Photo by Craig Amoss
Until Friday, only one boy in the state had cleared 6'4 in the high jump. It wasn't just a one-off performance for Anthony Smith, either - he's grown accustomed to soaring to greater heights (literally) than anyone else in Maryland. He has cleared 6'8 twice this indoor season and has yet to lose a competition, a streak tha continued on Saturday at the conference championships.
Smith repeated as the indoor conference champion in the high jump, but he did so much more than he did a year ago when he finished third in the 55 meter dash. On top of his high jump victory, Smith won both the 55 and 300 meter dashes, and threw in an anchor leg on the Hurricanes' winning 4x200 relay. His 35.77 time in the 300 meter dash was a personal best by nearly half a second, and is the second-fastest time in 3A behind River Hill's Austin Weltz. Smith's 40 points helped contribute to Huntingtown's 122 total points that paced the conference and brought home the 2020 trophy.
Smith wasn't the only one racking up plenty of points for their respective squads on Saturday. Chopticon scored 80 points on the boys' side largely in part to the quartet of runners that made up their 4x400 and 4x800 relays: the Wedding brothers, Dylan McMahan and Donald Litteral. Zachary Wedding ran legs on both relays and was dominant in the 1600 and 3200, while McMahan cruised in the 500 meter dash and anchored both relays. Speaking of the relays: the Braves broke their own meet record in the 4x800, running faster than their relay did last year, then became the first team in the history of the SMAC indoor championships to break 3:30 in the 4x400 to close out the meet.
On the girls' side, Thomas Stone's Takiya Henson further solidified her status as one of the top freshmen in the state by sweeping all three sprint events at the SMAC Championships - even more impressive considering the SMAC meet features both prelims and semis in the 55 meter dash. Two of those victories featured personal bests, including a 7.35 performance in the 55 meter finals and 1:21.44 in the 500. She now ranks second among freshmen in the 55, third in the 300 and fifth in the 500.