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Twice as nice
H-town girls capture second-straight 3A South Region track title
Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Huntingtown junior Zanae Freeland competes in the final girls 100-meter heat in the Class 3A South Region championships on Saturday at Westlake High School.
The Huntingtown girls track and field team breezed through the Class 3A South Region championships a year ago and were the favorites going into this year’s event at Westlake High School in Waldorf.
Saturday, the Hurricanes claimed their second-straight regional title after tallying 155 points, 49 more than runner-up Thomas Stone.
Northern came in fourth with 70 points, while La Plata, Westlake and Chopticon came in sixth, seventh, and eighth places, respectively.
“All the returning girls have improved and our freshmen are doing well,” Huntingtown head coach Valerie Harrington said. “We’ve been able to fill in and pick it up this year. It’s exciting, now we are just going to work on some things in practice for the state meet.”
Huntingtown placed in the top four in 14 events and crowned three region champions. The top four finishers in each event qualified for the state meet, which will kick off at 4 p.m. Friday and continue at 11 a.m. Saturday at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Sophomore Shania Collins picked up a victory in the 200-meter dash in 25.34 seconds. Senior Diarra Butler earned gold in the 100 hurdles (15.37 seconds) and senior Maia Burke won her second straight regional crown in the triple jump with a leap of 35 feet 2 3/4 inches.
Collins and Butler took runner-up in the 400 and 300 hurdles, respectively, while Burke took third and fourth in the high jump and long jump, respectively. The Hurricanes also won the region title in the 800 relay in 1 minute 43.33 seconds.
Junior Zanae Freeland took third (100) and fourth (200) for the Hurricanes.
“We definitely had to work a lot harder this year,” Butler said. “It felt great to win the region, now we want to try going for a state title again.”
“We are excited about going to states,” Freeland said. “We just have to keep working on our relays and we will be fine.”
Stone junior Rachel Halmon won the 800, freshman Kolbi Sims took first in the 400 and sophomore Kaceedra Mitchell added a regional title in the 3,200. The Cougars also won gold in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.
Sonyel Williams took third in the 100 and 300 hurdles for the Cougars.
“I never thought I would win the region, it’s exciting,” Sims said. I want to run a lower 56 at states, it will be some good competition for me.”
Halmon added: “We just wanted to get in the fast heat and qualify for states. It’s going to be a lot of competition next weekend.”
La Plata junior Paige DeMent won the region in both the shot put and the discus.
"I had never won the discus in the region before so that was cool," said DeMent, who will be defending her state crown in the shot put this weekend. "Everything is just clicking right now with the discus. Hopefully I can do well at states."
Northern’s Naomi Underwood and Rachel Zellman came in first and second, respectively, in the 1,600. Chopticon’s Kala Herbert (triple jump) finished runner-up and Taryn Eaton came in third in the shot put.
La Plata’s Victoria Cooksey came in fourth place in the triple jump and will be heading to states.
Making historyStone’s boys track teams are getting used to making history.
The Cougars claimed their first-ever SMAC and region titles during indoor track and field season earlier this year. They now can add some history in outdoor, too.
For the first time since 1982, Stone found itself back on perennial status, claiming the meet with 130 points, edging runner-up Huntingtown by eight points.
Indoor state runner-up Potomac of Prince George’s County came in third with 91 points, eight more than fourth-place Northern. Westlake came in sixth, La Plata was eighth and Chopticon finished in the ninth spot.
The Cougars placed in 14 of the 17 events and collected four first-place finishes in the regional showing.
“We had a talk on the bus before we got here about winning the region for the first time in three decades and we did it,” Stone head coach Paul Jenkins said. “We wanted to come out here and put us on the map and the numbers back on the banner, let everyone know that Thomas Stone is back.”
Thomas Stone junior Brendan Johnson was a double winner on the day with victories in the 1,600 and 3,200.
“It feels great. We did the same thing we did in indoor and it’s really nice seeing everything come together in the championship meets,” said Johnson, whose senior teammate Redatu Semeon finished runner-up behind him in both distance events. “I plan on having faster times at the state meet, I know guys will be going at least 4:24 in the mile.”
Stone also won regional crowns in the 800 and 3,200 relays.
"We are focusing on earning gold medals and the Potomacs, Huntingtowns and Thomas Johnsons will be there at the state meet,” Jenkins said. “Howard County will be very tough as well, so we just want to perform at a high level."
Senior Rakeem Jones finished runner-up in the 300 hurdles and grabbed third places in the 100 dash and 110 hurdles. Junior Vaughn Walker (800) took second and senior Carlos Likins took runner-up (discus) and third (shot put).
“It’s amazing how we support each other and come together,” said senior Terrell Proctor, who took fourth in the 110 hurdles. “It’s a mind game. We knew Potomac had two of the fastest runners in the nation, so we wanted to perform like a championship team.”
After taking third in the 400, Huntingtown senior Roy Holloway came back with vengeance to capture his first regional gold in the 800 in 1:57.19, edging Walker. Holloway was also the anchor in the 1,600 relay team’s victory.
Senior Ryan Butler was also a region champion for the Hurricanes in the discus with a throw of 133-4 1/4.
“I feel like I had to come back to build my confidence back up after the 400,” Holloway said. “I can run a way lower time at the state meet.”
Westlake senior DeMetris Hazly-Ward won his second-straight gold medal in the triple jump and took first in the long jump. Huntingtown junior Ishmael Kamara finished runner-up to Hazly-Ward in both events.
“I hurt my leg so I couldn’t really jump that far in triple jump,” Hazly-Ward said. “But I will be fine, I feel pretty confident about the state meet.
Northern took the top three spots in the high jump with sophomore DJ Workcuff winning regional gold. Workcuff also took runner-up in the 200.
“I didn’t jump my highest, but I still won the region and I’m excited about that,” Workcuff said. “In the 200 [Potomac’s Ronald] Darby is just too fast, he has wheels. I tried to catch him, but I couldn’t.”
La Plata’s Derick Wade took fourth in the 300 hurdles.
ajmason@somdnews.com
Class 3A South Region track and field championships results
Boys1. Thomas Stone 130, 2. Huntingtown 122, 4. Northern 83, 6. Westlake 35, 8. La Plata 14, 9. Chopticon 1
100: 1. Darby (P) 10.66, 3. R. Jones (TS) 11.10, 5. Workcuff (N) 11.20, 6. Edwards (TS) 11.23
200: 1. Darby (P) 21.46, 2. Workcuff (N) 22.12, 3. Tyler (W) 22.98, 4. T. Jones (W) 23.03
400: 1. R. Williams (F) 50.14, 3. Holloway (H) 50.29, 4. Rucker (TS) 50.56, 6. Hutcherson (C) 51.63
800: 1. Holloway (H) 1:57.19, 2. Walker (TS) 1.57.44, 3. T. Butler (H), 4. Ryder (N) 2:01.03
1,600: 1. B. Johnson (TS) 4:29.43, 2. Semeon (TS) 4:30.59, 3. Ryder (N) 4:32.46, 4. Cerrito (N) 4:36.22
3,200: 1. B. Johnson (TS) 9:52.90, 2. Semeon (TS) 10:02.56, 3. Cerrito (N) 10:09.57, 4. Ryder (N) 10:11.98
110H: 1. Echols (P) 13.72, 3. R. Jones (TS) 14.81, 4. Proctor (TS) 14.96, 5. Lucas (H) 15.61
300H: 1. Echols (P) 37.85, 2. R. Jones (TS) 39.46, 3. Q. Jones (H) 40.29, 4. Wade (LaP) 40.85
400R: 1. Potomac 41.53, 3. Huntingtown 43.77, 4. Thomas Stone 43.86, 6. Northern 44.16
800R: 1. Thomas Stone 1:29.85, 3. Huntingtown 1:31.92, 6. La Plata 1:35.81, 7. Northern 1:39.27
1,600R: 1. Huntingtown 3:25.32, 3. Thomas Stone 3:28.43, 4. Northern 3:32.93, 5. Westlake 3:34.55
3,200R: 1. Thomas Stone 8:11.68, 2. Huntingtown 8:13.27, 3. Northern 8:39.57, 4. La Plata 8:54.11
HJ: 1. Workcuff (N) 5-9, 2. Guididas (N) 5-7, 3. Spriggs (N) 5-5, 4. J. White (H) 5-5
LJ: 1. Hazly-Ward (W) 21-8 3/4, 2. Kamara (H) 21-2 1/2, 3. Lucas (H) 20-1 1/2, 4. Gatling (N) 19-8
TJ: 1. Hazly-Ward (W) 44-9 3/4, 2. Kamara (H) 43-10 1/2, 3. Rucker (TS) 42-0 3/4, 5. Edwards (TS) 41-1 1/2
SP: 1. Thorne (P) 48-11, 2. Beavers (H) 46-9, 3. Likins (TS) 44-11 1/2, 4. Brown (N) 44-3 1/2
D: 1. R. Butler (H) 133-4 1/4, 2. Likins (TS) 130-5, 3. McKenny (H) 125-8 3/4, 4. Beavers (H) 123-0 1/2
Girls1. Huntingtown 155, 2. Thomas Stone 106, 4. Northern 70, 6. La Plata 29, 7. Westlake 23, 8. Chopticon 21
100: 1. N. Johnson (F) 12.31, 3. Freeland (H) 12.52, 4. Mincy (TS) 12.88, 6. K. Butler (LaP) 13.08
200: 1. Collins (H) 25.34, 4. Freeland (H) 25.94, 6. Mincy (TS) 26.86, 7. Banks (W) 26.99
400: 1. Sims (TS) 56.49, 2. Collins (H) 56.67, 3. Halmon (TS) 57.41, 5. Gorman (H) 1:00.03
800: 1. Halmon (TS) 2:17.82, 3. Daniels (TS) 2:20.37, 4. Underwood (N) 2:23.79, 5. Gorman (H) 2:26.48
1,600: 1. Underwood (N) 5:32.86, 2. Zellman (N) 5:34.59, 3. Mitchell (TS) 5:41.63, 4. Parks (N) 5:51.50
3,200: 1. Mitchell (TS) 12:32.53, 2. Doan (N) 12:42.07, 3. Ogden (N) 12:58.44, 4. Parks (N) 13:15.77
100H: 1. D. Butler (H) 15.37, 2. Fallin (H) 16.16, 3. S. Williams (TS) 17.20, 4. Ranly (N) 17.72
300H: 1. Gorham (F) 45.39, 2. D. Butler (H) 45.69, 3. S. Williams (TS) 46.85, 5. Daniels (TS) 48.90
400R: 1. Friendly 48.50, 2. Huntingtown 48.97, 4. Westlake 50.37. 5. Thomas Stone 50.84
800R: 1. Huntingtown 1:43.33, 3. Thomas Stone 1:45.64, 4. Westlake 1:46.26, 6. La Plata 1:58.22
1,600R: 1. Thomas Stone 3:58.91, 3. Huntingtown 4:17.07, 4. Northern 4:20.24, 5. Westlake 4:22.94
3,200R: 1. Thomas Stone 9:33.70, 2. Northern 10:02.97, 3. Huntingtown 10:16.89, 4. Westlake 11:10.43
HJ: 1. Gray (F) 5-5, 2. D. Butler (H) 5-1, 3. Burke (H) 5-1, 4. Ranly (N) 4-9
LJ: 1. Jackson (F) 17-4 1/2, 2. N. White (TS) 17-2, 3. Parker (H) 16-1 3/4, 4. Burke (H) 16-0 1/2
TJ: 1. Burke (H) 35-2 3/4, 2. Herbert (C) 33-11, 3. Cheek (W) 32-3, 4. Cooksey (LaP) 30-8 1/2
SP: 1. DeMent (LaP) 37-8 1/2, 2. Logan (H) 35-6 1/2, 3. Eaton (C) 32-0 1/2, 4. Dailey (H) 29-4 1/2
D: 1. DeMent (LaP) 119-0, 2. Dailey (H) 105-6 1/2, 3. Taylor (H) 94-2 1/2, 4. Page (H) 92-1 3/4
*Top four finishers in each event advance to the Class 3A state championships at Morgan State University in Baltimore.