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Republished with permission granted by The Washington Newspaper Publishing Co. LLC d/b/a MediaDC. Back to Montgomery Journal articles
Tittley Hits 49-4 In Triple Jump
By DONNA NIEWIAROSKI
Special to the Journal
Midway through the Pinnacle Track and Field Invitational Friday night at George Mason University, Seneca Valley assistant coach Randy Changuris said he couldn't wait until Shawn Tittley ran on the mile relay. Tittley was on a roll, it wasn't just the babbling of an excited coach.
At the outset of the meet attracting teams from Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, the Seneca senior made it out of the semi's of the 55-meter dash with a 6.2 clocking. He captured second in that event with a 6.3 in the finals to recognized speedster Tommy Woodruff from H.D. Woodson, who was timed in 6.2. Three weeks ago, when qualifying for the dash, Woodruff qualified first, while Tittley was sitting down in 13th with a 6.7.
Tittley was seeded eighth in the 300 meters, but scratched it to concentrate fully on the triple jump, his specialty. He was up against the nation's top hop-skip-and-jumper - Gar-Field's Roger Bennett. At the meet's qualifying round three weeks ago, Bennett hit 49-6, Tittley 47-9 1/2.
The following week at Navy, Bennett set the nation's leading mark, 51-4 3/4, a distance most collegian jumpers reach only in their dreams. Consistent as always, Tittley hit 47-10.
Friday, Tittley broke out of that annoying consistency of his, clearing 49 feet with a 49-4, closing in on his nemesis, who jumped 50-9.
"That's his longest by two feet," exclaimed Changuris. "We moved his approach back 20 feet and then up one step and he hit a 47-four or six. We moved it up one more step and he did a 48-3/4, then a 49-4. He's going to get 50-feet definitely."
Also performing well above what anybody at the meet thought her capabilities were, Kennedy's Maureen Conroy, the county's only entrant in the 1600-meter run, finished fourth with a 5:10.2. That time was 20-seconds faster than she's ever run before.
"Basically we were running for third," said coach Allan Bellman. "I told her to go out and hang in third through the half, hit 2:30 and pick it up with three laps to go. She hit her 2:30, but fell asleep for a lap, which is when that girl passed her. But when you knock your time down by 10 seconds, you can forgive some mental lapses."
Photo caption: Journal Staff Photo by Bill Kamenjar. Peary's Ron Tyler (l) placed third in the 55-meter high hurdles. Gar-Field's Pat Mahn (r) was the winner of the event and West Springfield's Bill Brown (c) placed second. Tyler's time was 7.7 seconds at the Pennacle Track Meet.
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