More News

Multimedia:

Click here to see the video

The 115th Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia last weekend proved bittersweet for the Prince George's County contingent.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the performance of the Oxon Hill High School girls' track and field team, which was the only county school to reach the Championship of America finals in the 1,600-meter relay — an event won by Eleanor Roosevelt High the last two years. The Clippers also finished third in the Large Schools finals of the 400 relay.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt's girls' team had a weekend of elation and disappointment. The Raiders did not make their expected third consecutive appearance in the 1,600 relay Championship of America final, but bounced back and established the top time run by any U.S. team in the 400 relay, taking second in the Championship of America final of that event.

The Elizabeth Seton girls' 400 relay team also advanced to the Championship of America finals, while junior Adenike Pedro had a superb performance in the High School Girls' Long Jump.

On the boys' side, Charles H. Flowers performed best of any county team in the 1,600 relay, taking 19th, while Jaguars' senior Dwayne Powell gave himself and his team reason to smile by taking sixth place in the High School Boys' Long Jump.

Bishop McNamara High senior Saniel Atkinson battled through an injury for a fifth-place finish in the High School Girls' High Jump.

Here's a breakdown of the county's top stories from the Penn Relays:

Roosevelt

As the two-time defending Championship of America winners in the 1,600 relay, the Raiders were not only expected to qualify for the final, they were expected to win. The Raiders accomplished neither.

But the team made a statement in the 400 relay, finishing second in 45.24 seconds, the fastest time of any high school girls' team in the United States this outdoor season. The team of Abi Adenikinju, Aurieyall Scott, Jenea McCammon and Afia Charles finished second to Vere Tech (Jamaica), which won the competition in 45.10 seconds.

"The girls were sad at the performance in the [1,600 relay], but they felt 100 percent better out there," Roosevelt coach Greg Johnson said of the Raiders' performance in the 400 relay. "They were determined to do better. If you look at the handoffs, Abi to Aurieyall, Jenea's exchange with Afia, they were very good. Our girls' have had to learn how to react to different situations."

Princeton University-bound Adenikinju was pleased with the team's effort.

"I thought we just went out and did the best we could and I like what we did," Adenikinju said.

The team of Doris Anyanwu, Danielle Calhoun, Scott and Charles finished 11th in the 1,600 relay preliminaries with a time of 3 minutes, 52.18 seconds.

Oxon Hill

Clippers' coach Walter Cross said he had hopes that the girls' 1,600 and 400 relay teams would have a chance to do well.

What the Clippers did surpassed all of the coach's expectations and even those of the runners. The team of Cearha Miller, Deseree' King, Callister Jones and Taylor Butler claimed a spot in the Championship of America finals in the 1,600 relay and notched the second-best time for an American team with a team-best time of 3:47.75.

Jamaica's Edwin Allen won the 1,600 relay Championship of America (3:41.25) while Junipero Serra (Calif.) was the top U.S. finisher, taking fourth place (3:47.65), just one-tenth of a second faster than the Clippers.

"They just stepped up and ran," Cross said. "They went there with a purpose. This was their first time in a Championship of America, and they're a mature team that is coming together at the end of their careers. They don't have too many chances to do more in high school."

"I'm really proud of how we did," said Jones, a senior. "I think we could have done better. I know for me, this was something I really wanted."

The Clippers' 400 relay team, composed of Shanel Deal, King, Miller and Butler qualified for the Large Schools final, where they finished third (46.93 seconds), just .21 seconds off the winning time in the event.

Seton

This group of Roadrunners learned how good it could be by finishing second in the Small Schools 400 relay at last year's Penn Relays.

Returning to Philadelphia this year, the Roadrunners – as expected – did even better.

The team of Ashley Ajayi, Adenike Pedro, Dionna Hayes and Jameice DeCoster improved enough to be the second-fastest team in the country this season. The 400 relay Championship of America had just two representatives from the United States – Seton and Roosevelt.

The Roadrunners finished sixth with a time of 46.09 seconds.

"I'm happy and excited they did well," said coach Omar Wilkins. "Our philosophy is that the goal is to have fun. We don't like to put any unnecessary pressure on our runners. We want them to understand the complexities that go into running relays."

"Because we are a small school, a lot of the bigger schools might have doubted that we would be able to compete with them," DeCoster said. "The size of our school doesn't matter. What matters is that how much our training has meant to us and how hard we have work and have everyone step up."

The Roadrunners' 1,600 relay team of Ambrosia Iwugo, Briana Young, Ajayi and DeCoster just missed out on a trip to the Championship of America finals as they finished 10th in qualifying (3:52.06). Only the top eight times qualified for the Championship of America race.

Pedro had an exceptional weekend, not only with her team but individually. She established a personal-best this outdoor season as she took third place in the High School Girls' Long Jump with a leap of 19 feet, 2 inches. Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams High (Va.) won with a jump of 19-11.

"I was a little nervous at first but after a while I just got my confidence back up and tried to remember to keep my form," Pedro said.

Flowers

It was easy to see that Jaguars' coach Carl Rose was having fun at the Penn Relays, as he had a grin on his face Saturday afternoon while he chatted with friends.

Chances are Dwayne Powell had much to do with Rose's high spirits.

Powell ran with the 1,600 relay team less than 20 minutes before competing in the long jump, but he proved he had the endurance to be considered one of the nation's elite jumpers.

Powell's 22 foot, 11.75-inch effort was sixth overall and second-best of any other competitor from the U.S. Carlton Lavong of Methacton High (Pa.) won the championship (24 feet, 6.5 inches).

"I felt great, and better than any day I've been here this week," Powell said Saturday. "I was tired after the [1,600 relay]. I wish I had more energy because I might have done better. I'm just a couple of inches away from [jumping 23 feet]. If we get more nice days like today this season, I know I will do it."

The Jaguars' 1,600 relay team of George Empty, Michael Rowland, Garland Brooks and Powell finished better than any other county team with a time of 3:19.29, good for 19th overall.

"I'm real pleased with how we performed," Rose said of his team. "It's a great honor [for Dwayne] to get an individual invitation and I think we ran pretty well with consistent times this year."

Junior Brelyn Finley finished 15th in the High School Girls' Shot Put with a throw of 36-7.75.

Jaguars' senior Lorraine Graham was scheduled to participate in the long jump and the girls' 1,600 and 400 relay teams but suffered a leg injury in practice in the days leading up to the Penn Relays, forcing the Jaguars' coaches to rest her.

Elsewhere on the oval

Bishop McNamara High senior Saniel Atkinson injured her lower back during a training session April 20, which she said hampered her in the High School Girls' High Jump event.

After a third-place finish last season, Atkinson finished fifth with a jump of 5 feet, 8 inches. After fouling several times on lower heights, Atkinson nailed her first jump at 5-8, but was unsuccessful in three attempts at 5-9. St. Elizabeth Tech (Jamaica) senior Peter-Gaye Reid won with a jump of 5-10.75.

The Bowie boys' 1,600 relay team of Paul Edwards, Anthony Simpson, Collin Manning and Daniel Ballah finished 49th overall (3 minutes, 22.15 seconds). The Eleanor Roosevelt team (Tristan Youngblood, Jovon Edwards, Paul Ford and Denny Long) finished 52nd with a time of 3:22.27, while DeMatha (53rd/3:22.29/Jordan Lomax, Christopher Walker, Thomas Gaither and Michael Williams) and Suitland (58th/3:22.93/Jordan Coleman, Sequan Johnson, Cortney Mazyck and J.D. Tharpe) round out the top county finishers.

The 1,600 relay consisted of 576 teams from across the country, including 16 from Prince George's County. Frederick Douglass, Fairmont Heights, Friendly, Potomac, Forestville, Bladensburg, Riverdale Baptist, Largo, DuVal, Henry A. Wise and Laurel also competed.

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.