Wolverine Invitational 2012

Photo by John Herzog   The Central Region invaded the Wolverine Invitational with the Cosby boys and girls winning the team titles at North Stafford High School, while several other individuals and relays from Central Region schools were also winners. The girls 300 meter hurdles matched up two of the Central Region's best in the event between Alea Stevens of Armstrong and De'Nisha Smith of Cosby. Smith is the reigning regional champion in the 300 meter hurdles, while Stevens was the runner-up in last year's regional finals after being the fastest qualifier in the prelims and seed entrant coming into the meet. Stevens was able to get a little revenge on that loss with a decisive near 2 second margin of victory at the Wolverine Invite in her 44.70 clocking (Smith was runner-up at 46.40).   After failing to qualifying for the state meet in the 400 meter dash last spring, Claire Tito of J.R. Tucker is looking to return in her senior season. Tito got off to a nice start and could get an auto qualifier before the regional meet following a strong winning time of 57.86 at North Stafford. Her teammate Denise O'Rourke found herself in an excellent discus field featuring fellow Central Region competitor Logan Edwards of Cosby with both throwing over 120 feet, but O'Rourke with the best mark of the day at 125'8".   Colonial Forge sophomore Frances Morales did not rest up long after her impressive victory in the high school mile on Friday at the Colonial Relays. After returning back from Williamsburg, Morales followed her 5:02 mile PR on Friday with a 2:20 PR in the 800 meter run at the Wolverine Invite on Saturday. Too bad that Morales was not in the 3200 meter run for Millbrook senior Crystal Nelson who on consecutive weekends has been unable to find competition to push her in the 3200 meter run, but still ran her second sub 11 minute time of the spring with a season best time of 10:53.18 for the AA indoor 3200 meter state champ.   The boys' portion of meet was somewhat lacking in terms of performances compared to the girls with many of the event winners coming from a contigent of Maryland and DC schools. However, the 3200 meter run was owned by one Virginia school in Stafford taking the top 3 places all under 10 minutes in Ian Macleod (1st, 9:44.31), Greg Bohmke (2nd, 9:54.83), and Joey Abbatiello (3rd, 9:59.55). All three were key members on Stafford's state cross country champion squad from last fall. More highlights...   Wolverine Invitational Complete Results