One year after Catonsville's Taylor Giles and Zach Delker were looking up at the results of the winners of the shot put and discus, they were at the top at the Baltimore County track and field championships at Pikesville High School on May 9.
Giles, a senior who will throw at Towson University next year, won the shot put and discus, one year after placing eighth in both in the 2014 championship meet.
Giles won shot put with a toss of 35-feet, 6 inches. She narrowly eclipsed Franklin's Amanda Murphy (35-1), whose throw of 38-11.75 earlier this spring is the longest in Baltimore County.
Giles, who won discus with a throw of 124-1, has the longest discus toss in the state this spring at 132-3.
Delker won discus with a throw of 138-0.75 and won shot put by heaving it 48-9.
"It feels good after all that hard work I put in over the summer," Delker said. "It feels good to get two gold medals."
Delker was third in discus and sixth in shot put at last year's county meet.
"Me and Taylor Giles are both strong competitors in both shot put and discus and we've got some good high jumpers and pole vaulters, so Catonsville High School is feeling track and field this year," said Delker, who will throw for Mount St. Mary's next year.
Ben Mansfield was the only other Comet male winner as he won pole vault (12-6) and helped the boys place fourth in the team standings with 44 points behind front-running Milford Mill (116), Dulaney (83) and Hereford (58)
Sequan Smith was second in the high jump (5-8), Kenyon Webb was fifth in triple jump (40-5.5) and the 3,200 meter relay team (8:41.02) of Shaun Miller, Liam Llorin, Halim Joseph and Gabe Noble was fourth.
Giles scored 20 points in her own two events for the Comet girls, while senior Maja Wichhart added 20 more points in three events.
Wichhart, who will compete in heptathlon when she attends the University of Colorado Boulder next year, won triple jump (37-9) for the fourth year in a row, jumping seven inches further than she did last year.
She was also second in long jump (16-6) and fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.61).
Catonsville senior Kia-Annin Nai was fourth in triple jump along with the 3,200 relay squad that included Julianna Keagle, Emma Lesnevich, Allison Green and Claire Sattler.
Catonsville's 48 total points placed them fifth in the team standings behind Milford Mill (118), Hereford (87), Dulaney (72) and Franklin (60).
Next up for the Comets is the Class 4A North regional meet Saturda at 10 a.m. at Sherwood High School.
Western Tech
Western Tech's girls were sixth at the Baltimore County meet with 43 points.
Daijona Revell was fourth in the 100 hurdles (15.61) and 300 hurdles (47.66).
Crystal Johnson was third in the 100-meter dash (12.69) and fourth in the 200 (26.01).
Tiffany Trinh was fifth in the 200 (26.44) and Tobiloba Owojuyigbe was sixth in the 400 (1:01.22).
The 400 relay quartet, including Revell, Johnson, Erykah Leno and Trinh, was second as was the 800 relay team of Revell, Johnson, Alexandra Willridge and Trinh.
The 1,600 relay squad placed third in the final event of the day. They included Owojuyigbe, Trinh, Brooke Omotosu and Willridge.
The Western Tech boys were seventh with 34 points.
They were led individually by senior Darius Howe, who won triple jump (44-8) and was second in the 300 hurdles (41.23).
Trevon Wilkins was third in the 800 (2:00.55) and Ifeanyi Ike-Azubogu was sixth in the 400 (53.40).
The 1,600 relay team of Howe, Ike-Azubogu, Wilkins and Ryquan Harris was second (3:30.54) and the 800 relay squad was sixth (1:34.03).
Lansdowne
After placing fourth as a junior in her favorite event behind three seniors, Lansdowne High's Ashley Blackwell came back for her own senior year and captured the 200-meter run at the Baltimore County track and field championships.
Blackwell won the race in a time of 25.57 and finished ahead of Milford Mill seniors Aliya Sharp (27.77) and Destiny Moore (25.87) and Western Tech's Crystal Johnson (26:01).
That same trio finished ahead of Blackwell, with Moore on top, when she finished fourth in the 100 dash.
That, and the sheer joy in running the 200, were her motivators.
"It's the competition, but at the same time, I love that race," said Blackwell, who knew during the race when she felt it would be hers to win. "The moment when I came off the curve."
Blackwell also ran on the sixth-place 400-meter relay squad (52.54) along with Rayna Moore, Dionna Hall and Kendra Cooper, but all she cared about after winning the 200 was getting her shoes off and staying hydrated.
"All I need is some water right now," she said.
The 3,200 meter relay team finished fifth (10:58.73) for the Lansdowne girls who were ninth with 17 points in the meet won by Milford Mill (118) for the third year in a row.
That fifth-place quartet included identical twins Naomi and Julia Corns and identical twins Josselyn and Katherine Hernandez.