Friday, March 11, 2011

Another afternoon at the Chiles Track & Field Championships

"It always rains on our meets!" grumbled one Chiles High School athletes.


After last year's very rain-delayed Region 1 track meet at Chiles, I can see how you'd reach that conclusion. And there were a lot of storm clouds dancing around the sky over the 2011 Chiles Track and Field Championships on March 5, but the rain held off till the last event was run.


The first event that I caught was the girls' 4 x 800m relay. The Chiles girls were not exactly a surprise winner here. Chiles owns that last three (2008, 2009, 2010) FHSAA state cross-country titles, so you'd expect them to have the distance running depth to put together a good 4 x 800m relay. And the Timberwolves met those expectations, running a winning 10:18.89 ahead of Florida State University School (2nd, 10:32.70) and Leon (10:36.37). The Chiles team went to the front in the boys' 4 x 800m relay as well, but Southwest Dekalb had taken over the lead by the second leg, and never gave it up. The Southwest Dekalb boys went on to win in 8:33.67, chased by second-place Carrollton at 8:39.24.


The defending GHSA champion in the girls' 100m hurdles, Southwest Dekalb senior Morgan Snow, won that event at the Chiles Championships in 14.59. Snow was back later in the meet, winning the girls' triple jump. Florida State University School took the next two places, with Brittany Corbett at 16.02 and LaKetra McGee at 17.90. Although seeded in the slow section, Leon's Bree Ritter ran well enough to place fourth in 18.58.


In the boys' 110m hurdles, Carrollton's Jonathan Jones won in 14.26, breaking the ten-year-old meet record of 14.48 set by Lincoln's Antonio Cromartie (who is now playing football for some club in New Jersey). Southwest DeKalb's Chris Morris finished runner-up behind Jones in 15.79, while Chiles picked up the next two places with William Moore (3rd, 15.98) and Andrew Washington (4th, 16.04). After the race, Jones moved over to the infield, where he picked up a win in the boys' long jump with a leap of 21' 0-½".


Once the hurdles were cleared from the track it was time for the three sections of the girls' 100-meter dash. Southwest Dekalb senior Kenya Scott sprinted to 12.76 win, followed by Thomas County Central athletes Kimberly Nazworth (2nd, 13.68) and Ahsley Hayes (3rd, 13.74). A year-round athlete, Scott ran cross country for Southwest DeKalb this past fall, the sixth runner on a team that advanced to the GHSA-4A state championships.


Carrollton's Broderick Snoddy ran a meet-record breaking 10.91 in winning the boys' 100-meter dash. Cynics can forget their speculations about an aiding wind; the 100 was actually run into a slight headwind (after the sprint the breeze picked up enough to become annoying). Behind Snoddy, Thomas County Central's Gabe Freeman and Broderick Sharpe took the next two places in 11.32 and 11.51 respectively.


Lily Williams lost no time getting out in front of the girls' 1600-meter run field, holding the lead throughout the race while breaking her own meet record with a 5:05.13 winning time. The runner-up, Southwest DeKalb's Greciana Cooper, had barely made it onto the final straightaway when Williams crossed the line. Cooper's time was 5:18.57, putting her ahead of three Chiles runners who took the next three places: Jodie McGuff (3rd, 5:20.21), Carly Thomas (4th, 5:23.33), and Kelley Bahn (5th, 5:25.85).


In the boys' 1600 meters, Isaiah McFarland grabbed the lead on the first lap, but Florida State Univesrsity School's Trey Edwards took over pacesetting duties on the second lap. As McFarland faded out of contention, John Hazleton of Leon tucked in behind Edwards. It was Edwards and Hazleton until the gun lap, when Hazleton made a bid for the front. Edwards countered, holding the lead. Hazleton fell back. Will Spiers of Chiles moved up into second, challenging Edwards. Edwards held him off. The final turn came up, and then the final straight. As the leaders took the last corner before the finishing straight, Hazleton swung wide and took the lead, kicking for home. Edwards and Spiers chased him to the line, but they couldn't catch Hazleton, who won in 4:40.19. Edwards was second in 4:41.39, and Spiers third in 4:43.19.


After finishing third in the girls' 100-meter hurdles, Florida State's LaKetra McGee was back on the track for the 300-meter hurdles. McGee won the long hurdles race, posting a time of 48.98. McGee was not the only runner in her section who had also run the 100-meter hurdles; Jessica Danforth (2nd, 52.72) of Chiles, Bree Ritter (4th, 52.82) of Leon, and Brittany Corbett (5th, 54.03) of Florida State were all doubling from the short race. Out of the runners in the fast section, only Thomas County Central's Joy Martin (3rd, 52.74) and Southwest DeKalb's Mayah Gaddy ran only the 300-meter hurdle race. You have to wonder: If there had been a steeplechase, would the coaches have entered these same girls in that race, too?


Macolm Brock didn't double; he tripled. But the boys' 300-meter hurdles was his only hurdle race--and his only race of the day, period. Brock's other events were the high jump--which he won, equaling his own meet record of 6' 6"--and the triple jump, where he picked up second place with a mark of 42' 5". The Southwest DeKalb junior grabbed another win in the 300 hurdles, clocking 40.74. Andrew Washington of Chiles was second in 41.66, and Florida State's Trey Edwards (runner-up in the 1600) ran 42.21 for third.


If you expected the winner of the girl's 4 x 800-meter relay to be the dominant school in the girls' 800-meter run then you weren't going to be disappointed. As in the 1600, Lily Williams of Chiles ran away and hid, finishing the race nearly a full straightaway in the lead at 2:19.47, just slightly over a second off of her own meet record of 2:18.20. Behind Williams, the rest of the Chiles contingent took over the race, and the next three places belonged to Timberwolves Jodie McGuff (2nd, 2:30.39, Kelley Bahn (3rd, 2:30.57), and Carly Thomas (4th, 2:34.59).


Florida State's Joe Garcia looked like he was going to take control of the boys' 800-meter race the way Lily Williams had done in the girls' 800. Garcia did build up quite a gap on the first lap, but you don't need to be Dave Wottle to know that the 800 is a two-lap race, and Sam Sutton of Chiles started eating up Garcia's lead during the second time around the track. On the final stretch Sutton closed to within a stride of Garcia, but Garcia managed to stay ahead for the win, 2:08.21 to 2:08.50. John Hazleton, the 1600m champion, was not a factor in the battle, ending the race third in 2:11.29.


Ahtinna Allen of Florida State won the girls' 200-meter dash, running a 28.08. The next two places went to Southwest DeKalb's Antania Boswell (2nd, 28.60) and Thomas County Central's Brittany Grimes (3rd, 28.61). After finishing third in the boys' long jump, Curtis Brooks of Thomas County Central took to the track in the boys' 200-meter dash, sprinting to a 22.73 win. Carrollton's Rahome Swint took second in 23.99, and Ronnie Williams of North Florida Christian was third in 24.06.


In the rules for the 2011 Chiles Championships, rule #2 states Four (4) participants in individual events, One (1) relay team per school. Naturally, then, it was Chiles, the host team, that sent five (5) athletes to the starting line in the girls' 3200-meter run. It wasn't like the Timberwolves needed the spare, though; their top four--Rachel Givens, Jessica Gillard, Sara Lane, and Ashton McMurray--immediately took over the first four places and never gave them up. After the first 1600 meters, Givens broke away from her teammates and from then on the race was all hers. Givens went on to win in 12:10.63, followed by Gillard (2nd 12:28.53), Lane (3rd, 12:32.67), and McMurray (4th, 12:52.74). Leon's Allyson Alonso (5th, 14:27.74) was the first non-Timberwolf across the line.


Chiles also had one more than the regulation number of entries in the boys' 3200-meter run. Their meet, their rules, I guess. Leon's Riley Doherty set the pace starting on the first lap and spent the race moving farther and farther ahead of his competitors. Will Stanford of Leon, back racing for the first time since last autumn, moved into second behind Doherty. Leon's Will Henderson and Southwest DeKalb's Jared Williams sparred for the third position. After 1600 meters Henderson fell back, and Williams started chasing after Stanford. While Doherty won in 9:51.81, Williams never quite closed on Stanford and it was Stanford over Williams, 10:07.92 to 10:15.40. Leon's Zac Buchholz (4th, 10:17.78) and Southwest DeKalb's Greg Philips (5th, 10:26.48) both caught Henderson (6th, 10:30.66) in the closing laps.


Southwest DeKalb had already wrapped up the girls' team title and Carrollton was likewise taking the boys' trophy home to Georgia, but the 4 x 400-meter relays remained even if the meet was decided. In the girls' relay, it was a case of the rich getting richer, as meet champions Southwest DeKalb put up a winning 4:07.28, scoring ten more points to make their meet-winning total 162. The Southwest DeKalb boys' relay team won their 4 x 400 in 3:27.96, but ten points was not enough to catch Carrollton--Carrollton won the boys' team title with 147 points to runner-up Southwest DeKalb's 129.


Track meets are busy places, and there were events that I didn't get to see, or just glanced at. Maybe next time out at the track I'll catch more events, or at least a different set of events. Or maybe I'll try something less ambitious than reporting an entire track meet--you know, like writing a twenty-book epic fantasy novel.


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Posted by Herb Wills at 12:01 PM
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