1A Girls Recap
Early on this past season, Oak Hall Coach Edwin McTureous was asked who he thought would be the teams that would challenge his Eagles for the team championship. Many thought it would the usual suspect, Admiral Farragut, but McTureous thought there could be a few teams those people weren't talking about. Lakeland Christian, Bishop Snyder and Providence immediately came to mind for the 20 year veteran coach who keeps track of the teams's performances throughout the season.So on Friday, it was no surprise to McTureous that he sat in a tie for third with Calvary Christian with 16 points and behind upstart Bishop Snyder in first with 22 points and Lakeland Christian with 21.50.
Bishop Snyder, 19th in last year's team championship with 11 points, had racked up their points on senior Semaj McGhee's jump of win in the high jump (5-05.75) and long jump (18-09.00), and 7th place finish from junior Gianna Forte in the 3200meter run (11:42.55). For McGhee, it was a big day. She did not qualify for the high jump state meet final last year and had finished 4th in long jump(17-11.50) . Another big improvement was produced by Forte who had finished 15th at last year's 3200 meter run in 12:29.09.
Oak Hall got its points from senior Grace Blair who finished 3rd in the 800 meter run (2:15.30) and win in the 3200 meter run (11:09.66). Blair, a two time 800 meter champion, was favored to take the 800 meter title, but aggressive front running freshman Jessica Edwards from Canterbury opened up a 3 second lead at the 400 meter and never looked back wining in a time of 2:13.33.
Blair rebounded with a resounding 13.89 second win in the 3200 meter run, her second in as many years.
However, McTureous thought the turning point of the meet came in the final event of the day , the 4 x 400 meter relay qualifying where his young Eagles managed to run 8.75 second seasonal best to qualify seventh with a time of 4:08.07.
"We were doing the things we needed to do on Friday," McTureous recalled after the meet. "The 4 x 400 meter team pretty much ran out of their minds. We told them that we needed to get to the finals because we knew that it would be close points. That kind of set the tone."
Oak Hall didn't have any casualties in the prelims and were on pace to win a third championship, but Bishop Snyder and Lakeland Christian were also in good shape and made it a dog fight to the end. McGhee claimed another win in the triple jump with a mark of 38-06.25 she finished 3rd in 2017 with a mark of 37-07.75. A somewhat surprising fifth consecutive win in the 4 x 800 meter relay for Oak Hall's team of Emma Rembert(2:26), Sydney Miller(2:26), Gabby Aulisio (2:28) and Blair(2:14) in a season best time of 9:35.16 gave the Eagles a boost.
With no field event competitors, Oak Hall could only watch as Lakeland Christian began to make its move. Senior Sydney Cabrera racked up a 3rd in high jump(5-03.75) and 3rd in long jump(17-07.00) on Friday and them on Saturday finished 2nd in triple jump(36-07.75). Sophomore Emily Branham who started pole vaulting in January with an 8 feet 6 inch clearance, got a huge person best of 11-03.75 inches to take 1st. The gymnast turned pole vaulter (heard that one before?) was ranked 4th coming in started pole vault and has become quite the pole vault aficionado knowing who Sandi Morris is and setting her sights on loftier goals in the future.
Lakeland Christian's defending state champion sophomore Britian Musick then went to work repeating in the 100 meter hurdles(14.67) and 300 meter hurdles(43.96) and adding 3rd in 100 meter(12.42) and 4th in 200 meter(25.14) to vault them into first after the 100 meter dash(45.50 to Bishop Snyder's 43).
Oak Hall got its first win in school history in the 4 x 100 meter relay ("That was special for us, "said McTureous." We've never done that before, and if we don't' win that or do well in the 4 x 1 we're not talking about a state championship) on the heels of seniors Ayanna Rollins second place finish in the 100 meter dash in 12.27 and third in the 200 meter dash in 24.75, and Jalesia Tillman's eighth in the 100 meter dash in 12.56.
Every point was critical and Blair repeated as state champion in the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:08.74, an effort which left her supine at the awards area and revealing afterwards that she had had stomach issues all day and just sucked it up.
"It was a huge points matter," said Blair who ended who career with 38 medals in cross country and track and field. "It was painful, but that was about it. I wasn't worried about my stomach, just more 'let's do it, let's do it' for the points."
"I went to her and said 'I know you are not feeling great all weekend, but win the 1600 and the worst we'll do is win by a 0.5 point,'" McTureous said afterwards. "There is no else I would want to put that pressure on."
Rollins, who entered Oak Hall as a sophomore and was part of their three championship teams, echoed Blair's comments on the team's mindset afterwards." I felt like I had to play a role on the team. I knew I had to compete and run my best. I knew we could pull it off because we are a great team. When we work together, we're awesome. It was my senior year and my last high school track meet so I had to dig really deep and PRed in the 200 meter."
With a 0.5 point lead over Lakeland Christian (61-60.50) heading into the 4 x 400 meter relay, Oak Hall was the only one of the top three who had a team qualify. They didn't need the points McTureous had said they needed, but it was good insurance had they needed it.
It didn't matter to Rollins. "I ran my hardest," she said afterwards of their team's eighth place finish in a time of 4:09.36). "It was like a victory lap. I was running my hardest. "
The many nights staying up late and spending so much time on his track and field cross country teams paid off in the end for McTureous who credits his wife, Buffy, for the support and patience she has given him through his tenure.
The Eagle seniors left quite a legacy. Something that was not lost on their coach.
"We're not going to replace any of them and what a legacy they have left, "he said of the team's third consecutive win 62-60.5 over Lakeland Christian. " I couldn't be more proud of them. A lot of sweat, a lot of tears. I'm at a loss of words for that group."
McTureous was most proud though of the teams' effort. Of the ten athletes he brought, 9 of them competed and medaled and then tenth was an alternate.
"I don't know if this championship was expected this year," he said. "We didn't have any field events points. Everybody from seventh graders to injured runners in Jaz[Crawl] and Briley[Cauthen] who didn't run regions. I'm so proud of my kids and my coaching staff."