Photo by Craig Amoss
Vote for the boys track performer of the week from January 2nd to January 7th! It was a busy week for Marylanders even though Saturday's meets were cancelled due to bad weather. However the snow didn't come in time to slow down Poolesville's Ryan Lockett at Friday's Smithsburg Invitational. Lockett crossed the line first around 4:27 - but was disqualified. He came back and finished a very close second in the 3200 in a personal-best 9:47.58, making for a very impressive double at the Hagerstown Community College.
The snow didn't stop Oxon Hill's Gary Ross from having himself a great day up at the Hispanic Games at the New York Armory. He dropped a MD #1 800, and led Oxon Hill to the win in the SMR (in which the Clippers lowered their US #1 time) and 4x400. His outstanding efforts earned him Boys Athlete of the Meet honors.
Two of the best jumpers in the state went head-to-head at Friday's IAAM/MIAA League Meet. Calvert Hall's Mike Sawyer beat the MD #1 triple jumper, Gilman's Ayende Watson, securing a second-place spot on Maryland's leaderboard with his personal best mark of 45'7. Sawyer also finished second in the long jump at 21'1.50.
Thursday's 300 at the PG County Invitational was supposed to be a SMAC Classic tune-up for High Point's Ken Nelson, but ended up being the highlight of his week after the SMAC Classic was cancelled due to snow. No worries for Nelson, however, as he clocked a personal best and MD #7 time of 35.75 for the win. Nelson will be back in action on Thursday at the PG County Championships.
Two Baltimore City-County mixers were held this week at the Baltimore Armory. At the first one New Town's Brandon James won the 500 in 1:11.60 (not an easy feat in the Armory) and also the high jump, clearing six feet. At the second mixer Dundalk's Yourry Tapande won both the 55 and 300 meter dashes in 6.82 and 37.52, respectively.
Over on the Eastern Shore Cambridge-South Dorchester's Matt Koletsky dominated the mid-distance events at the Bayside League Meet #3. He won the 300, 500 and 800 - possibly previewing what he could do at a one-day state meet. Koletsky certainly has range, having clocked a 50.96 400 and 4:46.90 1600 last spring.
Voting ends at 10 PM on Saturday, January 14th!