THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200298
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 52 lines
According to Deep Creek track and field coach Richard Cox, a two-way tie for a meet title is a rare occurrence indeed.
So what does that make the Eastern Region boys championships at Darling Stadium? Three teams - Cox's Hornets, Western Branch and Menchville - tied for the meet crown with 48 points. And a fourth team Lakeland, finished one point behind the winning trifecta.
``I've been involved in track for 13 years, and I've never seen anything even close to this,'' said a Gatorade-soaked Cox. ``We knew at about the 300 (meter-dash) that we would win, but we had no idea we'd have so much company up there.
``We're really proud of this. we dedicated the season to Dee Harrell (former Deep Creek football player who died of Hodgkin's disease in 1996). He meant a lot to us.''
Western Branch got back into the fray on the strength of Will McGlaughan. McGlaughan rolled to wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
Lakeland, which was tied for first after the field events, nearly held on to their lead, as Kevin Knight won the 55 meters in 6.2 seconds and added the 300 title with a time of 34.8.
Deep Creek won the 3200 relay, and Salem edged Deep Creek and Bethel in the 800 relay.
There was no logjam at the top of the girls division, however.
Bayside, already well ahead after the field events, kept adding to the lead en route to a record-breakingly convincing win.
The Marlins' 80 points breaks a team score record for the region championships and outdistances second-place Bethel by 21 points.
And a big part of the win rests firmly on the shoulders of Lashonda Cutchin.
Cutchin won a pair of individual titles at 55 and 300 - breaking the 55 record while coming a tenth second short on the 300 - and completed a rally from the anchor leg for the first-place 800-relay squad.
``We practice a catchup drill,'' Cutchin said. ``We'll be two lanes behind someone and we'll have to catch her by the 50-meter line.''
Tallwood's Pam Edwards posted the most lopsided win of the day in the 3,200, 35 seconds ahead of First Colonial's Megan Kaminski. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Heritage's Darren Bugg leads a pack of hurdlers to the finish of a
55-meter Eastern Region semifinal heat Wednesday. He did it again in
the final. Heritage finished ninth in the meet, which ended in a
48-point deadlock between Deep Creek, Menchville and Western Branch.
Lakeland was right behind at 47.