RICHMOND, VA -- Maybe it was out vengeance for not getting what they wanted for Christmas, but winning one event at the Green Dragon Invitational was not enough for Menchville's Dwight Porter, Manchester's Briana Smith and Kwadena Caple.
Porter, currently having the second fastest 55 meter hurdle time in the state, blew out the competition with his time of 7.75. Porter then proceeded to take a win in the long jump as well with a leap of 21'06.25". The Menchville junior has quickly emerged this season as one of the premier hurdlers in the state.
The Manchester track team is fortunate to have the talented duo of Briana Smith and Kwadena Caple. The two ganged up on the field with 5 wins and a couple other high placings. Caple pulled off an amazing triple win with victories in the long jump (16'06.50"), 55 meter dash (7.38), and 300 meter dash (43.33). Smith was a double winner in the triple jump (35'09.50") and 55 meter hurdles (8.31). If team scores would have been kept, the duo would have given their squad an astonishing 69 points.
Despite having only sporadically trained since cross country season, New Kent senior Guy Alton had a solid track debut. Alton set the pace in the 1600 meter race, but was overtaken late in the race by Maggie Walker senior J.D. Ridgeway who ran an exceptional race to clock a time of 4:33.52. However, Alton came back to win the 1000 meter race in a time of 2:45.70.
Along with Ridgeway's victory in the 1600, Maggie Walker got another win in the distance events as Daniel Howard ran the 3200 meter race solo from the gun to win in a time of 10:15.50.
Likewise, Menchville's Megan Isaacs was unpressed as she went onto win the 1600 in a respectable clocking of 5:33.74.
The boys' shot put was very competitive between John F. Kennedy's Mahdee Fareed and Manchester's William Collins. Fareed was just able to outhrow Collins with his toss of 50'07.25" as both throwers went over 50 feet as Collins thew 50'06.00".
However, the most competitive race on the day had to be the girls' 500 meter run. Heritage's Octavia James shot out like a cannon ball at the start and held a decent lead going into the bell lap. Atlee senior Heather Photakos laid back at the beginning of the race, but made her move up on the last lap and eventually had reeled James in by the final straightaway. It appeared as though Photakos was going to whiz by the fading James, but somehow James managed to muster one last push to the finish line and was able thold off Photakos by one tenth of second with her time of 1:26.
The boys' 300 meter dash saw a similar close finish as Dinwiddie's Jermaine Goodson was able to pull out a win (38.5) with a group of runners right on his tail.
Dinwiddie teammate Wayne Odom won the pole vault fairly easily with a mark of 11'06.00", but hit his best height with one of the ugliest forms possible as he lost his form in mid air and still managed to get over the bar somehow as he went sideways over instead of feet first. Whether it was skill or luck, it was still a humorous sight to see.
RICHMOND, VA -- Maybe it was out vengeance for not getting what they wanted for Christmas, but winning one event at the Green Dragon Invitational was not enough for Menchville's Dwight Porter, Manchester's Briana Smith and Kwadena Caple.
Porter, currently having the second fastest 55 meter hurdle time in the state, blew out the competition with his time of 7.75. Porter then proceeded to take a win in the long jump as well with a leap of 21'06.25". The Menchville junior has quickly emerged this season as one of the premier hurdlers in the state.
The Manchester track team is fortunate to have the talented duo of Briana Smith and Kwadena Caple. The two ganged up on the field with 5 wins and a couple other high placings. Caple pulled off an amazing triple win with victories in the long jump (16'06.50"), 55 meter dash (7.38), and 300 meter dash (43.33). Smith was a double winner in the triple jump (35'09.50") and 55 meter hurdles (8.31). If team scores would have been kept, the duo would have given their squad an astonishing 69 points.
Despite having only sporadically trained since cross country season, New Kent senior Guy Alton had a solid track debut. Alton set the pace in the 1600 meter race, but was overtaken late in the race by Maggie Walker senior J.D. Ridgeway who ran an exceptional race to clock a time of 4:33.52. However, Alton came back to win the 1000 meter race in a time of 2:45.70.