Broadneck girls indoor track and field coach Dana Dobbs could've blamed the slick floor at the 5th Regiment Armory, the drawn-out meet or even the absence of his standout performer.
Instead, he cited the team's lack of effort for the No. 2 Bruins' surprising fourth-place finish last night in an inter-county meet involving 15 Anne Arundel and Baltimore county schools.
"Quite honestly, we didn't bring it to the table today," Dobbs said. "Good performances from us were spotty."
Broadneck finished with 33 points, well behind first-place Franklin (67 points), second-place Hereford (52) and third-place Annapolis (40).
On the boys side, Annapolis cemented its top ranking by winning the meet by 33 points.
The Bruins received just one victory in 12 events -- the 800-meter run from sophomore Emily Nagle, who crossed the line in 2 minutes, 36 seconds.
The Indians, on the other hand, earned 20 points from senior Ruth Hedrick -- who won the 55 hurdles in 10.1 seconds and teamed with senior Kellie McKay, junior Brittany Kiessling and sophomore Andi Hallock to claim the 1,600 relay in 4:49 -- and another 10 points from freshman Michelle Donadio, who won the 3,200 in 12:45.
Franklin coach Robert McIvor was pleased, but he also knew that he had the good fortune of upsetting a Broadneck team that did not use Lauren Centrowitz, the reigning indoor state champ in the 1,600 who is training to return to form after a grueling cross country season.
"It's early in the season," McIvor said. "We still have a lot to do, but I'm happy."
Hereford junior Kelisha Carter posted wins in the 300 (48.5 seconds) and in the 800 relay (2:02) with senior Jessica Harris, junior Sasha Cielak and freshman Ashley Logan. Annapolis senior Cheree McCurdy won the shot put with a throw of 30 feet, 2 inches.
Other winners included Western Tech junior Tamia Chancey in the 55 (8.0 seconds), Woodlawn senior Jodi Benjamin in the 500 (1:30.4), Perry Hall sophomore Sarah Holcomb in the 1,600 (5:55), Pikesville junior Jennifer Gabrielle in the high jump (4 feet, 8 inches) and the Severna Park junior foursome of Kerry Girona, Kristen Hicks, Katie Pumphrey and Stephanie Newton in the 3,200 relay (11:10).
The boys race wasn't nearly as shocking as the Panthers had 82.3 points to runner-up and No. 10 Southern-AA's 49.
Annapolis earned only one win -- from senior Cardray Moulden in the 500 (1:15.0) -- but the Panthers added four second- and four third-place finishes to sprint past the field.
"I think we did better than we thought," said coach Charles Gross, who competed without distance runner Will Eden (still in training) and held out Moulden and senior Chris Menendez from a couple of events. "I thought we were going to come in here and have a difficult time with some of these schools, but we didn't."
The Bulldogs, who narrowly lost an intra-county meet to Annapolis by six points last week, boasted an individual winner in junior A.J. Lee, who needed just 6.7 seconds to win the 55.
Broadneck, which finished third with 41 points, got a first-place showing from its 3,200 relay squad of juniors Andrew Cornelius, Dan Rosenblum and T.J. Tucker and sophomore Garth Wittmer (9:18).
Senior Joey Young's time of 8.3 seconds in the 55 hurdles and junior Sam Henry's time of 2:13 in the 800 powered Woodlawn to fourth with 37 points, while senior Stan Waithe's wins in the 300 (38 seconds) and in the 800 relay with seniors Adam Dickson and Franklin Richburg and junior Quentin Burley (1:39) led Loch Raven to fifth with 32.3.
Other individual winners included Severna Park senior Chris Magette in the 3,200 (10:39) and Pikesville junior Liya Sigalou in the shot put (41 feet, 2 1/2 inches).