St. Joe and Maryvale claim indoor track crowns
MOUNT ST. JOSEPH
2016-17 MIAA INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS
2016-17 MIAA INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS
The Mount Saint Joseph indoor track team took an early lead at Friday night’s MIAA championship meet and appeared to have things in command. But someone forgot to tell that to defending champion Gilman.
The Greyhounds rallied and cut the lead to about five points, but the Gaels hung on to win, 120.33-113. That’s the third consecutive title Mount Saint Joseph has won in track/cross country, dating back to last spring in outdoor track. The Gaels did not compete in last winter’s meet because the school was closed due to the blizzard one week before, and school policy would not permit them to go.
On the girls’ side, Maryvale kept up its own streak. The Lions won the IAAM A Conference cross country, indoor and outdoor track titles last year. They won cross country last fall and easily captured indoor track Friday, beating out McDonogh, 171-136.
For the boys, Mount Saint Joseph has done well this season and wanted to cap it off with another championship, just like it has done the past few seasons.
“We won in the spring [and fall] and wanted to keep the streak going,” said Ikenna Obi, who took second in the high jump and fourth in the 55-meter dash. We’ve got a lot of good guys on [the team].”
The Gaels got a number of good performances but one of the biggest came from Dallas Ector, who won the pole vault towards the end of the meet. That helped stop the Gilman comeback and played a role in letting St. Joe hold on for the team victory.
“I just go out there and try to have fun with it,” said Ector, who vaulted 12 feet, 3 inches. “I didn’t find out how we were doing [as a team] until afterwards.
The Gaels used wins from Todd Barnes (55-meter hurdles, 7.84) and Christian Carter in the shot put (49 feet, one-half inch) as well as the 800 relay (1:33.09). Hunter Petrik helped with a third-place run in the 1,600 plus fourth in the 3,200 later in the meet.
“We came back [strong],” St. Joe coach Jack Peach said.
But Gilman certainly tried to defend its title. Ayende Watson led the way with a spectacular performance as he won the high jump (6-2), long jump (22-5) and triple jump (45-4). He added a fourth-place finish in the 55 hurdles.
Tory Young won the 500 (1:06.51), and Gilman scored a pair of relay victories. The Greyhounds took the 3,200 relay (8:12.73) and then set a record for this championship meet when winning 1,600 in the night’s final event (3:26.79).
Another big-time performance came from McDonogh’s Dalton Hengst, who won the 800 (1:59.01), 1,600 (4:23.26) and 3,200 (9:36.82). That’s the second consecutive time he’s taken all three of those races in this meet – a very difficult task.
For Maryvale, winning a fifth consecutive championship title proved to be a task that it could do thanks to the strong team effort of coach Jason Miller’s Lions, who’d been working through some injuries in recent days.
“It was stepping up all over the place,” Miller said. “The girls just worked really hard.”
The Lions won the 800 relay in 1:47:84 and the 3,200 relay. Individually, Emily Craig and Paige Adams led the way. Craig took second in the 1,600 early in the meet and later won the 3,200 in 11:44.54. She also ran on the winning 3,200 relay team.
Adams won twice, taking first in the 55 hurdles (8.84) plus the high jump (5 feet), an event where Tara Coyne (second) and Sydney King (third) gave Maryvale a 1-2-3 finish.
Samantha Facius also turned in a strong performance in the A Conference races. The Mount de Sales sophomore won both the 800 (2:21.19) plus the 1,600 (5:14.14).
There was a B Conference division done for the girls – but not for the boys. Glenelg Country School took first in that with 123 points, beating out Catholic with 96 points.
Leading GCS were Briana Basir, Ashley Good and Ime Etokebe. Basir won the 55 hurdles (8.92) and took third in the high jump.
Good won the 800 (2:38.63) while Etokebe captured the long jump (15-0.5) and ended up third in the 55 hurdles.
MARYVALE PREP
2016-17 IAAM INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS
MIAA VARSITY RESULTS
55 Meter Dash Varsity – Finals x
IAAM VARSITY RESULTS
55 Meter Dash OPEN – Finals x
