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Peary, B-CC The Favorites at Woodward
By Lyn Pusey
Journal Staff Writer
The annual Woodward Relays take off tomorrow at 10 a.m. with close to 30 schools expected to compete in the boys and girls events that range from flat-out sprinting to pole vaulting to the steeplechase.
Among the teams that will be in full force for the first track meet of the season in Montgomery County will be Churchill's boys who have won four out of the six Woodward titles. This year, however, the Bulldogs may have to watch Peary take over their top spot.
"It's going to come down to a battle between Peary and possibly Blair," says meet director Greg Dunston. "And in the girls, the outspoken favorite has got to be B-CC. After that it could be anybody."
Peary, coming off a strong performance in the Landon Relays two weeks ago, finished second to Churchill a year ago in a meet that saw the top teams bunched very close together.
"The fact that we were second last year kind of surprised me," said Huskies coach Tom Nawrocki, "but I think that we have a much better team than we did then."
As to whether his boys will win their first Woodward title, Nawrocki answered: "That's questionable. I'd like to win it and I think that we have the athletes to win it but actually putting the points together is another thing."
But putting together those points should be easy for Peary as Nawrocki concedes that his team should win the pole vault, long jump and hurdles and should also do well in the triple jump and some of the distance events.
"I may make some adjustments during the meet," admits Nawrocki. "It will depend on how well they're running. But if I add something in one event I may have to sacrifice something in another."
One thing is for sure. The Peary effort will be led by its own version of Bruce Jenner, namely Emil Davis who competes with Darryn Henderson and Andy Barlow in the long jump; with Grant Wagner and Jeff Torri in the pole vault; and with Skip Robinson, John Hanson and Mitch Frid in the hurdles.
Pete Onufrak, Barlow and Henderson will be counted on for points in the triple jump as will distance men Rob Henry and Doug Halpin, who have been running well, in some of the longer races.
And now it's time for outdoor track - and with a Florida-like forecast - for Saturday.
And while Peary takes after the boys title, the girls races will be a case of who can catch B-CC? The Barons have been running extremely will this spring - just like they have for the past couple of years - and no one sees anyway that they won't successfully defend their Woodward title.
Led by Carolyn Hughes in the distance events, B-CC has talented entries in almost every event. At Fort Hunt two weeks ago, Hughes, Stacy Browne, Ella Frederiksen and Laurie Douglass ran a record 21:33.5 in the four mile relay and also won the 3200-meter relay at their own B-CC Track Classic the week before that.
The highlights of the Woodward meet will most likely by the girls two mile relay with Seneca Valley, Peary, and Churchill in the chase with B-CC and the boys four-mile relay led by Landon, which can expect a race from Kennedy, Seneca Valey and possibly Peary and Churchill as well.
Kennedy's two-mile boys relay will be the solid favorite if its indoor team is together while Blair and Sherwood share the favorites' role in the sprintable 440 and 880 relays.
Again closing out the action at Woodward will be the coed relay (two boys and two girls per team) and the steeplechase. Neither event counts in the team standings yet they always draw enthusiastic entries who run just for the fun of it.
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