Henderson, Hinton, Oxon Hill Lead Maryland Performances At FIT Invitational

FIT Invitational
Ryun Anderson


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William Henderson dropped two US #1 marks and the Oxon Hill boys added a third at Wednesday's F.I.T. Invitational. It was a big day for some of the top athletes in Maryland as they went up against some tough competition from Virginia.


Poly senior William Henderson headlined the Maryland performers at Wednesday's FIT Invitational. The senior set two US #1 marks; first, becoming the first boy in the US this season to clear 24 feet in the long jump. Then after breezing through the 55 dash and hurdle prelims he truly put on a show in the finals. His 7.42 was a new MD #1 and US #3 in the hurdles, and his 6.32 was easily a new US #1 mark. South Lakes' Timiebi Ogobri finished second at 6.53 (which would rank as MD #7) and just had no shot at sticking with Henderson. As if that weren't enough he anchored Poly to a win in their heat of the 4x200 and eighth place overall.

Henderson wasn't the only one setting a new US #1. The Oxon Hill boys kicked off the day with a dominant 8:04.41 4x800, four seconds faster than anyone in the US has run so far this season. They now rank first in the country in both the 4x800 and SMR. Next, Aaron Robinson and Gary Ross set new MD #1 and #2 marks in the 500 at 1:05.34 and 1:05.75, respectively; no other runner in the state has cracked 1:07 so far this winter. Finally they dropped a MD #1 and US #2 time in the 4x400 at 3:25.93.

The boys weren't the only ones with big days at the FIT Invitational. Franklin's Nyjari McNeil held the top Maryland time in the 500 heading into Wednesday but could only watch helplessly as her new teammate Cameron Hinton took it down with a huge win in 1:15.61. With fellow transfer Tylar Colbert running 1:23.52 Franklin now has five girls in the top 33 in the event.

Bishop McNamara has had a strong winter so far on both the boys and girls side and on Wednesday a pair of Taylors brought home wins for the Mustangs. Taylor Nolan won the girls high jump by clearing 5'2, and Taylor Grimes broke meet record (also held by a McNamara runner) in the 55 hurdles at 8.23. For Grimes it was the narrowest victory of the day, beating Battlefield's Lauren Hoffman by just one hundredth of a second.

Check out the top 25 Maryland performances from Wednesday's FIT Invitational: