Apr 28, 2023

Article Written by Daniel Wilson and Zack Dickerson

The Gator Invitational hosted by Reservoir HS has become one of the biggest, most competitive meets in Maryland over the last 10 years. While some teams travel north to the Penn Relays, 95 schools will be bringing their best to Reservoir for the last big Invite before championship season! This meet is set apart from the rest with its Emerging Elite section on Friday (Now moved to Monday due to weather) which is just for freshmen and sophomores, and the addition of the SMR 1600 and Mixed 4x400m makes this meet more exciting since these relays are not usually run.

Gator Invitational Meet Records| Gator Meet Page

Top 10 All-Time Gator Performances: Boys | Girls

Boys Overall Preview

On the boy's side in the 3200m Henry Hopper from Wilde Lake (3A 3200m State Champion) is set to toe the line and looks to score for his team. In the 110m hurdles J'Marcus Hines (MD #1) from Bowie is looking to set fire to the track and score for Bowie in not only the 110s, but also the 300m hurdles. The 1600m will be very competitive. Athletes like Christain Brower from Long Reach, Liam Hagerty from Severna Park, and Noah Fisher from Richard Montgomery are all looking to cross the line first and get points for their teams. In the 4x200m teams like Bowie, Gonzaga, Old Mill Senior, and Hammond are looking to impress. Aaron Abedin is looking to score some points for Mount Hebron, coming in with the #1 seed for the 400m and running the 100m. KeMarco Monger looks to score points for the powerhouse program of Oakland Mills (Running the 400m and 200m). The 800m is stacked, with runners like Colin Abrams from Magruder (3A State Champion), Carter Knox from Manchester Valley (MD #2), Christian Childs from Manchester Valley (MD #7), and Tyler Edison from Liberty (MD #10) all looking to prove why they are at the top of the ranks. Lastly in the 4x400m, Manchester Valley and Bowie come in with the top 2 seeds both looking to add points to their Score.

Girls Overall Preview

On the girl's side, Oluwasemilore Olakunle from Oakland Mills looks to score big for Oakland Mills in both the 100m hurdles and the 100m open. Victoria Ketzler from Thomas S Wooten will look to set some new personal bests, as well as perform for her team in the 1600m and 800m. The 400m will be exciting with athletes like Nikiyah Williams (MD #12) from Woodlawn, Cohren Corbin (MD #8) from North Point, Ariana Wright (MD #15) from Old Mill Senior, and Tressia Davis (MD #9) from Friendly Senior all looking to score for their teams when it matters. Corinne Ball (MD #4) from North Point and Jaelynn Blackwell (MD #5) from C. H. Flowers both are going against one another in the 300m hurdles. Both have MD top 10 times this year being only one place away from one another on the charts. Nikiyah Williams from Woodlawn is doubling back in the 200m against Aryana Ladson from Mount Hebron who has a MD #2 ranking this year. Hannah Toth from Westminster looks to score for her team in the 800m coming in with the MD #1 ranking. Lastly in the 4x400m teams like Old Mill Senior, Dunbar, and Northern look to increase their team total.

RACES TO WATCH

Girls 1600 - The Girls 1600 is loaded with talent. There are multiple girls with PR's under 5:10 who will be looking to break the 5-minute barrier. Lauren Stine (North Hagerstown), Hannah Toth (Westminster), Mary Gorsky (McDonogh), Grace Finnegan (Richard Montgomery), Katie Greenwald (Walt Whitman), Victoria Ketzler (Thomas Wootton), and Caroline Gregory (Frederick) all have the ability to run sub 5. Hopefully, this race goes out at an honest pace so we can see how fast these girls can go!

Girls 3200 - The Gator 3200 will feature 7 girls who can run under 11:30. Top seed will be Katherine Greenwald (Walt Whitman) entered at 11:03. Temi Ariyo (Overlea) is entered at 11:17 but can most likely run faster as she has been pretty much unbeatable all season. Hallie Muniz (Winston Churchill) has run very well this outdoor season and has run 5:00 for 1600. She will look to run sub 11! Look for her to be with the leaders. Lauren Stine (North Hagerstown), Kiley Mann (Howard), Nell Droege (St. Johns), and Gentry Bowie (Northern) are the other girls entered sub 11:30 and should be in the mix. With this being the first event of the day, the weather should be in the athlete's favor as they try to run a PR.

Boys 3200 - Much like the girl's race, the boy's 3200 will feature a loaded field as well. There are 6 boys entered sub 9:40 and 17 entered under 10:00. James Patrlow (Thomas Johnson) is the top seed at 9:15. While he has not run that fast this year he has the ability to get pretty close to it with what he has shown earlier this year. Challenging him will be Bryce Dufrene (Chopticon), Sean Sullivan (Severna Park), Christopher Nunn (Severna Park), Gavin Stevens (Northern), and Henry Hopper (Wilde Lake). All of these distance runners have the ability to run under 9:30.

Boys 4x800 - Calvert Hall is entered at 7:50. They have the individual legs to produce that time, but will most likely need to do it solo after the first leg. Hopefully, they can get some support from the crowd to get them close to that seed time and challenge the number 1 time in Maryland which is currently held by DeMatha at 7:55. Chopticon is the second fastest seed time at 8:11 and will be looking to challenge Calvert Hall is they fall off that fast pace!

Girls 400 - The fast heat of the girls 400 looks to be lightning fast! All 8 girls are seeded under 60 seconds. Nikiyah Williams (Woodlawn) has the top seed at 56.85, followed by Tressia Davis (Friendly Senior) at 56.90. Chasing them will be Jalaia Creary (Spalding), Ariana Wright (Old Mill), and Cohren Corbin (North Point).

Girls 200 - There are 4 girls seeded under 25 seconds in the Gator Girls 200. Arayana Ladson (Mt. Hebron) leads the way at 24.40 followed by Nikiyah Williams (Woodlawn) at 24.57. Cohren Corbin (North Point) and Jalaia Creary (Spalding) are also both under 25 seconds. Any of these girls can win this race and it should come right down to the wire!

Boys 200 - All 8 athletes in the fast heat of the boys 200 are entered under 22.3 seconds. Coleman Hallums (Mt. Hebron) leads the way with a 21.71 seed time, followed by Kelvin Winston (Gonzaga) at 21.91. Joseph DeRosier (Old Mill) has the fastest 110m Hurdle time in the state and will be in contention to win this 200 as well!

Boys 800 - The boy's 800m run might be the most exciting race of the day due to both the talent in the race and how many athletes are in the fast heat. There are 20 boys entered in under 2mins! While there will certainly be an ally start, getting position early in this race with so many talented runners will be key. The top seed is Carter Knox (Manchester Valley) who ran 1:53 last week at the Hopkins Invite followed by Colin Abrams (Magruder) seeded at 1:54. After those two there are 18 more who will only be a few seconds behind and depending on how the race unfolds, could be right in the mix!

Boys Triple Jump - There are 29 athletes who have jumped 40 feet or longer entered into the Gator Triple Jump. The top flight will feature athletes from 41-08 to 44-9 and the next flight will feature athletes from 39-11 to 41-8. The top seed is Kian Williams (Severna Park) who has jumped 44-9, followed by Nathan Chaney (Northern) who has jumped 44-3. With so many elite jumpers entered this should make for a very competitive competition.

Boys Long Jump - Much like the triple jump, the boy's Long jump is VERY deep. There are 35 athletes over 20 feet. The top seed is Adbur Hassan (Oakland Mills) who has jumped 23-01, followed by three jumpers who are all entered at 22-02; Koran Pittman (Overlea), Ryder Johnson (North Hagerstown), and Jordan Pernell (Chopticon). The top flight will feature jumpers seeded from 21-0 to 23-1 and should make for a very exciting event.

Girls Pole Vault - There are 5 girls entered over 10 feet. The top seeds are Elisa Ramos (Thomas Johnson) at 11-6 and Sarah Gassman (Westminster) at 11-02. Both girls will most likely want some redemption from Penn Relays where they were unable to clear the opening height. In their defense, the opening height was 11-3 and it can be challenging to come in very close to your PR. Challenging them will be Brunell Owusu (Thomas Johnson) and Ryehn Byrnes (Westminster) both seeded at 11 feet.

Boys Discus - There are 22 boys entered who have thrown over 120 feet. In order to place top 8 and score points athletes will most likely need to throw in the 135-140 foot range. The top seed is Ruichen He from Glenelg who threw a state-leading mark of 179-10 at the Hopkins Black and Blue Invitational last week. Willie Washington (La Plata) and Logan Rich (Linganore) have both thrown over 150 feet and will look to challenge He.