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Rain dampens DCIAA relays, but not athletes' performance
(Published May 3, 2004)

By DAVID STEINBACHER
Special to The Common Denominator

The DCIAA Relay Championship Track/Field Meet was held April 27 at Spingarn Senior High School and, despite rain and wind at inopportune times, a number of excellent times and marks were turned in.

Team scores are as follows ('field'/'running' events combined):

[Women's overall order of finish]: 1) H.D. Woodson - 76 team points; 2) Wilson - 67; 3) Ballou - 53; 4) Dunbar - 38; 5) Anacostia - 27; 6) tie - Spingarn and Roosevelt - 15 apiece; 8) Bell - eight; 9) Banneker - five;
10) Cardozo - four; 11) School Without Walls - three; 12) Eastern - two and 13) Coolidge - zero.

[Men's overall order of finish]: 1) H.D. Woodson - 91 team points; 2) Wilson - 56; 3) tie - Spingarn and Dunbar - 40 apiece; 5) Ballou - 39; 6) Roosevelt - 38; 7) Banneker - 14; 8) Coolidge - 10; 9) Cardozo - eight;
10) Bell - six; 11) School Without Walls - three; 12) Anacostia - two and 13) Eastern - zero.

On balance, the five East schools (H.D. Woodson, Ballou, Spingarn,
Anacostia and Eastern) - when adding up cumulative women's and men's team points - actually outscored the eight West schools by the impressive margin of 345-315.

H.D. Woodson, coached by Lionel Russell; Ballou, coached by Noel Cyrus; Spingarn, coached by Bruce Williams; Anacostia, coached by Frank Briscoe and Eastern, coached by Jackie Johnson - proved that quality can often prevail over quantity.

Co-head coaches Ron Jenkins and James Green of Wilson, Isaac Parker and Fletcher Tinsley of Dunbar and Robert Richards and Henry Lindsey of Cardozo - as well as 'solo' head coaches Ronald Carter of Roosevelt,
Anita Berger of Banneker, Valdez Williams of School Without Walls, Heidi Woolever of Bell and Adrian Dixon of Coolidge - all had some bright spots nonetheless.

In the field events, three participants from each school were required to constitute a relay team. (In some cases one or two participants from a given school participated to develop their individual skills, but they
would not officially finish in the money - due to the fact they had less than three participants).

[Women's Shot Put]: first place - Anacostia's Jazmine Adair, Cherise Smith and Chuckie Brooks (89-04.50 feet combined); second place - Dunbar's Donesha Long, Kelly Brown and Tandrea Willis (77-00.75) and
third place - Spingarn's Lascana Johnson, Ashley Bruce-Berry and Shanae Long (68-01.25).

[Men's Shot Put]: first - H.D. Woodson's Jeremy Reaves, Brandon Smith and Bryan Frye (114-11.00 feet combined); second - Coolidge's Marvin Austin, Chibuzor Okord and Joel Wallace (104-06.75) and third - Ballou's Allen Richardson, Mark Johnson and Thor Toomer (104-00.00).

[Women's High Jump]: first - Anacostia's Jazmine Adair, Lakisha Gantt and Amber Spears (13-04.00 feet combined); second - Dunbar's Natasha Wigfall, Marilyn Scott and Valerie Ward (13-02.00). No other school had three participants, but both Wilson and H.D. Woodson had two girls jump well each.

[Men's High Jump]: first and only - H.D. Woodson's Carmon Thomas, Wesley Yates and Donta Herrod (15-00.00 feet combined).

[Women's Long Jump]: no school had three participants - however H.D. Woodson's Lourdes Posey (13-03.50), Wilson's Mia Evans (13-00.00) and Wilson's Allegra Austin-Miller (12-07.75) - all turned in excellent
individual jumps.

[Men's Long Jump]: first - H.D. Woodson's Barry Scott, Donta Herrod and Bryan Frye (54-07.00 feet combined); second - Roosevelt's Jelani Walker, William Aull and Sheldon Biggs (52-11.50) and third - Dunbar's Marcelle Stover, Yaqoob Thurston and Leonard Howardir (48-07.50).

[Women's Triple Jump]: first - H.D. Woodson's Lourdes Posey, Charlie Jackson and Avery Warley (65-06.50 feet combined) and second - Anacostia's Lakisha Gantt, Jazmine Adair and Amber Spears (80-00.50). (Wilson's Sheena Willis and Allegra Austin-Miller both turned in excellent 'individual' marks of 31-02.50 and 28-00.50 respectively, despite the fact that the Tigers did not have three participants).

[Men's Triple Jump]: first - H.D. Woodson's Anjewan Jeter, William Boyd and Carmon Thomas (114-01.00) and second - Roosevelt's Jelani Walker, William Aull and Sheldon Biggs (108-00.00).

[Women's 4 x 100 meter relay]: first place - H.D. Woodson (51.21 seconds); second - Wilson (51.62) and third - Dunbar (52.75) - [no individual names were provided].

[Men's 4 x 100 meter relay]: first - H.D. Woodson (44.00) - Richard Marcellus, Donta Herrod, Lamont Kirby and Anjewan Geter; second - Wilson (44.44) - [names not provided] and third - Banneker (44.64) - [names not
provided].

"I wanted to get out fast and get my teammates a good lead. I knew Anjewan was going to bring it home," said Richard Marcellus.

"The key to this race was getting the mechanics down. This is a very balanced team. We've all been working together with the 'stick' for quite a while," said Anjewan Geter.

[Women's 4 x 200 meter relay]: first - Ballou (1:45.97) - Ciera Banks, Ikea Gafford, Candice Brown and Monique Price; second - H.D. Woodson (1:46.09) - Janae Wright, Starlisha Nelson, Sherita Quigley and Ayana
Jackson and third - Wilson (1:52.18) - Dayonna Welch, Phyllis Shelman-Ford, Allegra Austin-Miller and Mia Evans.

[Men's 4 x 200 meter relay]: first - Dunbar (1:34.08) - Vontae Davis, Marcelle Stover, Regis Benn and Darnell Smith; second - Banneker (1:34.51) - Emani Lee, Chidiebere Ukaegbu, Carlos Coleman and Michael
Bennett and third - Spingarn (1:35.65) - Lorenzo Elliot, Phillip Smith, Terry Williams and Jerome Benoit.

"I had a real good 'popoff'. I started real hard. When I gave the baton to Marcelle - he really kept pace and didn't let anyone catch him," said Vontae Davis.

"We've been working on our handoffs. We're a sprint team and we all had real strong legs today," said Darnell Smith.

[Women's 4 x 400 meter relay]: first - Wilson (4:09.73); second - H.D. Woodson (4:33.30) and third - Ballou (5:12.69) - [no individual names were provided].

[Men's 4 x 400 meter relay]: first - Wilson (3:35.25) - Jamil Williams, Sam Levy, Derek Larry and Brandon Reed; second - Ballou (3:45.69) - [no names provided] and third - Dunbar (3:49.81) - [no names provided].

[Women's 4 x 800 meter relay]: first - Ballou (11:15.18) - Maleka Howard, Tiffany Ferguson, Kenisha Nobles and Felica Burgress; second - H.D. Woodson (11:19.77) - Katherine Simmons, Latricia Parker, Myisha Elliot
and Sherise Allen - [no one third place due to disqualification].

[Men's 4 x 800 meter relay]: first - Wilson (8:43.41) - Travanni Jette, Sam Levy, Jamil Williams and Nicholas Burant; second - H.D. Woodson (8:48.57) - William Boyd, Angelo Shephard, James Levi and Brian Redding
and third - Ballou (9:17.18) - Nico Scott, Maurice White, John Thomas and Julian McCoy.

"The wind and the weather today was a factor. We had to 'stretch out' more than normal. We definitely could have run a better time," said Travanni Jette.

"There was a guy coming up behind me. I felt that I had to bring it home. I'm pleased with the way that we did it," said Nicholas Burant.

[Women's 4 x 100 meter shuttle hurdles]: first - Ballou (1:15.46) - Monique Price, Maleka Howard, Felica Burgress and Ciera Banks - [no one second or third due to disqualification].

[Men's 4 x 110 meter shuttle hurdles]: first - H.D. Woodson (1:06.22) - William Boyd, Barry Scott, Wesley Yates and Anjewan Geter; second - Spingarn (1:13.17) - Roderick Herbert, Jerome Benoit, Edward McNair and
Phillip Smith and third - Ballou (1:16.79) - Richard Ogunusiakan, Thor Toomar, Joe Holbrook and Julian McCoy.

"As soon as the gun went off - I focused on attacking the first hurdle. I concentrated on maintaining my steps in between the hurdles. I did my best to get my teammates the lead," said senior William Boyd.

"I'm still learning the sport. My teammates are very good teachers. I have to continue to practice until it all comes to me naturally," said sophomore Wesley Yates.

[Women's 1600 meter 'sprint medley' relay]: first - H.D. Woodson (1:52.31); second - Wilson (1:56.97) and third - Ballou (1:58.90) - [no individual names were provided].

[Men's 1600 meter 'sprint medley' relay]: first - H.D. Woodson (3:42.84) - [no names provided]; second - Dunbar (3:54.08) - Regis Benn, Lynnwood Campbell, Leonard Howard and Norman Bright and third - Spingarn (3:58.66) - [no names provided]. (Woodson's impressive victory was nearly 60 meters ahead of Dunbar).

[Women's 'distance medley' relay]: first - Wilson (18:54.20) - Neda Khalili, Phyllis Shelman-Ford, Dayonna Welch and Shanice DePass; second - Ballou (18:55.18) - [no names provided] and third - H.D. Woodson (18:55.53) - [no names provided].

"The girls were just running to gain experience," said veteran Wilson head girls track/field coach James Green. (The Wilson girls are the 2003, 2002 and 2001 DCIAA outdoor track/field
champions).

"A lot of teams are strong this season. It's going to take some hard work to win this season's DCIAA outdoor Title," said Coach Green.

[Men's 'distance medley' relay]: first - H.D. Woodson (11:48.51) - [no names provided]; second - Wilson (11:52.99) - Nicholas Burant, Jarrel Ashton, Brian Haskell and Travanni Jette and third - Ballou (13:13.81) -
[no names provided].

"This is a track and field meet where you have to have the 'numbers' to finish first," said veteran Spingarn head coach/athletic director Bruce Williams.

"Our kids came out here to have some fun. This meet was a chance for our team to come down a couple of notches after turning in some excellent results at the recent Penn Relays. This meet provided some of our kids
with the opportunity to run that normally don't get the chance," said veteran Ballou head coach Noel Cyrus.

[Ballou seniors Sasha Walker and Candice Brown as well as sophomores Andria Smallwood and Kenisha Nobles all ran the 4 x 100, 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 at the Penn Relays. The quartet set Ballou school records in the 4 x 400 (3:56.07) and in the 4 x 800 (9:30.21)].