The No. 7 Atholton boys and Hammond's girls took different paths to similar rewards at Friday night's Howard County indoor track championships at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex.
Atholton won five times and had little trouble defending its team title. The Raiders scored points in each of the 15 events and posted 119 points for an easy victory over No. 9 Reservoir (74).
Hammond won just twice, but the Golden Bears posted a number of top-three finishes as they scored 93 points to hold off late-charging No. 3 River Hill (83). This was Hammond's first title since the mid-1990s.
Atholton coach Elbert Robinson brought 68 boys to the meet, put three in each event and made sure they entered every relay and kept putting up points throughout the night.
"We're strong in every event," Robinson said. "They came through for us. Everybody contributed tonight."
Brandon Hairston won the 300 and 500 meters in times of 36.06 seconds and 1:08.73, respectively. Andrew King took the 55 in 6.56 seconds, and Kenneth Thomas won the long jump (21 feet, 2.25 inches).
The Raiders also won the 3,200 relay in 8:32.67 — getting 50 points alone from those victories. That number would have put them in fourth place if they didn't score any other points.
Hammond's girls got just one victory in an individual race: Nicole Dawson's win in the 3,200 meters. She finished in 11:46.94.
The Bears also won the 800 relay in 1:48.45, using their speed to pull away in the back end of the race. Patience Williams, Tamera Okaya, Treasure Tabor and Titi Oden combined for that victory.
But even though Hammond didn't win any other events, the Bears ended up with nine top-three finishes.
"These girls, they are amazing," Hammond coach Rob Etheridge said. "They [did] everything I asked them to do — everything. They worked so hard."
Oden helped with second-place finishes in the 55 and 300. Amanda Mercer took second in the 55 hurdles and the long jump. Djnab Williams added a second-place finish in the triple jump.
Long Reach's Aneesha Scott had the night's top individual effort, winning the 55 (7.29), 300 (meet record of 41.01) and 500 (1:21.72).
Glenelg's Robbie Creese and Reservoir's Kyle Mitchell both won twice. Creese set a meet record with his victory in the 800 (1:58.15) after an easy win in the 1,600 (4:22.47). Mitchell took both the 55 hurdles (7.78) and the triple jump (41-7.5).