Published Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:49 PM
Updated Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:50 PM
Summerville’s Jeremy Green (in air) earned a region championship in the 110-meter high hurdles Wednesday. With the first-place finish, he qualified for the Class 4-A state championship meet to be held in May.
Fort Dorchester’s Searra Jones earned region championships in three different events.
Wave boys capture region track title
The Green Wave track and field team captured one region championship Wednesday and fell just shy of earning the other.
The Summerville High School boys tallied 148 points at the Region 8-AAAA track and field meet held at West Ashley High School to capture its second consecutive region title. Beaufort finished as the region runner-up with a 122-point finish, followed by Colleton County (78), Battery Creek (77), West Ashley (67) and Fort Dorchester (30).
“We knew coming in that it was going to be between us and Beaufort and our guys just hung in there and persevered,” Wave track coach Steve Wilson said. “Also, I can’t say enough about our coaches. They really had our guys prepared.”
At times, it didn’t look like it was going to be Summerville’s day. A member of a Wave relay team who thought he had recovered from a pulled hamstring couldn’t finish his leg of the race because of the injury; Summerville dropped a baton in another relay; and some other things didn’t go exactly as planned. But, the team found ways to make up for those points later in the day.
“Our depth and distance runners were the difference today,” Wilson said. “Placing one, two and three in the 3200 gave us some cushion.”
Josh Taylor won the 3200-meter race with a 10:35.05 time. His teammates, Clayton Thornton and Sebastian Tillman, placed second and third, respectively. The region meet also serves as a qualifier for the 4-A state track meet, with the top four placers in each event qualifying to participate in next month’s state championship.
Thornton won the 1600 with a 4:39.72 time. Taylor placed third and Tillman placed fourth. Thornton and Tillman also qualified in the 800, placing third and fourth. All three are also members of the Wave 4x800 relay team that placed third Wednesday.
Brandon Felder won the 100 with an 11.01 time and placed fourth in the 200. Jeremy Green won the 110 hurdles with a 15.48 time. Aaron Ravenna placed second in the 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles. Felder and Ravenna are also members of the Wave 4x400 relay team, which qualified with a fourth-place finish.
In the field events, Summerville’s Dejon Wilkinson placed second in the triple jump and third in the high jump. Benjamin Pope placed third in the pole vault; Kennan Manning placed third in the shot put; and Daniel Edmonson placed fourth in the discus.
Adrian Stewart had the best finish for the Fort Dorchester boys, placing second in the shot put with a 49-03 throw. His teammate, Greg Harris, placed fourth in the event. T’rel Hamilton and Dashiun Middleton placed third and fourth, respectively, in the long jump. Brandon LaQua placed fourth in the 400 hurdles.
The Fort girls placed fourth in their meet, thanks in no small part to Searra Jones, who won three events. The senior won the 100 with a 12.59 time, the long jump with a 16-09 mark and the triple jump with a 37-08 mark. She also helped the Fort 4x100 relay team to a third-place finish.
Keri Emanuel placed second in the long jump, fourth in the triple jump and also ran a leg of the 4x100. Kristen Burgess placed third in the 400 and is a member of the Fort 4x400 relay team that qualified. Kaysee Sullivan placed second in the shot put and third in the discus.
Beaufort won the girls meet with a 124-point total. Summerville was the runner-up with 114 points and West Ashley finished third with 91 points. The Summerville girls lost one of its standouts, Breanna Blanton, to a leg injury in the middle of the season. Wilson says considering her normal contributions, the girls had a good meet.
“The girls lost an all-state athlete who participates in four events,” he said. “For them to get second is nothing to be ashamed of because Beaufort has a good program.”
Freshman Sydney Hazel turned in the best performance for the Summerville girls, winning the 1600 with a 5:34.79 time and the 3200 with a 12:00.26 time while placing second in the 800 and running a leg for the Wave 4x800 relay team that placed second. Stacee Roberts won the shot put with a 36-00 throw and placed fourth in the discus.
Maria Rocha placed third in the 800, 1600 and 3200 and ran a leg of the 4x800. Briauna Jones placed third in the triple jump and fourth in the high jump and long jump. Noelle Cunningham placed fourth in the 400 hurdles. Jenna Shultz placed third in the pole vault. Meredith Mutispaugh placed second in the discus. Both Jones and Cunningham are also members of the 4x100 relay team that placed fourth.
Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.