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14 Records Broken in County Meet
By DONNA NIEWIAROSKI
Special to the Journal
The classic come-from-behind victory on the track is always exciting. And although Northwood speedster Carlos Acker has pulled off the definitive crowd-pleaser two-weeks in a row aginst the same adversary, icing victories for the Indians' 880-yard relay teams on both occasions, it still hasn't gotten boring.
Acker brought the fans to their feet for the second time in as many weeks at Saturday's county meet at Einstein High School, converting a 10-yard deficit into a 10-yard advantage to beat out Seneca Valley's 880-relay team, 1:30.8-1:31.6. It was as though the onlookers were treated to an instant replay of last week's sprint relay battle at the Jennie Rush Memorial meet at Rockville.
From the gun, Seneca grabbed the lead, staying just out of Northwood's reach for three legs. Indians' Robert Sterling and Fitzgerald Ferguson bobbed between second and third until third man, Gary Green made sure he upheld his part of the bargain, passing Churchill off the curve to hand Acker the baton 10-yards behind Seneca's Eric Drain, who, in addition to achor legs on both of the Eagles' sprint relays, also won the discus (140-7 1/2) and shot put in a meet record toss of 52-1/4.
Last weekend the senior sprinter from Northwood split a 20.85 to nip Drain at the tape. This time around, Acker put any doubts about whether last weekend's performance was a fluke to rest when he pulled even with Drain's shoulder going into the curve. Acker then proceeded to stride wide around Seneca's premier weight man, pass him on the outside just as they both swung out of the curve, and sped to the tape, leaving Drain in his wake. Northwood's time missed the meet record, set by Blair last year, by three-tenths of a second.
For an encore, before anchoring Northwood's 440-relay to second place behind the same Seneca foursome, Acker won the 100-meter dashing a record-breaking 10.6. Last year, Einstein's Mike Scott ran a 10.7 to tie Blair's Norman Edwards' year-old mark.
Acker's record was just one of 14 marks to fall Saturday, despite the high humidity and downpour that delayed the meet's final two events.
Seneca's Shawn Tittley pre-empted the rest of the record-breaking performances with a leap of 45-11 in the triple jump. Tittley's jump, a personal best for the lanky junior, eclipsed the two-year-old mark of 45-9 set by Blair's Adrian Summers. In addition, a distance of 45-11 placed Tittley second among the area's triple jumpers for Saturday's competitions. Only Fairfax's Roger Bennett, who cleared 49-2 3/4 at Virginia's AAA Northern Regional meet, bettered Tittley's jump.
Despite some difficulties with foot placement mid-way through the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, Peary's Gerald Hinton held on to win in 39.9, four-tenths ahead of Churchill's Jim Elliott. Hinton's time bettered the meet record, set by Blair's Randy Inniss last year, by two-tenths.
"I was really surprised Gerald's time got the record," said coach Ron McGaw, "I thought the record was a lot faster. I was pleased with his race, but he can run a better one. He had trouble in the middle just when the Churchill kid was moving up on him. Gerald usually leads with his right leg, but he started pressing when he thought he might lose and went over one with his left leg."
In the 100-meter highs, Hinton, who, until Saturday had not lost at that distance all season, took third behind Blair's Tony Folding (14.9) and Greene from Northwood (14.9). "I think it was good what happened to Gerald in the highs," mused McGaw. "He hasn't been beaten till then and it probably brought him back to earth. He realizes now that he can be beaten, but it happened at a time that it didn't count."
Blair sophomore Lance Fletcher won two events, the 1600- and 800-meters, establishing a record in the latter. Early on in the meet, Fletcher paced himself to a 4:24.9 in the 1600, 2.2-seconds ahead of Einstein's Dave Mills. Later on, Fletcher returned to clock a 1:56.6 800-meters, three-tenths ahead of B-CC's Derrick Harding. Springbrook's Mike Huott set the old record last year at 1:58.3.
Churchill's boys' two-mile relay team of Elliott, Roger Blunt, Ranji Eapen and Chris Snead, who also won the 400-meters in 49.0, rounded out the boys' meet record breaking spree with a 7:58.8. The Bulldogs' had also held the previous mark at 8:05.5, set in 1981.
The girls were even more prolific when it came to breaking records Saturday, establishing eight in the course of the 7 1/2-hour meet.
Sherwood's Theresa Pack's sped to a record-breaking 5:07.4 in the 1600-meter run against fellow distance standouts, Cindy Kearns of Woodward and Seneca's Tracey Warner. The week before, at Jennie Rush, Pack could place no higher than third against Kearns and Pat Cuff of Seneca with a 5:22.
"Theresa had been going through some emotional problems the week before Rush and mentally, she just didn't run a good race," explained Sherwood assistant coach Don Mieczkowski. "But, after losing, she made up her mind that she wouldn't get beat again."
Pack, who is currently on schedule to meet her goal of a sub-5-minute mile by the state meet in two weeks, broke her own mark of 5:13 which she ran last year.
Churchill's Wendy Peal won both hurdle events, setting meet records in both. Peal hurdled to a 15.7 in 100-meter highs, bettering the two-year old mark of 16.0. In the 300-meter intermediates Peal paced to a 45.8, eight-tenths of a second faster than teammate Cami Rogers year old record.
Journal Staff Photo by Chuck Fadely. Wendy Peal of Churchill won the 110-meter high hurdles (above) and the 300 intermediates at the county track meet Saturday, setting records in both events. Peal beat Woodward's Monica Kuhn, who finished third and second, respsectively, in the two events.
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