LANDOVER — A half-dozen squads equally divided among all three counties in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference ventured to the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex to compete in the Class 3A East Region indoor track and field championships and a pair of Calvert County squads departed with team titles.
The Huntingtown High School boys and Northern High School girls captured their respective region titles and athletes from the other four schools performed well in individual events and relays. Huntingtown’s boys (75 points) edged North Point (65) for the region title, while Northern (86) was clear of second-place Reservoir of Howard County (70).
On the boys side, Chopticon (48) finished fourth, while Northern (24) took eighth, St. Charles (20) was 11th and Great Mills (8) placed 15th. Among the girls, North Point (63) took fourth, while Huntingtown (23) was eighth and Great Mills and St. Charles tied for 10th place with 11 points apiece.
Huntingtown senior Anthony Smith captured the 55-meter dash (6.46 seconds) and was edged by Long Reach senior Djavan White in the 300 as both crossed the wire simultaneously and posted identical clockings of 35.27. White was awarded the victory by six one-thousandths of a second. Smith also placed fifth in the high jump (5 feet 10 inches).
“That 300 was really, really close,” Smith said. “I took a personal best by a tenth of a second and he dropped a whole second, so he got me today. I felt really good in the 55. In a way, it was like redemption. Now, I want to get ready for states and keep working on my technique and come back here ready to compete for another title.”
Huntingtown seniors Kenneth King and Connor Howlin took first and second in the shot put, with King taking the title at 53-11 and Howlin securing second at 47-4. The Hurricanes also won the boys 800 relay (1 minute 32.25 seconds) by almost exactly one second over North Point (1:33.24) with the quartet of Ky’Ree Kirkman, Evan Couvillion, Cameron Dalrymple and Smith.
Kirkman was also third in the 55 (6.53) and seventh in the high jump (5-10), while Thomas Foulkes finished fifth in the 1,600 (4:31.74) and sixth in the 3,200 (10:04.20).
North Point’s boys secured the runner-up honors thanks to several athletes.
Eagles senior DeVion Bryant easily won the 800 (1:57.12), lowering his personal best by nearly two full seconds. Bryant was later part of the boys 1,600 relay with Kroy Myers, Arnel Heathington and Chase Drewery (3:32.90) that capped the meet with a narrow victory over Oakland Mills (3:33.01) with St. Charles not far back in third (3:33.59).
“I just really kept pushing myself to go faster,” Bryant said of his victory in the 800. “I felt really good the whole way and going into that last lap I was determined to leave it all out there. I am really looking forward to coming back here for states in two weeks. My goal is to win the 800 and go 1:55.”
Myers took third in the 300 (36.20) and fifth in the 500 (1:08.73) and Drewery was fourth in the 55 hurdles (8.13). Juniors Morey Campbell and Dorian Gray were second (6-0) and fourth (6-0), respectively, in the high jump.
Chopticon High School junior twins Zachary Wedding (4:24.51) and Jeffrey Wedding (4:26.16) finished one-two in the boys 1,600 and both took part in the triumphant 3,200 relay (8:16.41). Zachary Wedding also placed third in the 3,200 (9:51.57), while Jeffrey Wedding was fourth in the 800 (2:02.09) and Donald Litteral was seventh in the 500 (1:09.45).
Great Mills’ Durrell Brooks finished second in the 55 hurdles (7.75), while St. Charles’ Lorenzo Pelham was seventh (8.25). Also for St. Charles, Justin Arjun took fourth in the 300 (36.25) and Reginald Seigler finished sixth in the 500 (1:09.27).
Northern had two fourth-place finishes in the 800 relay (1:34.06) and 3,200 relay (8:22.94), while Josh Bauman was third in the long jump (6-0) and Marquise Spriggs took fifth in the shot put (43-9 1/4).
Northern girls take title
The Patriots garnered the region title courtesy of their distance runners and relays.
Junior Oakley Olson easily won the 1,600 (5:10.86) after Centennial’s Katerina Talanova stayed within striking distance of her through the first three-quarters of the event. Olson later won the 800 (2:24.20) and joined Carley Tolson, Sydney Yankanich and Hannah Mack on the triumphant 3,200 relay (9:55.83).
Mack also won the 3,200 (11:40.26) with Chopticon freshman Blair Fowler third (11:52.50) and Huntingtown senior Elise Wilcher fourth (11:53.63). Patriots freshman Nicole Bissett took fourth in both the 800 (2:25.41) and the 1,600 (5:17.00), while junior Allie Droneberger was second in the high jump (5-0).
“I felt really good in the mile,” Olson said. “I could tell [Talanova] was close because I could hear her coaches yelling when we went past them on the turn. It’s a little different being on the lead. I would prefer to be doing the chasing. But I felt good the last two laps. I was really happy to see that 5:10 on the board. I didn’t want to see another 5:11 up there.”
North Point’s girls also had a good showing at the region meet. Junior Mekhya Jones won the shot put title (36-2 1/4) over senior teammate Shantia Creek-Barrett (36-1) and Dori’an Cheney won the high jump (5-0).
Eagles junior J’Miyah Keys, who spent her first two seasons of high school track in Texas, rallied to finish second in the 500 (1:22.20) and was seventh in the 300 (42.98).
“We didn’t have an indoor season at the school I went to in Texas my freshman and sophomore years,” Keys said. “So, this indoor season is new to me. It took a while to get used to being indoors. I was hoping to finish in the top three in the 500. I had had good competition all [SMAC] season from [Thomas Stone freshman] Takiya [Henson], which is good because it pushes me to get faster.”
North Point’s Areini Partis was fourth in the 500 (1:23.27) and she was part of the winning 1,600 relay team with Yentell James, Jayla Cobb and Keys (4:09. 33). James took fourth in the 55 hurdles (8.90).
Several other athletes from SMAC schools also had a good showing at the 3A East Region meet. St. Charles’ Jameelah Fuller was third in the shot put (33-6 3/4), while Great Mills’ Sanai Chase was fourth (32-4 1/4).
Great Mills’ Sara Fletcher took third in the high jump (4-10), while Huntingtown’s Natalie Borowski was fifth (4-10).
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