ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
The girls' team title is wide open at Saturday's Cosmopolitan Club track and field meet in Salem.
Will it be defending champion Patrick Henry, its cross-town rival William Fleming or Group AA boys' champion Staunton River that wins the Cosmopolitan Club's track and field meet Saturday in Salem?
On paper, this will be one of the great meets in the event's history.
Staunton River coach Joe Curcio is concerned about his team's numbers. Patrick Henry coach Jeff Johnson points to a dual meet loss two weeks ago to William Fleming. Rudy Dillard, Fleming's coach, says his team must do better in the jumps to be a contender.
The finals begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Running trials and field events are earlier that morning. There also will be junior and middle school meets for boys and girls.
Patrick Henry scored 121 points to win the 1996 Cosmo boys' meet. William Fleming was second with 97, ahead of Christiansburg and Staunton River.
Staunton River and Christiansburg later dueled for the AA title that was decided when the Golden Eagles' Jarrett Ferguson placed third in the triple jump, the final event of the day.
Ferguson and most of the Golden Eagles are back, including Ahmed Sangbana, an exchange student who stayed for a second year and has greatly improved.
``Fleming and Patrick Henry's depth will hurt us,'' Curcio said. ``We just simply won't have the numbers of top quality kids at our disposal.''
PH finished second this winter in the Group AAA indoor meet and last spring tied for second in the outdoor meet. Louis Booker, who won the 500 meters indoors, is one of three top performers for the Patriots. The others are hurdler Shaun Akers and James Hickenbotham in the jumps and dashes.
``Judging by our dual meet, Fleming is the favorite,'' Johnson said. ``They ran real well.''
``I don't think they ran everyone that day,'' Dillard said.
PH held Akers out because of a strained right hamstring. After the Patriots outscored Fleming 38-16 in the field events, the Colonels won in the running events.
Fleming's top performers include sprinter and jumper Lee Suggs, a junior, along with Charles Burnette, a hurdler and jumper, and Brett Elliott in the 800.
It is the jumps where Suggs, Burnette and Darryl McCoy must score better than they did against PH in the dual meet. In that meet, they failed to finish among the top three in the long or triple jump.
``I was kind of surprised we didn't place in those events,'' Dillard said . ``We haven't jumped well the last few weeks.''
Looking at performances in recent weeks, Staunton River might be considered a favorite based on the top three times in each event. The Golden Eagles' Ferguson (triple jump) and Sangbana (100 meters) are back as the only defending champions among the top three teams.
Also in the boys' meet, Cave Spring's Ben Dowdy, the Timesland boys' Runner of the Year in cross country, will finally race Christiansburg's Matt Nolan after the two missed each other at the Metro meet. Rockbridge County's Jason Hannah, isn't entered.
Dowdy has been fast this spring in the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs. He's trying to win both events for the second straight year. Northside's Tommy Maguire could challenge Dowdy in the 1,600.
In the girls' meet, the team race is wide open because Lord Botetourt runner Sara Moore is skipping the Cosmo to play AAU basketball. She won both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs last year.
Fleming seems to be a slight favorite behind Yvette Jackson, who is excellent in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Worth watching are James River hurdler Melissa Baker, who has not lost this spring and who was second in the 300 hurdles last year.
Salem is led by Ashley Bruce, who will be the favorite to ruin Baker's streak in the 100-meter hurdles, and Erin Alba in the 1,600 where she will have to beat Blacksburg freshman Lacey Brown and Christiansburg's Laura Evans. If anyone doubles, they'll run into Rockbridge County's Kelly Repair in the 3,200.
In Radford, a field of Group A schools will compete in the All-American Relays where the host Bobcats are favored in the boys' division. Riverheads is the girls' choice. Finals are at 12:30.
Radford is led by jumpers Jason Mitchell and Tony Hash, both of whom hope to catch Parry McCluer's Michael Decker, who beat them last weekend. Decker is also good in the 100 and 400. Hash is his top challenger in the latter event.
Giles' Megan Noble in the jumps and Narrows' Melissa Lucas in the shot and discus are Timesland's top girls' performers in the All-America.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB