Perry Hall indoor track coach Jerry Martin wasn't overly concerned about yielding Old Mill its fifth straight sweep of the Class 4A, East Region Championships yesterday at the 5th Regiment Armory.
"The name of this game is to live to fight another day," said Martin, referring to next Wednesday's state meet. "In trying to win this meet, you can make mistakes that will cost you next week and we made sure that didn't happen.
"I was really happy with the meet because we didn't lose a single person and we qualified everybody through. It was extremely smooth and everyone ran good times."
Perry Hall finished third behind Old Mill and North County in both the boys and girls team competition. The Gators boys team fell nine points shy of Old Mill (98) and Perry Hall's female contingent was 11 points behind Old Mill (71) and six short of the Knights (66).
Perry Hall senior Krissy Jost, who verbally has committed to a full scholarship to Villanova, won both the girls 1,600 (5:05.8) and 3,200 (10:56.7). Meghan White of Dulaney finished fourth in the 1,600 and Bianca Jay of Dulaney was fourth.
"Today was just a qualify day and I felt real relaxed," said Jost, who along with teammates Jill Heckendorf, Kelly Williamson and Joanna Helm, took second in the girls 1,600 relay. "I'm really happy with the way the races went."
Perry Hall's Dave Russell was happy with the way things went in the pole vault too. Russell narrowly missed clearing 14-4 on his final vault, but he easily took first with a vault of 14-0.
Russell's teammate, Chaz DeGalleford, picked up some more field event points for the Gators when he won the shot put with a toss of 45-11. Jason Wancowicz of Perry Hall took fourth in the same event, and another Gator, John Foley, was fifth.
Perry Hall sophomore Stephanie Wheeler took fifth in the girls shot (26-1), finishing behind a trio of Old Mill athletes who placed 1-2-3.
Christina Chillemi of Dulaney took fourth in the 55 hurdles (9.5) and later claimed fourth in the high jump (5-0), just ahead of Perry Hall's Joanna Helm, who qualified for the state meet with a fifth-place in the high jump and a second-place effort in the 500 run (1:22.9).
The Lions girls team finished fourth with 40 points and their boys squad was eighth with 7 1/2 .
Theresa Boyce did all the scoring for Woodlawn's girls team. She was runner-up in the girls 300 -- and finished just over a second behind runner-up Helm in the 500 (1:24.0).
Perry Hall's Nicole Foos earned her way into the state meet by taking fifth in the girls 300, and teammate Elizabeth Redmond earned her way to next Wednesday's 4A state meet with a fifth-place effort in the girls 55 hurdles.
Another Gator, Dottie Hudson, placed fourth in the girls 55 --.
Troy Thomas, a junior out of Woodlawn, placed third in the boys 300 --, preceded by a pair of runners from sprinter-laden North County. The Warriors' Craig Thompson won the boys 55 hurdles in 7.7 before teamming up with Anthony Reid, Tyrone Capers and Troy Thomas and winning the boys 800 relay.
Reid added a fourth-place finish in the boys 500.
Joe Lielich of Perry Hall found himself in the middle of four Anne Arundel County runners in the 1,600. Lielich took third in the event, five seconds behind Ryan Stevens of Chesapeake-AA.
Shawn Kelly helped Perry Hall's cause by claiming first in the boys 800 (2:07.2) and Jim Banach contributed with a third-place finish in the 55 --.
"Perry Hall is a tough, tough team," said Old Mill coach Mike Marcus. "We knew they are very qualified to go ahead and give us a run. Next week is going to be nip and tuck."