Calvert Hall's Owen Johnson continues to solidify his status as the top miler in Maryland after a 4:17 performance at Ocean Breeze over the weekend. (Photo by Derrick Dingle)
January 24: CMC Championships
Kyle Lund won both the 1600 and the 800 at Friday's CMC Championships, and it was in the latter that he reclaimed the top spot on the Maryland state leaderboard by running 1:55.06 (just edging Tamrat Synder's previous #1 time of 1:55.08). He also passes Middletown's Riley McDermott for the fastest 800 at Hagerstown Community College in the past decade. The Oakdale boys also set season bests in the 4x400 (3:31.07, MD 2A #2) and the 4x800 (8:23.20, MD 2A #1).
Frederick's Isaac Bynum won his third consecutive 55 meter hurdle race, capturing his second career CMC title. His personal best 7.80 effort moves him into the top ten on the state leaderboard; only St. Charles' Lorenzo Pelham and Great Mills' Durrell Brooks have run faster in the 3A classification.
Before Friday, Hungingtown's Anthony Smith sat upon a lonely, six-foot-eight-tall island atop the state high jump rankings, and no other boy had cleared 6'4. That all changed at the CMC Championships when South Hagerstown's Charlie Hoston (who jumped 6'4 last winter) cleared 6'6 to take over the #2 spot on the rankings. It also sets up a potential state meet matchup as both South Hagerstown and Huntingtown will meet at the 3A state championships.
The Urbana girls have an assortment of weapons that would make just about any other team in the state envious. Junior Ella Auderset is at the top of that list, as she has run every event between the 55 and the 1000 so far this winter. On Friday Auderset won the 800, setting a new season best of 2:23.68, the MD #7 time. Last winter she finished third at the 4A state meet in the 300 and then won the 500, and the Hawks will certainly look to maximize her scoring potential once again in pursuit of a team title.
Last week we wrote about Linganore' Myah Davies setting a new personal best in the pole vault at 10'3. On Friday she won her second title of the week to go along with her win at the Frederick County Championships on Monday and added another inch to her personal best for good measure. She is still second on the 3A leaderboard behind Atholton' Madison Garrigus.
January 25: SMAC Championships
It's a matchup that will likely be played out twice more this season at regionals and states. St. Charles senior Lorenzo Pelham set a new personal best in the 55 meter hurdles (7.76) on Saturday to take over the top spot on the 3A leaderboard from Great Mills' Durrell Brooks, who finished second. The two are the only 3A boys to have run under 7.80 seconds this winter.
Westlake's Israel Williams tacked on a quarter of an inch to his personal best in the long jump and, more importantly, he won his first career SMAC title on Saturday. His leap of 21'5.25 was nearly a half foot better than the runner-up mark, and he will likely end the 2020 indoor season as the 2A state leader in the long jump.
The Northern girls won another conference title on the strength of their distance runners: they went 1-2-3-6 in the 1600, 1-3-5-6- in the 3200 and 1-3-4 in the 800. Freshman Nicole Bissett was part of the 1600 and 800 groups and leads all freshmen this year in both events.
The Northern girls didn't run an 'A' team 4x800 relay on Saturday, but if they do going forward they could face an intriguing matchup with the conference champions from Huntingtown. The Hurricanes ran 10:07.27, edging Northern's season-best time of 10:07.76 for the top time in the 3A classification. No other 3A team has run under 10:13 this winter.
The 14-plus group grew one person bigger on Saturday, welcoming South Carroll's Patrick Tunkel after he won the Carroll County title with a personal-best vault of 14'6. Tunkel and teammate Peyton Thomas went 1-2 on Saturday and also rank first and second, respectively, on the 2A pole vault rankings.
Century's Chett Brunner came within just a few inches of overtaking the top spot on the Maryland leaderboard in the shot put. Brunner had not reached the 50-foot mark entering this season but has now cleared 50 feet in each of the last four meets, the most recent being a MD #2 53'9.75 throw at the county meet. Liberty's Mason Breeze finished second with a personal best throw of his own (49'6.50) and the two are currently the top two throwers in 2A.
Jalen Stanton was one of the top all-around athletes in the state of Maryland (doing so while also playing lacrosse in the spring, no less), but it turns out the Stanton legacy didn't leave with Jalen. Freshman Jasmine Stanton set a big personal best in the 55 meter dash to win her first county title on Saturday; her time of 7.30 is the top freshman time in the state, overtaking Thomas Stone's Takiya Henson.
The Archbishop Spalding boys, led by standouts Henry Hardart and Ryan Miller, currently rank fifth in the state in the 4x800 relay. On Saturday they took on two more relays, the sprint and distance medley relays. Their sprint medley time of 3:38.97 is the fifth-fastest int he state, but it was their distance medley time of 10:32.29 that puts them atop the state rankings. It's the 13th-fastest time in the country and was only four seconds shy of qualifying them for the championships distance medley at indoor nationals.
On the boys' side, senior Nick Karayianis recorded a breakout performance in the two mile, running 9:11.08 which converts to the fifth-fastest 3200 time in the country. Over the past four years, only Loyola's Camden Gilmore has run a faster 3200/two mile time than Karayianis.
The Calvert Hall sprinters took the "speed" portion of Bullis' invitational to heart over the weekend. Senior Sean Tucker lowered his personal best in the 55 meter dash to 6.41 seconds, tied for the fourth-fastest time in the state. Meanwhile the hurdle duo of Thomas Smith and Jason Holmes-Williamson continues to be the best in Maryland, as they clocked MD #3 and #4 times, respectively, on Saturday. Finally, the Cardinal's 4x200 relay became just the third team in the state to break the 1:30 barrier in a victorious 1:29.58 performance.
Two of the top three milers in the state faced off at the Ocean Breeze complex over the weekend. Calvert Hall's Owen Johnson lowered his own state-leading time by running 4:17.69 for the victory, while Gilman's Beck Wittstadt finished third in a new indoor personal best of 4:20.36. The two boys now rank 1-3 in the state when converted to the 1600.