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County runners do well at 4A state
Photo caption: Einstein's Judith Owen won the 300-meter dash at the Class 4A state meet. She also took the 500-meter dash. Photo by Jeff Taylor/Journal.
By MARK O'HARA
Journal staff writer
BALTIMORE
From a Montgomery County point of view, last night's Class 4A indoor track state championship meet came across as the Judith Owen show.
Owen, an Einstein High student, won the 300-meter dash, the 500-meter dash and finished second in the 55 hurdles. She also ran the anchor leg of the Titans' seventh place 1,600-meter relay team at the Fifth Regiment Armory.
Unlike last year's championship when Kennedy's Kim Many earned the distinction of winning the county's only individual title, yesterday Kennedy's Kirk Hewling won the 500-meter dash, Many repeated as the 2-mile champion and Seneca Valley's Diane McKeon, Mandy Eisemann, Melanie Etz and Demonica Davis teamed to win the 800-meter relay.
Owen's performance didn't surprise anyone, especially Einstein Coach Jim Brown, whose team finished fifth overall, two places behind Kennedy's girls team.
"She's always ready," Brown said. "She would have won the hurdles, but it was too soon, not too much."
In the seventh event of the afternoon, Owen won the 300 dash in the 42.40 seconds, which began with the 55 hurdles qualifying heat. After that, Owen had to run the 500, which she won in a time of 1:21.66. Then it was back to the finals of the hurdles, where she was edged by Twanna Shields of Northwestern by .004 seconds. In the qualifier, Owen beat Shields by .2 seconds.
"I knew that states were going to be more difficult," said Owen, who swept her three events in the county and regional meets. "The way it was set up, with the 500 before the hurdles, wasn't good. I thought I'd win the hurdles and have trouble in the 500. But I went all out in the 500 because I'm that kind of competitor, and it hurt in the hurdles."
There were only 16 minutes between the 500 and the finals of the hurdles. Counting the hurdles qualifier, Owen ran three races in less than 30 minutes.
of her individual races.
Kennedy's Hewling learned the importance of a quick start in the 300.
"It taught me to get out first because they cut me off," said Hewling of his fourth-place finish.
Many's mile run didn't go as planned. She finished 9 seconds behind Eleanor Roosevelt's Kendra Hickman, but the senior blew away the field in the 2-mile run, winning by more than 25 seconds.
Seneca Valley's girls were the surprise.
It capped a good night for Etz, who finished second to Owen in the 300 dash.
Others finishing second were Kennedy's Kathryn Russell in the 800 run, Whitman's Andrea Dritchilo, who has a personal best of 5 feet in the high jump, and Whitman's Tom Eagleson in the 1,600-meter run. Eagleson was running with a bad back and had to pull out of the 2-mile run.
Third-place finishers were Wootton's Jason Chapman in the shot put, Einstein's Terrence Taylor in the 1,600-meter run, Seneca Valley's Scott Mostrom in the 3,200-meter run and Kennedy's girls 3,200-meter relay team.
Fourth-place finishers were B-CC's Csaba Hadas in the shot put, B-CC's Pim Broekman in the 3,200, Seneca Valley's Jeff Hayhurst in the pole vault and Whitman's boys 1,600 relay team.
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