Seahawks Competing in State Meet

Seahawks Competing in State Meet
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Seahawks Competing in State Meet

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity outdoor track and field teams are well represented at the Maryland State Championship that got underway at Morgan State University in Baltimore yesterday afternoon.

Two weeks after sweeping the Bayside Conference championships in impressive fashion, the Seahawks sent a handful of track athletes to compete in the state championship meet at Morgan State. The meet got underway with preliminary events yesterday and continues today and tomorrow with finals in several track and field events across the board.

The Decatur boys’ team won the Bayside Conference meet two weeks ago with 96 total team points, topping its closest competitor, Kent Island, which finished with 75 points. The Decatur boys’ team qualified several track athletes for the state meet including two who will compete in the pole vault. Bradley Hollowell and Matthew Allenbaugh will be representing Decatur in the event.

The only other field event competitor for Decatur in the state championship meet is high-jumper Max Hulme, who posted a 5’9” preliminary score and will compete against some of the top pole vaulters in the state in the Class 3A finals. In the track events, the Decatur boys will be represented by James Wells in the 110-meter hurdles and Cordonte Ayres in the 200-meter dash. On the girls’ side, Bradley Janson will represent the Seahawks in the 400-meter dash. Janson turned in a preliminary time of 1:00:15 in the event.

The state championship meet comes on the heels of last weeks Class 3A-East Regional meet also held at Morgan State. The Decatur boys’ did well as a team, finishing sixth among the 13 schools represented, while the Seahawk girls did not fare as well, finishing 13th among the 14 schools participating in the meet.

On the boys’ side, the big story was the pole vault event where Hollowell and Allenbaugh finished first and second to advance to the state championship meet. Other strong finishes for the Seahawks included Ayres, who finished first in the 200-meter dash to advance to the state meet, and Wells, who finished seventh in the finals of the 300-meter hurdles to advance. Wells finished third in the 110-meter hurdles, while Ayres finished seventh in the 100-meter dash, and Joey Lertora finished fifth in the 400-meter dash.

Decatur’s Mitch Witherow turned in a strong performance in the distance races, finishing seventh in both the 1,600 and the 3,200. The Seahawks performed well in the relays, finishing sixth in the 4×100, fifth in the 4×200, eighth in the 4×400 and 11th in the 4×800. In the field events, Max Hulme advanced to the state meet by finishing second in the high jump, while Josh Bock came in 12th in the shot put.

In the girls’ regional meet, while the Seahawks did not score particularly well as a team against some of the top schools in the state, they did turn in some impressive individual performances. Bradley Janson finished third in the 400 and eighth in the 800. Her sister Katherine Janson finished 11th in the 800. Another high finisher for the Seahawks was Jenna Vignale, who came in fifth in the pole vault. Lauren Cosgriff had a nice meet, finishing ninth in the 1,600, while Tyesha Dale came in ninth in the long jump and Abigail Simpson came in 11th in the triple jump.