Photo by Craig Amoss
Now that the outdoor season is in full swing it is getting harder to distinguish the top performers from each week of racing. Nevertheless we let you decide which girl had the best performance from the past week in Maryland. Vote for your favorite below!
Coming into her first big race of the spring Mount Hebron's Alexandra Banham owned an outdoor personal best of 2:24 in the 800. That didn't stand for long, however, as she became the first (and still the only) girl to drop under 2:20 so far this season at the Pikesville Track Classic. Could she possibly be emerging as a challenger to Nyjari McNeil, the defending 3A outdoor state champion?
Our next featured runner traveled north of the border last weekend to the Golden Ram Invitational in Pennsylvania. C.M. Wright's Christina Riggins stayed undefeated on the season in both the 100 meter dash (12.37) and the long jump (16'9).
McNamara's Taylor Grimes and Bowie's Candus Burks also found success in both the sprints and jumps this past weekend. Grimes was on her A game at the Jim Vollmer Invitational, racing to a win in the 100 hurdles (personal best of 14.46) and also winning both the long and triple jumps. Similarly, Bowie's Candus Burks was a double threat at the Don Boyer Invitational. The senior won the long jump, finished third in the 200 (behind two teammates) and also helped the 4x200 and 4x400 pick up wins. The Bowie girls are going to score a lot of points this spring and Burks will be a big reason why.
Over at the Charas Heurich Invitational at Smithsburg, senior thrower Brianna Rowe made the home crowd proud by winning both the shot put and discus. Her 32'8.50 effort in the shot was a personal best, and her 100-foot-plus discus throw makes her the only girl in the 1A classification to clear the mark so far this spring.