Springbrook Wins Woodward Relays Title

By BEN WALKER

Springbrook waited until the final event of the day to capture the team title at the second annual Woodward Relays last Saturday. The Blue Devils edged Magruder, 61-57, with a second-place finish in the triple jump.

Magruder led the meet by four points going into that final event and needed only a fourth place finish to guarantee a tie for the lead. While the Colonels had several good jumps, they were disqualified from the event due to the number of fouls they committed. The eight points Springbrook gained for second were good for the four-point victory margin.

One of the highlights of the day was the steeplechase race, the first in the nation on the high school level. In the 1500-meter race, which was an exhibition that did not count in the standings, Peter Kirk of Kennedy won with a time of 5:03.7.

Spectators and team members gathered at the end of the track to watch the steeplechase competitors attempt to scale a three-foot hurdle that was followed by a 12-foot water pit. While all of the runners in the two heats splashed through the eight-inch deep water, none sustained an injury in his premier performance.

Host Woodward, the meet's defending champion, fell on hard times when the official scorer's tent collapsed and followed with only 13 points for a 13th place finish. Further hard luck followed when quarter-miler Steve Bloom pulled hamstrings which forced him out of competition.

One of the most exceptional performances in the meet was B-CC's record-breaking effort in the discus relay. Led by Pete Bielak, Lynn Hogg and Campbell Lovitt, the Barons achieved a total distance of 390-feet, 8 inches to break the standing record by 19 feet.

B-CC also set records in the one and two-mile relays with John Jensen running legs in each event.

Georgetown Prep dominated the hurdles, setting records in both the high and low shuttle events.

Magruder and Richard Montgomery ran for the only tie of the day, each clocking a 1:32.6 in different heats of the 880.

Other records set in the county's second largest track meet (only the Magruder Invitational with 55 entries is larger) were by Northwood in the triple jump, by Wheaton in the sprint medley and by Gaithersburg in the four-mile relay. In the sprint, Jim Peterson came from behind on the anchor lap with a tremendous burst to pass Magruder's anchor man and set the new record by 6.4 seconds.

All of the 15 track and field events were scored on a team basis. In the field events, each competitor's best distance or height was added to the best of each of his teammates to obtain the total team score.

Montgomery Journal Photos by Hoke Kempley and Michael Bredhoff


The going was close at the beginning of the first heat of the steeplechase.


Chuck Bagge of Churchill clears the high jump bar at 5-10.


Jim Peterson of Wheaton, Sprint Medley Relay


Tim Gavin of Richard Montgomery lands in the water of the steeplechase, ready to take off for the next obstacle. The event, the first in the nation for high school runners, was won by Peter Kirk of Kennedy.


In the Steeplechase, Jim Cudney of Churchill follows Kent Thomas of Kennedy through the water pit.