
(57-1) and was third in the discus throw (140-7).
Third place Woodbridge received wins from seniors Matt Stemmler
in the pole
vault (12-0) and Mike Lyng in the 3,200 run (9:40.72) while Colonial
Forge
grabbed fourth place with 43 points and notched wins from juniors
Mike Porter
in the 1,600 run (4:26.52) and Sean Leyh in the 800 run (1:57.85).
Virginia Regionals
|
