Crofton boys, Broadneck girls claim Anne Arundel County track and field crowns
Crofton coach Stacy Severtson could not have scripted it any better.
Crofton High was hosting the Anne Arundel County outdoor track and field championships and Severtson’s athletes wanted to do something special.
It turns out the Cardinals were up to the task with the boys capturing their first county championship and the girls placing a somewhat surprising second in the team standings.
Adetoye Onyekaba won the shot put, while Christian Doss was runner-up in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles to lead a slew of podium placements as Crofton amassed 103 ½ points — 8 ½ better than runner-up Arundel. Chase Severtson (pole vault), Micah Hewick (shot put) and Scott Cunningham (3,200) also placed second as the Cardinals captured the first county championship in program history.
“I think it means the world to these boys. This was their time and to have it happen at a home meet is just super-exciting,” Stacy Severtson said. “I couldn’t imagine a better ending toward what we’ve been working toward. They were so excited to host this meet and put on a good show for the county. To come away with the win is just amazing.”
Samuel Chin and Emeka Li placed third in the high jump and triple jump for Crofton, which piled up most of its points in the field events. The Cardinals had three scorers in the long and triple jumps as well as two scorers in the high jump, shot put and pole vault.
“Our seniors have been with the program for four years and it’s been amazing to watch them grow and develop together. We had some great performances across the board in this meet,” Coach Severtson said. “We have really, really tried hard to build an all-around team. From the beginning, we encouraged all of our athletes to try everything and not just specialize in one thing. We push them to be runners, throwers, jumpers and everything in between. To have the depth to pull from wherever we need it is key.”
Casey Gish won the high jump and triple jump, placed second in the long jump and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles to single-handedly score 32 points and lead the Broadneck girls to the county championship.
Carson Boteler led a one-two finish in the pole vault for the Bruins, who piled up 122 ½ points to narrowly edge Crofton, which totaled 119. Dana Doubek was runner-up in the pole vault, while Ciara Haney (high jump), Nkechi Streete (triple jump) and Chloe Page (discus) all took third in their respective events.
“You run into this type of situation where you don’t really know how it is going to go. We thought it was going to be a three-team race between us, Arundel and Severna Park, but then Crofton got into the mix toward the end,” Broadneck coach Josh Webster said. “Every time I turned around the girls were stepping up in a different event. We asked them to come out and give us everything they had wherever they could. So many different girls were able to contribute to the W.”
It was the fourth county championship (combined indoors or outdoors) in the past five seasons for Broadneck, who nickeled and dimed their way to their title with a lot of fifth through eighth results.
“We had big moments from hurdlers and throwers and relays to keep chipping away. Each athlete takes it upon themselves to contribute in some way,” Webster said. “Our girls really came out the last two days and showed how much they care about this team and how much they’re willing to give. These girls always find new ways to impress me.”
Gunnar Williams won the 400 and placed second in the 100 to lead the Arundel boys. Gavin Wade won the 300 hurdles and Kofi Duro won the long jump for the Wildcats, who finished seven points ahead of third place Severna Park.
Severna Park was paced by versatile jumper Kian Williams, who won the high and triple and finished third in the long. The Falcons also had the pole vault champion in Luke Tyler, who won by tiebreaker over Chase Severtson after both cleared 13 feet.
Old Mill standout Tesedeke Jakovics added two more county championships to his impressive resume, beating rival Eric Penkala from Southern in both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs.
Jakovics made somewhat of a statement by crossing the finish line almost two seconds ahead of Penkala in the half mile and by almost four seconds in the mile. Broadneck’s Fox Larson took third in both races.
“Eric is a great runner and my friend as well. We’re always warming up and cooling down together. It’s a good relationship. I just feel like I’m probably a little faster and stronger [than Penkala] right now,” Jakovics said.
Jakovics also ran the anchor leg of Old Mill’s victorious 4×800 relay, which qualified for nationals with a superb time of 7 minutes, 53.42 seconds.
Charlotte DeForest won the long jump and placed second in the triple jump to lead the Crofton girls, who were 13 points ahead of third place Arundel. Laila Carpenter was runner-up in the 400 and ran the opening leg of the winning 4×100 relay for the Cardinals.
Reigning Capital Gazette girls outdoor Athlete of the Year Noel Evans was a double-winner for Arundel, garnering gold in the 200 and 400. Evans also ran legs on the victorious 4×200 and 4×400 relays for the Wildcats.
Bryce Hatcher won the 100 and placed second in the 200, while Abbigail Finch won the shot put and was runner-up in the discus for Arundel.
Southern’s Marley Shaw was another double-winner, sweeping the 100 and 300 hurdles to become a county champion for the first time.
“I’ve grown a lot over the course of this season,” said Shaw, who has improved her technique in the event. “My coach has pushed into my head that I need to keep my head up, even if I hit a hurdle.”
Girls Team Scores
1, Broadneck, 122 ½; 2, Crofton 109; 3, Arundel 96; 4, Severna Park 86; 5, Southern, 55.
Girls Individual Results
100-meter hurdles — 1, Marley Shaw, Southern, 15.97; 2, Jaslyn Bangoura, Meade, 16.10; 3, Amanda Druid, Crofton, 16.15.
300-meter hurdles — 1, Marley Shaw, Southern, 46.21; 2, Jaslyn Bangoura, Meade, 46.35; 3, Amaya Bristol, Crofton, 49.10.
100-meter dash — 1, Bryce Hatcher, Arundel, 12.13; 2, Ta’Laiya Mellerson, Arundel, 12.29; 3, Janayis Mendoza, Meade, 12.42.
200-meter dash — 1, Noel Evans, Arundel, 24.53; 2, Bryce Hatcher, Arundel, 25.19; 3, Laila Carpenter, Crofton, 25.38.
400-meter run — 1, Noel Evans, Arundel, 55.71; 2, Laila Carpenter, Crofton, 57.48; 3, Morgan Mims, South River, 57.64.
800-meter run — 1, Rebecca Burgee, Southern, 2:20.21; 2, Kaylee Jenish, Severna Park, 2:22.09; 3, Ava Zimmerman, Severna Park, 2:24.41.
1,600-meter run — 1, Ava Zimmernan, Severna Park, 5:15.07; 2, Rebecca Burgee, Southern, 5:15.39; 3, Harper Wallace, Severna Park, 5:15.89.
3,200 run — 1, Siena Pegues, Severna Park, 11:17.36; 2, Josephine Kamas, Severna Park, 11:19.98; 3, Madison Simard, Chesapeake, 11:50.49.
4×100 relay — 1, Crofton (Carpenter, Hall, Druid, Boehmer), 50.31; 2, Broadneck, 51.00; 3, North County, 51.11.
4×200 relay — 1, Arundel (Mellerson, Hatchman, Hickman, Evans), 1:40.85; 2, Meade, 1:43.12; 3, Crofton, 1:44.12.
4×400 relay — 1, Arundel (Gutrick, Evans, Hatcher, Hickman), 4:03.03; 2, Southern, 4:06.30; 3, Severna Park, 4:07.36.
4×800 relay — 1, Severna Park (Wallace, Jenish, Ballard, Zimmerman), 9:45.12; 2, South River, 10:06.18; 3, Crofton, 10:07.04.
High jump — 1, Casey Gish, Broadneck, 5-2; 2, Cedrayah Graves, Annapolis, 5-0; 3, Ciara Haney, Broadneck, 4-8.
Long jump — 1, Charlotte DeForest, Crofton, 17-1; 2, Casey Gish, Broadneck, 16-10 ¼; 3, Cedrayah Graves, 16-8 ¾.
Triple jump — 1, Casey Gish, Broadneck, 36-4; 2, Charlotte DeForest, Crofton, 35-4 ¼; 3, Nkechi Streete, 34-11.
Pole vault — 1, Carson Boteler, Broadneck, 11-0; 2, Dana Doubek, Broadneck, 9-0; 3, Alexa Holt, Severna Park, 9-0.
Shot put — 1, Abbigail Finch, Arundel, 36-07; 2, Abigail Makela, Crofton, 36-00; 3, Janaeyah McGirt, Old Mill, 31-7 ¼.
Discus — 1, Alexis Grove, South River, 96-10; 2, Abbigail Finch, Arundel, 95-7; 3, Chloe Page, Broadneck, 92-11.
Boys Team Scores
1, Crofton 103 ½; 2, Arundel 95; 3, Severna Park 88; 4, Broadneck 78; 5, Old Mill 75.
Boys Individual Results
110-meter hurdles — 1, Edwind Torres, Chesapeake Science Point, 15.43; 2, Christian Doss, Crofton, 16.11; 3, Owen Salanik, Old Mill, 16.33.
300-meter hurdles — Gavin Wade, Arundel, 39.38; 2, Christian Doss, Crofton, 40.42; 3, Joshua Monterroso, Chesapeake Science Point, 41.58.
100-meter dash — 1, Cole Friedman, Broadneck, 10.75; 2, Gunnar Williams, Arundel, 10.86; 3, Kayvawn Simms-Rogers, Meade, 10.99.
200-meter dash — 1, Kayvawn Simms-Rogers, Meade, 22.11; 2, Caleb Adams, Chesapeake, 22.16; 3, Connor Seabrease, Chesapeake, 22.33.
400-meter run — Gunnar Williams, Arundel, 48.76; 2, Caleb Adams, Chesapeake, 48.83; 3, Harrison Akoarrey, Old Mill, 49.63.
800-meter run — 1, Tsedeke Jakovics, Old Mill, 1:54.57; 2, Eric Penkala, Southern, 1:56.38; 3, Fox Larson, 1:57.37.
1,600-meter run — 1, Tsedeke Jakovics, Old Mill, 4:17.97; 2, Eric Penkala, Southern, 4:21.53; 3, Fox Larson, Broadneck, 4:26.55.
3,200 run — Eric Penkala, Southern, 9:46.84; 2, Scott Cunningham, Crofton, 9:51.53; 3, Zaiden Lane, Arundel, 9:55.47
4×100 relay — 1, Meade (Simms-Rogers, Diallo, Kemp, Upton), 43.70; 2, Broadneck, 43.76; 3, Chesapeake, 44.14.
4×200 relay — 1, Chesapeake (C. Adams, D. Adams, Ritter, Seabrease), 1:27.06; 2, Meade, 1:28.39; 3, Arundel, 1:28.56
4×400 relay — 1, Arundel (Taylor, Williams, Smith, Kaba), 3:24.44; 2, Old Mill, 3:24.99; 3, Chesapeake, 3:25.73.
4×800 relay — 1, Old Mill (Prato, Rozanski, Holland, Jakovics), 7:53.42; 2, Broadneck, 8:07.37; 3, Chesapeake, 8:24.84.
High jump — 1, Kian Williams, Severna Park, 6-4; 2, Ty Miller, Severna Park, 6-2; 3, (tie) Nathan Chesla, Arundel; Samuel Chin, Crofton and Legend Wylie, Broadneck, 5-10.
Long jump — 1, Kofi Duro, Arundel, 22-5 ¾; 2, Martin Ohakah, North County, 22-4 ¾; 3, Kian Williams, Severna Park, 22-4 ½.
Triple jump — 1, Kian Williams, Severna Park, 47-4; 2, Martin Ohakah, North County, 45-11 ¾; 3, Emeka Li, Crofton, 44-1 ¼.
Pole vault — 1, Luke Tyler, Severna Park, 13-0; 2, Chase Severtson, Crofton, 13-0; 3, Elijah Ford, North County, 12-6.
Shot put — 1, Adetoye Onyekaba, Crofton, 43-2; 2, Micah Hewick, Crofton, 42-7; 3, Joshua Rowe, Meade, 42-0.
Discus — 1, Warner DeBlock, Broadneck, 136-11; 2, Anthony Harris, Arundel, 130-06; 3, Luke Byerly, 128-00.