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Outdoor Track 1999

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5/1/99 at Parker-Gray Stadium, T. C. Williams High School, Alexandria VA

17th T. C. Williams Invitational

This meet will be "webcast" by DyeStat - log on for live results after each event.

Preview - 6 Penn Relays champions entered

by Pearl Watts

   This Saturday's Seventeenth Annual T.C. Williams Invitational, once again 
will prevail this season as the largest area meet with 1,400 athletes 
representing sixty schools expected to participate. The meet never lacks in 
quantity or quality and this year is no exception with the four individuals 
and two relay teams from the metropolitan area that were winners last weekend 
at the 105th Penn Relays on hand to highlight the competiton.
  The star studded cast includes Penn winners Rickey Harris of Centreville, 
West Sprngfield's Nick Welihozkiy, Sheena Johnson from Gar-Field, the Potomac 
(Va.) 4x100 meter relay team, the 4x400 relay squad from Northwestern (Md.) 
and Eleanor Roosevelt's (Md.) Allen Simms.
  The meet at T.C. Williams' Parker-Gray Stadium will begin with field event 
finals at 9:00 a.m. Running event trials start at 9:30 a.m. in the girls 100 
meter hurdles and boys 110 meter high hurdles. That will be followed by 
trials in both the boys and girls 100 and 200 meter dashes and there will 
also be the non-top seeded sections of the boys and girls 1,600 and 3,200 
runs.
  Running event finals for both boys and girls are slated to start at 1:00 
p.m with the 3,200 meter relay and all subsequent events will be on a rolling 
time schedule. Gar-Field is the defending girls team champion and Western 
Branch the defending boys champion.
   Harris, who was named the outstanding male high school individual event 
performer at Penn after his meet record in the 400 hurdles of 50.63 seconds, 
is slated to run the 110 high hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles and the 200 
dash. Harris won the 110 highs as a sophomore last year in 14.13 and will be 
after the ten year old meet record of 13.97 set by Derrick Henderson of Green 
Run.
  In the 300 intermediates Harris, who ran 37.38 two weeks ago at the Allen 
Johnson Invitational, also has his sights set on that 1995 meet record of 
37.32 by Ballou's Rodriques Pfister. In the 200 dash, Harris will have plenty 
of competition from Potomac 4x100 relay anchor Rico Lloyd, DeMatha's Blake 
Pearson and Northwestern 4x400 relay member Robert Wingate-Robinson with 
Andre Cason of Green Run's 1987 record of 21.14 presumably safe for another 
year.
  Welihozkiy of West Springfield also has meet record capabilities. The 
Spartan senior won the Penn Relays discus throw last week on his last attempt 
with a 190 feet, 11 inch effort. That marked the third meet this season in 
which Welihozkiy has thrown over 190 feet. Welihozkiy will be after the meet 
record set in 1985 by W.T.Woodson's Andy Heck of 182-7 and may need to 
surpass that mark in order to win the event with the field bolstered by 
Marvin Urqhart of Western Branch, the state outdoor runnerup last year in the 
discus who also won the state wrestling 275 pound class this year.
  Welihozkiy is also the top seed in the shot put at 59-2.5 and will be 
looking for the big breakthrough at 60 feet and possibly Rodney Johnson's 
meet record of 60-6.75 from 1997.
  Sheena Johnson of Gar-Field, named the top indoor girls track and field 
performer in the nation this past season by Track and Field News is fresh off 
her second successive win at Penn in the 400 hurdles and won the Bev Lawson 
female MVP award at the meet last year.
   Johnson is the top seed and defending champion in both the 100 hurdles and 
300 hurdles with the 300 record of 43.4 by Lake Braddock's Angela Griffith 
from 1988 within her grasp. Johnson is also the top seed in the triple jump 
at 42-4.75 after leading the nation indoors and is also one of the top seeds 
in the long jump and 200 dash.
  Potomac, which went 1-2-3 at the state indoor meet in the 55 dash with Mike 
Newell, Phil Acosta and Rico Lloyd respectively, added hurdler Jeff Foy to 
the mix and came away with the Championship of America 4x100 title at 41.26. 
The meet record for Potomac would actually take improvement over last week 
with the 1993 standard of 41.14 set by Anthony Holley, Carlos Samuels, Bryan 
Drummond and Dwayne Lowery also the last U.S. team to win the 4x100 at Penn 
before Potomac (40.56; 1993).   
 For Potomac in individual events, Newell and Lloyd are the top two seeds in 
the long jump, Foy is seeded third in the 110 hurdles and Newell along with 
Acosta are two of the favorites in the 100 dash.
  Northwestern's 4x400 of  Wingate-Robinson, Dwayne Thomas, Ali Najjar and 
James Graham posted the third fastest timne ever at Penn with their winning 
time of 3:10.  Graham was named the top male high school performer in relay 
events after splitting 47.0 in the Saturday morning trials and then blasting 
a 45.9 in the afternoon finals. Graham will be after one of the oldest 
records at T.C. in the 400 dash at 47.0 hand timed by Patrick Mann of 
Gar-Field in 1984. Graham is also entered in the 300 hurdles while Najjar is 
scheduled for both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs.
  Junior Allen Simms of Roosevelt (Md.) took the Penn triple jump after 
improving over one foot from his previous best to 49-9.25 and will be looking 
to break the 50 foot barrier and get the 1993 record of 49-10.5 by Quince 
Orchard's (Md.) O.J. Robinson.
  Some of the other top entrants on the boys side in the running events 
include the T.C. Williams 4x800 relay team of  Aaron Beck, Jon Diamond, 
Busayo Ojumu and Brandon Alexander, the number two U.S. team and number three 
overall finisher at Penn last week in 7:44.51 who will be looking for the 
1991 meet record of 7:48.75 set by T.C. Williams. 
Also entered is Antonio Gray of Ballou (D.C.), the top ranked 500 meter 
performer indoors who is slated for both the 400 dash against Northwestern's 
Graham and the 800 run where Garrick Copes of Hayfield is one of the 
favorites.
  On the girls side besides Johnson, there are two returning defending 
champions in seniors Yolanda Thompson of West Potomac and Centreville's Faith 
Rein. Thompson won the long jump last year at 18-6 and is certainly capable 
of bettering the meet record of 19-0.75 set in 1987 by Lake Braddock's Dana 
Boone. Thompson is also the defending champion and meet record holder in the 
triple jump at 40-11.75 and will have yet still another battle with Johnson 
in that event.
  Rein is the defending champion in the 400 dash at 55.39 with that meet 
record one of the toughest on the board; 53.45 by Eleanor Roosevelt's Suziann 
Reid in 1995 who currently runs for Texas and was voted the top collegiate 
relay performer at Penn last week. Rein's main competitor in the 400 dash 
should be Chantilly's Alyssa Aiken, the fourth place finisher in the 400 
hurdles at Penn last week (60.88). Rein and Aiken are also the top two seeds 
in the 200 dash.
  Other top talent on the girls side includes Mount Vernon's Sharon O'Connor, 
the runnerup at Penn in the mile run who will have Erin Swain of Lake 
Braddock as her chief opponent in the 1,600 run and will go against 
Jefferson's Kelley Otstott in the 800 run. 
  Also, Kim Jones of the Greensboro (N.C.) Pacestters is one of the top seeds 
in both the long jump and 100 hurdles; Robinson's Liz Awtrey, the fourth 
place finisher in the 3,000 at Penn is the favorite in the 3,200 run and 
Eleanor Roosevelt's 400 relay squad led by Jessica Defreitas, finished fourth 
in the championship race at Penn in 47.17 and is a threat to get the 1992 
record of 47.54 set by the E. Roosevelt squad which included Suziann Reid and 
Ebony Robinson.          
   










 

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