‘I can’t wait until next week’

Before Terrence James, a B-CC junior, ran in the 200-meter dash finals at the regional meet Thursday at Whitman High School, several teammates offered advice.

``They were telling me, `You were real tight in the earlier race,’’’ James said. ``They told me to relax, use my arms more, raise my legs higher. I did all that, and I leaned at the end.’’

And he finished second in 22.2 seconds, qualifying for next week’s 4A state high school championship at Morgan State University. It will be his first state outdoor championship race.

``I feel like I’m going to give it my all,’’ James said after the race, sitting in the stands and watching his teammates compete. ``I’m real excited. I can’t wait until next week.’’

James wasn’t the only B-CC track and field athlete to qualify for the state championship. Others who accomplished the high honor: senior Chuck Banks in both the shot put (he threw it 45 feet, 3 inches, finishing third) and the discus (117 feet, for second); freshman Brittney Wade in the 400-meter dash (59.53 seconds); and the girls 4 x 800 relay team, consisting of seniors Paige Donnelly (2:24 leg) and Kate Leuba (2:28) and sophomores Grace Reingruber (2:22) and Ava Farrell (2:25).

``We had a really strong two days,’’ said Coach Nathan Herchenroeder, referring to the meet, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday. ``A number of people did really well.’’

Banks wished he had performed even better – especially in the shot put.

``It didn’t come through for me today,’’ he said. ``To throw the shot put, you need to have you lower body relaxed and your upper body strong. It’s like you’re a coil and you explode in one motion. I didn’t do it in one motion today; I did it in two motions. That’s what I’ll work on all next week. I have to relax more when I throw.’’

Banks, who has thrown over 48 feet in practice, said evenly, ``I got to get some payback next week.’’

Wade – who had run five races over the two days – seemed so tired at the end of the competition on Thursday that her reaction was muted about qualifying for the state meet. ``I was really nervous before running the 400,’’ she said. ``I saw who I was running against. But I was really happy with the result.’’

In the girls 4 x 800 race, the B-CC team was in danger of not qualifying until the final lap when Farrell moved into fourth place – the last qualifying spot for states. ``They ran a really good race,’’ Herchenroeder said. ``We had two PRs with Paige and Grace, and they all ran hard.’’

Farrell also ran a strong 3200-meter race, finishing in 11:44, but missed the state qualifying time by two seconds. ``She’ll take this race and learn from it,’’ Herchenroeder said.

Donnelly ran a 2:24 800 on Thursday, finishing 10th overall, matching her PR this season from the 4 x 800 a day earlier.

In other races:

* Junior Julia Hardgrove qualified for the 100-meter hurdles finals in 16.75, and then ran a 16.51 in the finals, finishing eighth.

* Juniors Eliot Gerson and Trevor Stephens ran PRs in the 3200-meter race. Gerson finished in 10:06, Stephens in 10:16.

* Senior Alex Barrett excelled in three competitions: clearing 5 feet, six inches in the high jump, finishing fifth, just missing qualifying for the states; running 53.89 in the 400 meter dash, more than a second faster than his times this season; and running a leg in the 4 x 400 relay, which finished second in its heat.

The 4 x 400 team ran 3:38, erasing its old record by three seconds, even though its faster runner, Terrence James, didn’t run because of a tight muscle. The team consisted of junior Nana Twum Agyire (53 seconds); Barrett (54.9); sophomore Julien Dorsey (54.8); and senior David Segun (54.7), who shot out in the beginning of his lap to first place, only to be passed in the last 50 meters.

* The girls 4 x 400 finished in 4:16, consisting of freshman Caroline Leuba (1:02); senior Kate Leuba (1:03); freshman Cameron Yuetter (1:06); and sophomore Laila Shehata (1:05).

For the state meet at Morgan State, competition on Friday begins at 4 p.m. Events scheduled Friday include the shot put; 4 x 8 girls relay; and boys 200 meter race. On Saturday, when competition begins at 11 a.m., there will be the discus competition, and finals for boys 200 meter and girls 400 meter dashes.