The rescheduled Northwest Region Meet was held on Tuesday in Maryland at the Prince George County's Sports & Learning Center in Landover, Maryland. Athletes and relays from the region advancing on will have a quick turnaround this week to focus their attention onto the state meet with only two days rest before the AAA State Championships begin on Friday at George Mason.
The Osbourn Park girls continued their reign of dominance in the region as a sweep of all three relay events played a role in their decisive 70 plus point margin of victory. All three wins came with quick times as well in the 4x800 (9:39.39), 4x400 (4:02.96), and 4x200 (1:46.93). The Hyter twins each race on a relay apiece and carried their team in individual events also. Brittany Hyter won regional titles in the long jump (17'8") and 55 meter hurdles (8.44), while sister Bethany clocked the fastest time of all in the field of the 500 meter dash at 1:16.43.
Potomac Senior girls were a distance second with 51 1/2 points as Yvonne Amegashie led the squad as a 300 meter regional champion at 40.91 and runner-up in the 55 meter dash behind Battlefield's Kim Blaylock (7.12).
E.C. Glass junior Susanna Timmons recorded the state's second best mark of the season in the shot put with a personal best mark of 39'2.50" in the throwing event.
Grace Loba of Fauquier was a surprise champion in two distance races in the 1600 meter run (5:10.85) and later in the 1000 meter run (3:04.57). No surprise at all with Thomas Porter adding to his growing number of Northwest Region titles as he crossed the line first in the boys' 1600 (4:28.14) and 3200 (9:35.77) meter races.
However, Porter's defending regional champion team from Mountain View suffered a mild upset at the hands of the Potomac Senior boys (82 pts) with strength in the sprints including 1-2 finish in the 500 from Eric Gyamfi (1:05.93) and Brice Mathews (1:06.64) as well as taking three of the top four in the 300 meter dash led by regional champion Mathews (35.38).
David Wilson had another big jump in the triple jump as the George Washington junior had a winning mark of 48'7" to defeat Mountain View's Olu Olamigoke, who helped his squad to their runner-up team finish by also winning the long jump (22'2").
Daniel Inge of E.C. Glass has taken his pole vaulting ability to literally new heights as of late as he cleared 15'6" in an easy regional win after clearing 15'9" at his district meet. He will be the man to beat for the AAA state title this weekend.
The Eastern Region's best sprinters should not sleep on Damien Thigpen of Stonewall Jackson in the 55 meter dash. The returning AAA state 300 meter hurdles champion has been under the radar for most of the season, but his 6.41 55 meter clocking at the Northwest Region Meet cannot go unnoticed.