Photo by Craig Amoss
Vote for the top girls performer from the first week of the outdoor season! There were plenty of great performances to choose from as the first week brought warm weather and some hot times on the track. Here's to hoping the momentum carries well into April and May!
As if the Northwest girls needed another weapon, senior Ashley Santini - coming off a county title in the triple jump this past winter - looks to be rounding into one of the best jumpers in the county (if not the state) this season. She won both the long jump and triple jump Saturday at the Central Invitational, and her 18'4 personal best in the former currently sits at the top of the state leaderboard.
Woolfork at last year's Bayside Championships. (Photo by Brandon Miles)
Not far from Northwest, Bowie's Ashoya Williams had herself quite a day at the Screaming Eagles Invitational. Her 12.42 100 victory is one hundredth of a second behind Sydney Williams for the second-fastest mark in Maryland, and she also finished second in both the 200 and 400. Similarly, James M. Bennett's Ashley Woolfork dominated at the Cambridge Classic, winning the 400 and 300 hurdles. She was also second in the 100 hurdles and helped the 4x100 pick up a win. The Bennett girls will certainly be a team to watch as the season goes along.
The lone distance runner on the list this week is Northern's Molly Barrick, who led three girls under 18 minutes in the 5K at the Seahawk Invitational on Saturday. She will be just one of many girls this season looking to crack 10:50 in the 3200 and a 17:37 5K is an excellent place to start.
Mount Hebron's Sydney Robinson also had a great day, albeit without an individual performance. The Mount Hebron girls won the 4x400, 1000 SMR and 1600 SMR at the Duckworth Relays on Saturday thanks in large part to the standout sophomore. Their 3:59 4x400 time is the only sub-4 by a Maryland team so far this season. The Tuscarora sprinters looked strong at the Urbana Relays winning both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, and currently rank second in the state (behind Northwest in each).
A new name on this list is that of Emelia Beldon from the Maryland School for the Deaf up in Frederick. She won the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and triple jump up at the Quinn Hoover Invitational last week.