Regional meet: `They did a double-take to be sure'

Both B-CC junior Terrence James and senior Chuck Banks were hoping for the best, but they weren’t sure. They kept walking over to the wall where organizers at the Maryland 4A West regional track meet on Wednesday were posting places. The top four would go to the state finals. The others were done.

Finally, officials posted the results.

James, No. 3 in the 300 meters.

Banks, No. 3 in the shot put.

They had made it – they had qualified for the state 4A finals next Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Prince George’s Sports Complex. For both, it was the first time making state finals.

``It was a breakout performance for TJ and Chuck,’’ said coach Chad Young. ``They kept walking over the wall, two, three times to check. When they posted the results, they did a double-take to be sure. They were pretty excited.’’

Banks threw the shot put 43 feet, 2.75 inches – just a couple inches from his personal best. ``He brings his emotion and competitiveness to the shot put, and both of those qualities combined helped him in his performance.’’

James ran 38:39 seconds, finishing second in his heat. Twenty-four runners competed in eight heats, and James had to wait until all had finished – and the organizers sorted out the results.

B-CC’s other state qualifier was the girls’ 4 x 800 relay team consisting of senior Paige Donnelly and sophomores Ava Farrell, Grace Reingruber, and Hallie Jester. Their time was 10 minutes, 32 seconds, good for fourth place. The time was much slower than their best races, which Young attributed largely to the poor surface at the Baltimore Armory.

Young also said he expected the girls team to run a better race in the state meet. ``I think the extra week now, and now that the snow is a little more out of the way and less of a distraction, they will do better. They will be running on a nice surface at PG and they will run a lot smoother this time. I think they are ready to roll.’’

Overall in the regional meet, the boys team scored 12 points, finishing 10th, while the girls also had 12 points, finishing eighth.

Four athletes barely missed qualifying for the states, finishing either in fifth or sixth place, just out of the running.

Farrell finished fifth in the two-mile, running 12:27, and Jester finished fifth in the mile in 5:43.

Julia Hardgrove, a junior, finished fifth overall in the 55 meter hurdles, running 9.4 seconds in the qualifying meet, and 9.6 seconds in the final. ``It was a great performance by her on a bad surface,’’ Young said. She was just 0.35 seconds out of fourth place.

And Casey Shamma, a senior, whom Young described as one of his hardest workers on the team, finished 7th in the 55 meter sprint qualifying race, in 6.78 seconds. Young said he finished 5th or 6th in the finals; an error in the official scoring made his time and place unclear. ``It was really impressive,’’ Young said of Shamma’s performance. ``Just like Julia, he really pulled through in a big meet.’’