Ridge View \"Blazers TC\" boys finished first in the team standings at the Eastern High School Challenge Saturday at the University of North Carolina in Durham. Ridge View scored 70 points at the meet. In 2004 the Blazers finished 12th with 11 points.
Richard Williams of the Blazers TC finished second in the 500-meter dash in 1:08.63. Aubrey Darnell, a senior Blazer rounded out the top three in the 3200-meter run in 9:57.34. James Lipscomb of Ridge View finished fourth in both the preliminaries and finals of the 55-meter dash.
\"The competition was down a good bit this year at UNC due to the weather,\" said Jeff Buys, the Blazers Head Coach. \"We were told that the Charlotte area schools were told the meet was cancelled, and that there were several school districts that didn\'t want busses on the road with the possibility of an ice storm. In the end the weather was not an issue, but the meet attendance was probably 1/3 of what it has been in years past.\"
In the relay events the Blazers finished first in the 4x400-meter (Richard Williams, Maurice Palmer, Damon Bailey, and Rodney Lipscomb) relay with a finishing and Nike Qualifying time of 3:25.91. \"Right now we have no plans to run a 4x400 at Nike even though we have a qualifying time,\" Buys said. \"The time just helped justify the hard work these guys have been putting in getting ready for the (outdoor) season.\"
Deep Creek HS (Va.) was second in the relay in 3:27.18. In the 4x800-meter (Jonathan Bakutes, Richard Williams, Cornelius Harvin, and Maurice Palmer) relay the Blazers finished second with Spring Valley (Mike Doucette, Darrian Hodges, Mark Nehez, Robert Thompson) in third, 12 seconds behind the Blazers in the event.
Spring Valley boys finished 21st out of 31 teams.
In the field portion of the Eastern Challenge George Fields added six points for Ridge View with a third place high jump clearing height of 6-04. Fields set a Nike Qualifying standard with his second place distance of 23-01 in the long jump, as teammate John Saffold rounded out the top three in 22-07.25.
\"Essentially, we treated the meet as a reward for our athletes who have been out conditioning with us\", Buys said. \"We were really surprised by some of the marks of our field events since we have yet to do anything more than conditioning with these guys.\"
Northwestern senior Tiaerra McLaurin set a Nike Indoor qualifying mark of 7.12 with a second place finish in the 55. McLaurin, who signed with LSU finished first in premilinaries. McLaurin finished fifth in the 300-meter dash in 43.54. Northwestern finished 13th in the girl\'s team standings with McLaurin the lone Trojan competing.
SCRunners.com site administrator John Olson will be onsite at the Clemson High School Indoor Invitational Jan. 29.
Richard Williams of the Blazers TC finished second in the 500-meter dash in 1:08.63. Aubrey Darnell, a senior Blazer rounded out the top three in the 3200-meter run in 9:57.34. James Lipscomb of Ridge View finished fourth in both the preliminaries and finals of the 55-meter dash.
\"The competition was down a good bit this year at UNC due to the weather,\" said Jeff Buys, the Blazers Head Coach. \"We were told that the Charlotte area schools were told the meet was cancelled, and that there were several school districts that didn\'t want busses on the road with the possibility of an ice storm. In the end the weather was not an issue, but the meet attendance was probably 1/3 of what it has been in years past.\"
In the relay events the Blazers finished first in the 4x400-meter (Richard Williams, Maurice Palmer, Damon Bailey, and Rodney Lipscomb) relay with a finishing and Nike Qualifying time of 3:25.91. \"Right now we have no plans to run a 4x400 at Nike even though we have a qualifying time,\" Buys said. \"The time just helped justify the hard work these guys have been putting in getting ready for the (outdoor) season.\"
Deep Creek HS (Va.) was second in the relay in 3:27.18. In the 4x800-meter (Jonathan Bakutes, Richard Williams, Cornelius Harvin, and Maurice Palmer) relay the Blazers finished second with Spring Valley (Mike Doucette, Darrian Hodges, Mark Nehez, Robert Thompson) in third, 12 seconds behind the Blazers in the event.
Spring Valley boys finished 21st out of 31 teams.
In the field portion of the Eastern Challenge George Fields added six points for Ridge View with a third place high jump clearing height of 6-04. Fields set a Nike Qualifying standard with his second place distance of 23-01 in the long jump, as teammate John Saffold rounded out the top three in 22-07.25.
\"Essentially, we treated the meet as a reward for our athletes who have been out conditioning with us\", Buys said. \"We were really surprised by some of the marks of our field events since we have yet to do anything more than conditioning with these guys.\"
Northwestern senior Tiaerra McLaurin set a Nike Indoor qualifying mark of 7.12 with a second place finish in the 55. McLaurin, who signed with LSU finished first in premilinaries. McLaurin finished fifth in the 300-meter dash in 43.54. Northwestern finished 13th in the girl\'s team standings with McLaurin the lone Trojan competing.
SCRunners.com site administrator John Olson will be onsite at the Clemson High School Indoor Invitational Jan. 29.