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Distance Events Highlighted in Fifth - And Best - Annual Woodward Relay
Journal Staff
The fifth annual Woodward Invitational is Saturday and with and expanded field of teams and events should be the best ever. Eighteen boys teams will compete in 14 events while 16 girls teams will compete in seven events. Plus there will be the steeplechase feature and a co-ed relay, though they don't count in the team standings.
All of the teams entered are from Montgomery County and the only non-public school, Georgetown Prep, appears to be the leader among the boys teams with Churchill, Springbrook and Blair seen by meet director Greg Dunston as also having good chances. Walter Johnson and Kennedy lead the way for the girls.
The two-mile relay for boys will be one of the best - and fastest - events with Prep coming off a 7:55 indoor performance and Northwood running an 8 flat a few weeks ago. Churchill is also a strong contender.
Other highlight events will be the mile relay (with Kennedy, Walter Johnson, Paint Branch and Prep as the favorites) and sprint medley (Paint Branch, Prep, Magruder and Kennedy leading the way).
The meet begins at 9 a.m. with the girls field events and the boys unseeded four-mile relay and girls two-mile relay.
"This meet is really the only chance to get all of the teams together," commented Dunston, "and it's a chance to see a little bit of everything."
Each year, Woodward has added some new dimension to its spring meet, this year being a girls field event relay and the girls two-mile relay. Walter Johnson recently clocked 9:50 in the two-mile and is the heavy favorite if Joan Geibel runs, while Churchill, B-CC, Kennedy and Seneca Valley have strong entries. The field event relay for girls - discus throw, shot put, high jump and long jump - will use the decathlon scoring system to give credit where credit is due for super efforts. Among the leaders will be Einstein's Donna Lake in the throwing events.
In the boys field events, Churchill, Gaithersburg, Prep, Seneca Valley and Einstein will be fighting for the top honors after Einstein and Seneca finished 1-2 at the Landon Relays last Saturday in the shot. Larry Rosen of Einstein in the shot put and Tim Downs of Richard Montgomery in the pole vault will be the top individuals.
Despite the fact that they don't count in the standings, the concluding two events of the Woodward Relays are always among the top as far as interest is concerned.
The co-ed relay, an event that several teams are gearing for, has a boy runner open in a 440, followed by a girl 220, boy 220 and a girl 440 for the anchor. And the steeplechase, the first on the high school level in the country, has at least 40 entrants who will attend a mini-training camp this afternoon to learn some tricks and skills for clearing the water hazard and hurdles.
"If the weather holds, and the weatherman says its supposed to be sunny through Saturday, this could be the best year," says Dunston hopefully, "especially in the distance events and all of the girls events."
The schedule for the Woodward Relays is as follows: boys four-mile unseeded heat; girls two-mile; girls 880; boys two-mile; boys 880; boys shuttle high hurdles; boys distance medley; girls 440 relay; boys 440 relay; girls shuttle hurdle; girls sprint medley; boys sprint medley; boys four-mile seeded heat; girls mile relay; boys mile relay; open steeplechase; co-ed relay.
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