THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505240190
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
It was definitely a team effort that enabled Great Bridge to retain its Southeastern District boys track championship, but Wildcats coach Steve Sawyer pointed at sophomore Brian Hunter as the catalyst.
Hunter won two events and also ran a leg on a point-winning relay team.
And just minutes before the annual meet started last weekend it was questionable whether Hunter would be able to partici-pate.
Great Bridge won both the boys and girls championships in the meet at Churchland High School. Western Branch was runner-up in both divisions.
In run-throughs before the meet started, Hunter was practicing with a new pole. On one vault the pole broke and hit his knee.
``From then on, he was just amazing,'' said Great Bridge coach Steve Sawyer. ``His knee swelled up but he wanted to compete. And he used a bigger pole for the first time.
``It was just unbelievable that he had a personal best of 13-6. Some kids wouldn't have been able to even get on a pole after that mishap.
``Then the next day he was still favoring the leg and he won the high jump at 6-2. And then ran on the relay team.
``The 20 points he picked up in the two field events were totally unexpected after his injury. We won by 26 1/2 so if you switch that around, the meet really could have gone another way.
``I felt if we went in at our best, we would win though,'' said Sawyer. ``I thought this team was better than our team a year ago.''
The Wildcats finished with 136 1/2 points. Western Branch had 110, followed by Deep Creek with 81, Norcom with 77 1/2, Churchland with 69, Oscar Smith with 18, Indian River with 14 and Wilson with 8.
Western Branch had a pair of record-setting performances. The Bruins' 400-meter relay unit of Clayton Porter, Malik Cook, Darren Walton and Dre Bly, posted a 42.27 Accutrak time, about four/tenths of a second under the previous record. Tony Smith reeled off a 37.1 in the semifinals of the 300-meter hurdles, going on to win in the final at 37.32. He broke a nine-year-old district record and it was the fourth-fastest time in the country by a high school hurdler this year.
``Maybe now somebody will pay attention to what Smith can do,'' said Western Branch coach Wade Williams. ``I've talked to coaches everywhere about him and he doesn't have a single scholarship offer.
``He has the courses, he has the grades and he is just 10 points shy on his SAT score. He never misses a practice, he's a super hard worker and he can hurdle with the best of them. He's the kind of kid you want for a son. I've lost a lot of college coaching friends because I tell them they're crazy to look past Tony.''
One other record fell in the boys competition and another was tied. Norcom's 3,200-meter relay squad registered an 8:14.6, clipping more than five seconds off the old standard. Jerod Ruffin, William Coltrain, Darrius Mason and Jason Wells composed the unit.
Afterwards Norcom coach Joe Langston and runner Wells both agreed that the squad can do even better.
``We will have a better time in the Eastern Region,'' predicted Langston. Wells nodded. ``We set the school record in last year's regional at 8:10.2 and we're after breaking that,'' added Wells.
Deep Creek's Jason Waters tied the Accutrak mark in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.32. The versatile Waters was second in the high jump and third in the long jump.
Earlier three players were dropped from the Deep Creek squad in a disciplinary move by coach Richard Cox.
Another double winner was Churchland's Greg Boothe, who took the 100-meters in 10.71 and the 200 in 21.7.
In the girls meet Great Bridge dethroned Deep Creek, chalking up 127 points. Western Branch had 96, Deep Creek 86, Norcom 85, Deep Creek 51, Wilson 23, Indian River 23 and Churchland none.
``We're very pleased,'' said Great Bridge coach Pat Banks. ``We have only one senior on this team (800-meter winner Melba Brown) and just three juniors. With about 33 or 34 on the squad, we're a young group.''
Two records toppled in the girls division and both were set by Western Branch's Meredith Turnage. She had an 11:59.0 time in the 3,200-meter run to snap the four-year-mark of Great Bridge's Jody Bing (11:59.94) and notched a 5:17.8 in the 1,600-meter run. This broke the 5:18.7 record set by Deep Creek's Laura Stevens in 1987. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
Jamin Elliott of Churchland won the triple jump with a 45-foot, 7
1/4-inch jump. Great Bridge won both the boys and girls
championships.
by CNB