photo by Roger Lee

Fort Dorchester sprinter Miguel Quinn (r) edges out Summerville’s Michael Thomas in the 100-meter dash Saturday.

The Fort Dorchester boys edged out host Summerville March 13 to claim their first Outback Steakhouse Azalea Classic championship.

The Patriots won five events and had a Top 3 finish in six others to win the 18th annual meet with 109 points. With two events remaining, Summerville was mathematically still in it, but had to settle for second place after finishing with 99 points. The top five in a field of 20 teams was rounded out by Wando (90 points), Battery Creek (43.5) and Spring Valley (42).

It was a sweet victory for the Patriots, who finished the Sandlapper Invitational a week before as co-champions and watched as the Green Wave boys walked away with that first-place trophy on a tiebreaker.

“It’s a natural rivalry between us and Summerville has a great program over here so we knew we would have to really get after it today,” Patriot coach Fred Hamilton said. “We don’t have one guy who we can count on to get us 30 points at a big meet, but we do have a lot of guys who have the potential to get us points and our coaches are doing an outstanding job working with them. We are a pretty good team right now, though we need to get better.”

Fort sprinter Miguel Quinn won the 100-meter dash with an 11.13 time. The Patriots finished 1 and 2 in the 200 as Justin Gilliard won the event with a 22.56 time with Quinn on his heels with a 22.29 finish. Patriot Kevin Poland II won the 400 with a 51.57 finish in the finals.

The Patriots won the 4x100 and 4x400 relay events with 42.67 and 3:32.31 times, respectively. They also placed second in the 4x800 relay with an 8:30.76 time.

Fort hurdler Christopher Sievert placed second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 400 hurdles. Ryan Beckley placed third in the 800 run.  Montae Adams placed third in the discus throw. His best toss in the preliminaries was only seven feet shy of the winning mark in the finals.

Also earning points for the Patriots were Charles Buehring (4th in the 1600), Aquino Spann (5th in the triple jump) and Tracy Jones (4th in the discus).

The Fort girls won four events and had two other Top 3 finishes as they placed third. The Summerville girls won with 114 points, followed by Wando (90) and Fort Dorchester (62). Rounding out the top five for a field of 20 were West Ashley (43) and Cane Bay (42).

Patriot thrower Kaysee Sullivan won the shot put with a 38-06 mark in the finals and won the discus throw with a 109-03 toss. The Lady Patriots went 1 and 2 in the shot as Aisha Robinson finished as the runner-up with a 33-08 mark.

Keri Emanuel won the triple jump with a 37-11 mark and placed third in the 200 with a 27.20 time. Her time in the 200 was just 1.20 behind that of Cane Bay’s Semaj Tolliver, who was named the meet’s Female Most Outstanding Track Athlete after winning the 100 and 200.

Also earning points for the Lady Patriots were the 4x100 (6th) and 4x400 (4th) relay teams, Randi Chandler (6th in the 400), Aisha Robinson (4th in the 400 hurdles) and Kristen Burgess (7th in the long jump).

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.

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