Aberdeen sophomore Elijah Johnson stepped into the shot put ring in Pikesville Saturday and hurled the 12-pound shot 48 feet, 5 inches. That's 5 feet farther than his best of 2014 and easily the best in the UCBAC this spring.
The conference champ as a freshman at 42-1 3/4, Johnson is the latest in a line of outstanding throwers from Aberdeen. His mark is one of the best ever by an Aberdeen High School thrower, behind the 59-9 school record set in 1976 by Irvin Pankey, a former Penn State and NFL lineman.
Johnson's throw earned a second-place finish in the Pikesville Invitational, a meet in which 30 high schools competed.
There were several other strong performances by Aberdeen athletes in the meet. Cierra Reid placed second in the long jump at 15-11, the same distance as the winner. She also placed fifth in the triple jump at 33-9 1/2. Both marks are best in the UCBAC so far this spring.
Kion Gibson placed third in the 110 hurdles in 15.56 seconds after running 15.30 in the semifinals. He leads UCBAC high-hurdlers.
Mark Meynisse placed fourth in 200 in 22.95, and was fifth in the 400 in 52.02. Gavin Brennan ran 2:04.58 in the 800, placing 15th.
Other top performances of the week
Edgewood senior Langston Gash placed third in the 800 in 2:03.85 and third in the 1600 in 4:29.89 Saturday in the Waldorf Track Classic. The Rams Jeremy Middlebrooks finished fifth in the 400 in 50.78, the leading time in the conference.Victoria Bankole was fourth in the 1600 in 5:47.72.
Josh Penn won the 200 in 23.4, placed second in the 100 in 11.6 and anchored Havre de Grace to a win in the 4x200 relay in 1:34.0 Wednesday in a meet against C. Milton Wright and Bo Manor. Penn's teammates in the 4x200 were Elliott Scott, Matt Chin and Kodi Rupe.
The Warriors also won the 4x100 in 45.0 with Chin, Rupe, Jack Smith and Knowledge Johnson. Chin and Scott took one-two in the triple jump at 39-9 1/2 and 39-9.
For CMW, Nick Herd won the pole vault at 11 feet and Kiarra Nowell won the girls' shot and discus with marks of 32-5 and 103-7. Her discus mark is the best in the conference.
Kieran McDermott ran 2:04 on the leadoff leg of the 4x800 relay then ran the 1600 in 4:45.75 to lead Bel Air in a meet against Rising Sun and Elkton Tuesday. The 4x800 team ran 8:59.7 with Stephen Mark, Casey Sims and Eric Ingram.
Also for Bel Air, Jonathan Sayihe won the high jump at 5-10, best in the UCBAC, and Tyler Foye took the triple jump at 39-0. Andrew Visconti threw 41-3 in winning the shot put.