PRINCESS ANNE, MD -- T.C. Williams senior Samella Koroma continued to impress this season in the shot put as the state leader in the event improved upon her top mark at Friday night's UMES Coach O Invitational in Princess Anne, Maryland. Fresh off her win at the F.I.T. Invitational with a personal best throw in a MileStat.com Athlete of the Week performance, Koroma did it again with another state best throw at UMES with a winning mark of 41'9.50" on Friday evening.
Ten schools from Virginia competed in the event from two separate parts of the state with representatives from Northern Virginia and Tidewater Virginia.
The shot put was swept by Virginians with Koroma taking the girls' shot put and Western Branch senior Darien Kearney throwing for 51'6" to win the boys' event. Kearney earned All-State honors indoors last March with a fourth place finish in the shot put. However, he failed to qualify for the state meet outdoors as the event turned out to be highly competitive in the event last spring with three throwers over 50 feet at the regional meet including Kearney unable to crack in the top six.
Another Eastern Region athlete in Predist Walker has had no problem qualifying for the state meet in the past. Walker has qualified for state competition in various events ever since his sophomore year of outdoor track when he competed in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles at the AAA State Outdoor Championships. Now Walker finds himself as a state leader in an event after his leap of 22'5.50" at the Hytche Athletic Center. The Lakeland senior's evening did not finish with a win in the long jump as he also garnered a runner-up finish in the triple jump (44'0") and won his second event of the day in the 60 meter hurdes with a 8.33 clocking.
Walker's Lakeland teammate Chris Copeland tied with three other high jumpers for second in the state who have jumped 6'6" as he cleared a personal best height to win Friday after clearing 6'4" earlier in the season at CNU.
Chaneka Perry of Denbigh claimed two events and both wins came in the horizontal jumps with a mark of 16'6.25" in the long jump and 35'2.50" in the triple jump. Perry is only a sophomore.
T.C. Williams and great distance runners are two things that have not gone together well in recent years, but Bradshaw Kenimer and Erika Weidman have rectified that situation with their race performances as of late including first place finishes for both at UMES. Kenimer, coming off a solid double at the F.I.T. Invite in the 1600 and 3200 meter races, won the mile at UMES in 4:35.05. Weidman, only a sophomore as she ran 2:16 last spring for 800 meters, took home first in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:07.35. Weidman also anchored home the winning T.C. Williams' sprint medley relay (4:29.68).
James Robinson is usually the other way around with strong distance runners, but had two event winners in the girls' sprints on Friday evening with Audrey Barry in the 500 meter dash (1:21.77) and Lauren Hallauer in the 300 meter dash (42.75).
Western Branch has quite a sprint tandem in senior Brittney Smalls and junior Jessie Gaines as the pair finished 1-2 in the 60 meter dash with strong times of 7.81 and 7.98 respectively to finish ahead of one of the Northern Region's best in Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams (3rd, 8.01).
Tallwood junior Octavia Rinehardt finished out her cross country season in style with as an Eastern Region runner-up and All-State performer. She has continued that momentum to indoors as she won the 3200 meter run at UMES in a time of 11:53.28.
PRINCESS ANNE, MD -- T.C. Williams senior Samella Koroma continued to impress this season in the shot put as the state leader in the event improved upon her top mark at Friday night's UMES Coach O Invitational in Princess Anne, Maryland. Fresh off her win at the F.I.T. Invitational with a personal best throw in a MileStat.com Athlete of the Week performance, Koroma did it again with another state best throw at UMES with a winning mark of 41'9.50" on Friday evening.
Ten schools from Virginia competed in the event from two separate parts of the state with representatives from Northern Virginia and Tidewater Virginia.
The shot put was swept by Virginians with Koroma taking the girls' shot put and Western Branch senior Darien Kearney throwing for 51'6" to win the boys' event. Kearney earned All-State honors indoors last March with a fourth place finish in the shot put. However, he failed to qualify for the state meet outdoors as the event turned out to be highly competitive in the event last spring with three throwers over 50 feet at the regional meet including Kearney unable to crack in the top six.