TRACK & FIELD: Panthers fall short of repeat; Phillip and Dodson run wild at UCBAC Meet

The Perryville boys’ squad narrowly failed to defend its conference title, falling by three points to Edgewood on Wednesday after an up-and-down meet that contained its share of unexpected successes but also included more than enough misfortune. Positive developments such as Darryl Johnson’s dominating shot put win or Taylor DiMauro’s pole vault victory always seemed to be preceded by injuries, dropped batons or throwing fouls.

“We had a lot of points that we left on the track or in the field, which happens to all teams,” Panthers coach Jake Moore said. “A championship can be won by a team that gets hot, wants to win and doesn’t make any mistakes, and that’s the beautiful thing about track.”

Had North East senior D’Nique Phillip been a one-woman team, she would have bested nearly half of the 15 teams in the girls’ standings. The sprinter served as the county standard bearer on a day filled with event wins, emerging victorious in the 100 meters with a time of 12.24 seconds, as well as the 200 (25.32) and 400 (59.37). The trifecta helped the Indians to a fifth-place girls’ finish, 20 points behind Perryville, which tied for third.

“It’s amazing,” Phillip said. “Really, it’s inspirational and motivating to know that you’re up there. We don’t even have a track right now, so every day it’s like a new place (at practice). To know that it’s not affecting my performance, it’s a good feeling.”

The Panthers possessed a multi-event winner of their own in Jordan Dodson, who owns middle distance races the way Phillip controls the sprints. The sophomore cruised to a victory in the 800, crossing the line in 2:24.44 and set a new personal best in winning the mile with a time of 5:19.94.

Her conquest of the 800 marked her second UCBAC title in that event in as many years, with this year’s time just four-tenths of a second better than last year’s winning effort.

“In the 800, it went out really fast, so I just wanted to stay with the pack (on the opening lap),” Dodson said. “The second lap, I kind of settled in and the pace slowed down a lot, so I’m hoping to get better by regionals.”

Rising Sun’s Austin McGinley completed the second half of his own distance double in a dominating fashion to help the Tigers to a tie for fourth in the boys’ competition alongside North East. One day after winning the 3,200 meters, McGinley eased to a four-second victory in the 1,600 with a time of 4:34.57.

Teammate Aaron Easter finished closely behind, taking third in the mile. Rising Sun also received a strong effort from Kyle Henry, who claimed second in the 200 and sixth in the 400.

“If we only had to compete in track, we’d be right there at the top,” Tigers coach Gail Dillaway said. “We’re weak in the field, but that’s what we’re working on. I’m pleased with what they did. We came here to post good times and to have good performances, and I think we did very well.”

The Indians, by contrast, compiled most of their points in throwing events and relays, as Godfrey Durham and Carlos Kuilan followed their discus success with Top-5 results in the shot put, and the 4x400 relay team finished an impressive second behind Edgewood.

The biggest leap of the day belonged not to a triple jumper but instead to host Elkton, which began the day in 13th place in both competitions but finished with a pair of seventh-place point totals thanks to depth in the sprints.

Valerie Fragier and Ajah Barnes combined for 17 points in four sprint events for the Golden Elks girls, and Keith Newman recorded runner-up results in the 100 and 400 for the Elkton boys.

“Keith ran really well in the 100, and our girls 4x400 team stepped up and ran what they were supposed to run all season,” Golden Elks coach Beth Kendall said. “We’ll see what happens next week at regionals.”

Follow Ryan Ginn on Twitter: @Ryan_CecilWhig