Old Mill's Mealer leads county performers at state track meet

BALTIMORE — — There was a hope that this year's crop of track and field athletes from Anne Arundel County had the potential to have a big day at the state championships, perhaps even better than last year when they produced four state champions.

After Saturday's final day of the state championship meet at Morgan State University, their depth and talent across all spectrums showed as they produced six state champions, including three from the field events, one from the sprints, one from the distance events and a relay team as well as a handful of top three finishes to cement a sparkling day for the county.

Old Mill's Breanna Mealer, winner of four individual events at the county and region meets, was able to capture the elusive state title she has been chasing since she broke out winning four events at the county championship last season. She won the long jump to go along with second-place finishes in the high jump and the 100-meter hurdles as well as a third place finish in the triple jump.

"I did it," Mealer said. "I don't know how to describe my feelings. I'm happy, but I wish I could defend the title two years in a row. I'm almost speechless but it feels good that all my hard work paid off."

Mealer's teammate, Diamond Moore, had a strong day as well, finishing second in the triple jump, third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the long jump. The Patriots were the top girls team from the county, finishing in fourth place with 591/2 points. Moore and Mealer accounted for 51 of those points. Charles H. Flowers won the girls state title.

Annapolis' Maria Coffin has won six state titles in her illustrious career, but came into Saturday disappointed she didn't capture a seventh in the 3,200, as she fell to Abigail Green of Walter Johnson by 10 seconds the night before.

Determined to finish her career with one more title, Coffin hung behind Green until 300 meters to go before she launched into her kick to edge Green by nearly a second to win the 1,600 run.

"I kind of expected the two-mile to be not that great because my training has been geared for the shorter stuff," Coffin said. "I haven't been performing well in the long distance so it means everything to win that. I wanted to sit on her (Green), most races she would sit on me and I definitely don't want to be the person getting out-kicked."

Coffin's final race was a second-place finish in the 800 in which she kicked past multiple opponents. South River's Hannah McGlynn finished third.

Severna Park's Kamryn Eveleth finished third in the 3,200 behind Coffin and Green, but anchored the Falcon 3,200 relay team, which included Catie Cambon, Izzy Kintzley and Emily Knight, to a 10-second victory, motivated by their second-place finish last year.

"Last year we came in second and we knew we could win, we had the determination to win," Eveleth said. "I'm glad coach put me on the anchor leg. I like to finish races and kicking is a pretty good thing and it was awesome crossing the finish line knowing we just won."

Kintzley also finished second in the 400 dash while the boys 3,200 relay team of Jonah Lane, Joseph LaFleche, Christian Isham and William Reed were second.

Broadneck's Jaren Baloyut came into the spring season looking to defend his state title in the pole vault, but had a rough go at the county meet, where he attempted to start his jumps at 12-feet and no-heighted all three times. After consulting with Broadneck coach Andrew Villwock, he changed his approach at regions.

"It was not the best conditions for jumping at counties, so he missed and he no-heighted and he took it pretty badly," Villwock said. "So when he came back for regions, he came in at the qualifying height because he knew the most important thing was to get here."

Balyout, using a longer and heavier pole that he just acquired, cleared 12 feet easily and nearly cleared 14 feet, winning the meet in 13-feet, 6 inches. Chase Stull of North County, the county champion, took third place. Broadneck's Paul Squires finished third in the 3,200 to help the Bruins to a tie for fifth place with Suitland. Northwest won the boys' 4A title.

South River's Gwendolyn Zeckowski completed the trio of county, region and state titles in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet to win, two feet ahead of her nearest opponent, bringing the Seahawks their second girls pole vault title in three years.

"It's nice to carry on the legacy," Zeckowski said. "We have a few more girls who hopefully can carry it on after I leave in a year."

Northeast's Davon Carroll burst onto the scene last year and has made steady progress all season. He capped off his junior year with a second-place finish in the Class 3A 100 dash and a win in the 200, where he set out to put the pressure on his opponents from the gun.

"Last year in the 200 I won bronze as a sophomore so this year I knew that I could go gold," Carroll said. "My goal was to get out in the start, push the pace and make everybody open up a little more than they should and then just finish strong."

Carroll anchored the 800 relay team that finished second to Oxon Hill, which won the 3A state title. Demontay Snowden, TJ Benson and Josh Krcik were the other members of the relay team. Brendt Boyer took second place in the shot put to help Northeast finish in a fourth-place tie with Poly of Baltimore with 40 points.

Southern's Anthony Anastasi finished third in the 2A 1,600 meters in 4:29.82, while the Bulldogs 3,200 relay team of Anastasi, Jordan Whittington, Alexander Hutchins and Logan Donaldson finished third in 8:16.24.

South River's Xaiver Shirley and Glen Burnie's Aaron Watson finished second and third in the long jump, respectively.

North County's 800 relay team of Jaiden Ballard, Donte Busey, Immanuel Patton and Ryan Willie took third place.

BOYS

CLASS 4A TEAM RESULTS

1, Northwest, 64.5; 2, Digital Harbor, 39; 3(tie), Richard Montgomery, Sprinbrook, 35; 5 (tie), Broadneck, Suitland, 33; 7, Dulaney, 27; 8, Bowie, 26, 9, DuVal, 23; 10 (tie), Howard, Montgomery Blair, Parkdale, 22; 13, John F. Kennedy, 21; 14, Bel Air, 20; 15 (tie), Leonardtown, Severna Park, 18; 17 (tie), Bethesda Chevy-Chase, Walter Johnson, 17; 19 (tie), Northwood, South River, 16; 21 (tie), Eleanor Roosevelt, North County, 15; 23, High Point, 23.5; 24 (tie), Paint Branch, Thomas S. Wooton, 13; 26, Laurel, 12; 27, Annapolis, 11; 28 (tie), Bladensburg, North Point, 10; 30, Sherwood, 9; 31, Henry A. Wise, 8; 32 (tie), Charles H. Flowers, Glen Burnie, Northwestern-PG, Quince Orchard, 6; 36 (tie), Chopticon, Perry Hall, Walt Whitman, 5; 39, Catonsville, 4; 40, Meade, 3; 41, Kenwood, 1.

CLASS 4A INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

400 relay: 1, Springbrook, 43.39; 2, Eleanor Roosevelt, 43.49; 3, Bowie, 43.52. 800 relay: 1, Northwest, 1:28.87; 2, DuVal, 1:30.00; 3, North County, 1:30.88. 1,600 relay: 1, Springbrook, 3:20.99; 2, Digital Harbor, 3:21.21; 3, DuVal, 3:21.31. 3,200 relay: 1, Northwest, 8:01.62; 2, Severna Park, 8:06.13; 3, Dulaney, 8:08.03. 100 dash: 1, Bell (JFK), 10.79; 2, Lytton Jr. (HW), 10.86; 3, Owumi (MB), 10.99. 110 hurdles: 1, Bryan (PA), 14.40; 2, Onukwugha (PA), 14.57; 3, Torrence (DH), 14.79. 200 dash: 1, McClain (SK), 21.81; 2, Bell (JFK), 21.93; 3, Buchanan (SU), 22.02. 400 dash: 1, Nelson (HP), 47.99; 2, Sall (RM), 48.13; 3, Buchanan (SU), 48.59. 800 run: 1, O'Neal (CF), 24.31; 2, Wright (NW), 24.81; 3, Daley (CF), 25.10. 1,600 run: 1, McDermott (BE), 4:11.94; 2, Asfaw (RM), 4:18.89; 3, Unger (RM), 4:19.72. 3,200 run: 1, Asfaw (RM), 9:24.26; 2, Nakasaka (BCC), 9:27.39; 3, Squires (BN), 9:28.51. 300 hurdles: 1, Torrence (DH), 38.19; 2, Adebayo (DV), 38.874; 3, Sodipo (LA), 39.79. High jump: 1, Mutaba (NW), 6-04; 2, Brown (WO), 6-04; 3, Yarbough (DU), 6-02. Long jump: 1, Bynum (SU), 21-08.00; 2, Shirley (SR), 21-06.50; 3, Watson (GB), 21-02.00. Triple jump: 1, Bynum (SU), 47-02.50; 2, Taylor (BO), 47-01.50; 3, Smith (SH), 46-09.25. Pole vault: 1, Baluyot (BN), 13-06.00; 2, Shilling (HO), 12-06.00; 3, Stull (NC), 12-06.00. Shot put: 1, Aus (LE), 49-02.00; 2, Birgin (WJ), 49-00,25; 3, Durante DaS (NW), 46-10.50. Discus: 1, Smith (NP), 160-09; 2, Aus (LE), 154-10; 3, Amaya (BL), 154-07.

Girls

CLASS 4A TEAM RESULTS

1, Charles H. Flowers, 85; 2, Northwest, 76; 3, Bowie, 67; 4, Old Mill, 59.5; 5 (tie), Paint Branch, Walter Johnson, 37; 7, Severna Park, 31; 8, South River, 29; 9, Annapolis, 26; 10, Clarksburg, 23.5; 11, Henry A. Wise, 22.5; 12 (tie), Howard, Winston Churchill, 22; 14, North Point, 20; 15, Montgomery Blair, 19; 16 (tie), Dulaney, Leonardtown, 14; 18, Parkville, 13; 19 (tie), Bel Air, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 12; 21 (tie), Arundel, Walt Whitman, 8; 23 (tie), Eleanor Roosevelt, Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard, 7; 26, Bladensburg, 6; 27, Mergenthaler, 5; 28, Meade, 4; 29, Richard Montgomery, 3.5; 30, Glen Burnie, 2; 31 (tie), Digital Harbor, DuVal, Thomas Wooton, 1.

CLASS 4A INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

400 relay: 1, C.H. Flowers, 47.83; 2, Northwest, 48.40; 3, Bowie, 48.48. 800 relay: 1, Bowie, 1:41.69; 2, C.H. Flowers, 1:42.26; 3, Henry A. Wise, 1:43.39. 1,600 relay: 1, Charles H. Flowers, 3:54.81; 2, Henry A. Wise, 3:58.44; 3, Walter Johnson, 3:58.63. 3,200 relay: 1, Severna Park, 9:30.91; 2, Walt Whitman, 9:40.64; 3, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 9:40.66 . 100 dash: 1, O'Neal (CF) 11.92; 2, Wright (NW), 12.11; 3, Thomas (ER), 12.63. 110 hurdles: 1, Pessima (NW), 14.41; 2, Mealer (OM), 14.98; 3, Adeyemi (BL), 15.05. 200 dash: 1, O'Neal (CF), 24.31; 2, Wright (NW), 24.81; 3, Daley (CF), 25.10. 400 dash: 1, Daley (CF), 56.18; 2, Kintzley (SP), 57.07; 3, Porter (HW), 57.24. 800 run: 1, Casey (MB), 2:16.22; 2, Coffin (AN), 2:16.63; 3, H. McGlynn (SR), 2:17.33. 1,600 run: 1, Coffin (AN), 4:58.34; 2, Green (WJ), 4:59.24; 3, Mann (HO), 5:05.24. 3,200 run: 1, Green (WJ), 10:45.66; 2, Coffin (AN), 10:55.69; 3, Eveleth (SP), 11:15.96. 300 hurdles: 1, Pessima (NW), 44.38; 2, Christian (WJ), 44.52; 3, Moore (OM), 45.59. High jump: 1, Wright (NW), 5-04.00; 2, Mealer (OM), 5-04.00, Grant (CF), 5-02.00. Long jump: 1, Mealer (OM), 18-06.00; 2, Burks (BO), 18-00.00; 3, Joyner (BO), 17-10.00. Triple jump: 1, Burks (BO), 39-05; 2, Moore (OM), 38-09.50; 3, Mealer (OM), 38-04.50. Pole vault: 1, Zeckowski (SR), 11-00; 2, Nagornyuk (BA), 9-00; 3, Jung (DU), 9-00. Shot put: 1, Bangura (BO), 37-00; 2, Smith (HO), 37-00; 3, Akingdesote (CF), 36-05.50. Discus: 1, Limber (CL), 114-02; 2, Paye (PA), 110-09; 3, Clock (CL), 105-01.