Some dark storm clouds were about the only thing that was going to keep Old Mill from sweeping its seventh straight Anne Arundel County track and field championships yesterday at Annapolis High.
As expected, the Patriots girls team racked up 189 points en route to their 15th consecutive county crown while Old Mill's boys tallied 151 points on the way to their seventh straight county crown.
"Our kids did a nice job and they pulled it off today," said Old Mill coach Ron Evans. "I've had some loaded teams in the past but this is probably the easiest group of kids I've ever had to work with. We have a lot of smart kids on the team and they always do what you tell them to do. A lot of them have been stressed out lately because we lean on them in practice, but they came through today."
Martise Moore came up big for the Patriots girls team as she won the 100-meter hurdles (14.5 seconds) and the long jump (16 feet, 1/4 inch). Moore, who will attend the University of Southern California next fall, also picked up gold medals in the 400 and 800 relays.
Kristen Nicolini of Annapolis shattered two records in winning the 800 (2:10.1) and 1600 (4:52.9). Nicolini was neck and neck with North County's Tamiko Mack for most of the 800 run but Mack cramped up in the final 100 meters and fell back.
"She [Mack] really pushed me to a good time in the 800," said Nicolini, who will attend Auburn. "I didn't even notice she dropped back because I was looking straight ahead. I wanted to run under 2:10 this year and now 2:08 sounds nice."
Broadneck senior sprinter Jason Smith left Annapolis with four gold medals as he won the 100 and 200 dashes and teamed up with Cory Ross, Sasan Sattari and Dashun Nick to win the 400 and 800 relays.
Thanks to Smith, the Bruins boys team took second in the meet, edging third-place North County, 75-73 1/2 .
fTC "North County has been talking stuff all year about how they were going to beat us, but they couldn't prove it," said Smith, who is headed for Rutgers on a football scholarship. "I think we shut them up today."
Kenda Johnson of North County won the girls 100 and 200 dashes and Mack finished first in the 400 dash and second in the 800.
Toney Fowlkes picked up 10 points for the Knights in winning the boys 300 intermediate hurdles and Topper Ellis chipped in 10 more by edging runner-up Tariq Galloway of Annapolis in the 400 dash.
Old Mill's boys team scored in 16 of 18 events, including a 1-2-3 finish by Delvell Johnson, Randy Copeland and Marshon Broomer, respectively, in the triple jump.
Johnson later won the long jump, with Copeland finishing third behind Damion Moss of Meade.
Kaleesha Jackson of Glen Burnie nipped Meade's Shemeka Eldridge in the girls 300 hurdles and Arto Vartanian of Broadneck won the boys shot put with a toss that traveled 51 feet, 5 inches.
Balvin Brown of Old Mill captured the gold in the boys discus while teammates Cathy Porter, Jen Smith and Katie Mack finished 1-2-3 in the girls discus.
