B-CC Track Coach Chad Young looked forward to the 26th Annual Katie Jenkins Memorial Invitational Track and Field Meet at Sherwood High School on Friday and Saturday. It would be a good test going into a battery of tough meets ahead -- this week’s county meet, and regionals and state competition after that.
The test was especially grueling for the team’s sprinters, who on Friday ran preliminary and semifinal heats – and for the qualifiers, again on Saturday in the finals.
``It gives them a good feel for racing two days in a row,’’ he said.
For the sprinters, it felt like they were running all the time.
In the girls’ events, freshman Brittney Wade qualified for the 100 and 200 meter finals, while senior Nia Harrington qualified for the 200 finals. For Wade, it meant four races on Friday, plus three on Saturday: the two finals, plus a leg of the 4 x 400 relay.
Her finishes: fifth place in the 100 in 13.27 seconds, and second in the 200 in 27.21. Harrington finished fifth in the 200 in 28.17.
In the boys’ events, junior Terrence James qualified for the 200 and 400 meter races, as well as anchoring the 4 x 400 team. He finished third in the 400 in 52.5 seconds, and – just two events later – finished second in the 200 in 23.13.
``That was pretty impressive to put those two together,’’ Young said. ``I think the highlight of the whole meet was the sprinters, getting through preliminaries, semifinals and then finals. That was a big deal for us.’’
But the strong performances didn’t end there.
The girls’ 4 x 800 finished first in the meet, running it in 10:00. The team was comprised of sophomores Grace Reingruber, Hallie Jester and Ava Farrell and senior Paige Donnelly.
Its 4 x 400 team – Wade, Jestor, Donnelly and sophomore Laila Shehata – finished second overall in 4:26.
In the open 800 meters, B-CC finished one-two-three, with Reingruber (2:29), Farrell (2:30), and freshman Caroline Leuba (2:31). ``They were racing each other down the home stretch,’’ Young said.
Leuba was just coming off a third place finish in the 400 meters (1:03.9). While in the mile, Reingruber was second (5:30), Donnelly fourth (5:40), and Jester sixth (5:43).
In the 3200-meter race, Farrell finished second in 11:55.
For the boys, the 4 x 800 team (seniors Chris Henderson and Eric Damtoft and juniors Trevor Stephens and Elliot Gerson) ran their fastest time of the year, finishing second in 8:34.
``That’s a big confidence boost for them going into the county meet,’’ Young said. ``We really do belong and we really are ready to compete against the county’s best. It’s fun for me and for them to watch and see how they are doing better over entire season.’’ In comparison, the 4 x 800 team’s indoor best time was over 9 minutes.
The 4 x 400 team also ran its fastest time of the year – 3:42 – for second place. The team consisted to James, sophomore Julien Dorsey and seniors Alex Barrett and David Segun.
Three boys ran well in the 1600 meter race, including Henderson shattering his old personal record by seven seconds, finishing in 4:44. Gerson finished in 4:43, while Damtoft ran 4:46.
In the 3200 meter race, Gerson finished sixth (10:19), Stephens seventh (10:22) and senior Andrew Crouch 18th (11:19).
And in the shot put, senior Chuck Banks nearly threw a personal record (44 feet, four inches) for fifth place.
The Katie Jenkins invitational also featured an unusual competition – the quadathlon – which involves a 400-meter race, discus throw, long jump, and a 1500 meter race.
Senior Kate Leuba finished second overall, while fellow senior Darcy O’Connor finished third. For the boys, junior Patrick Frampus (see photos) and freshman Thomas Horton competed well. Horton won the 1500-meter run.
Now the team faces its toughest challenge of the year – a varsity county meet Wednesday in Clarksburg, in which teams can submit only one competitor per event, or athletes can qualify with very competitive times. On Saturday, those who don’t compete in Wednesday’s event will compete in a meet at Whitman High School in Bethesda.
``The county meet will be our most challenging for the entire year,’’ Young said.
No comments:
Post a Comment