Mother Nature delayed Perry Hall's bid for a sweep at yesterday's Baltimore County Track and Field championships.
The Perry Hall boys and girls held leads yesterday at Lansdowne when a storm stopped the meet at 5 p.m. Five events remained for the girls and six for the boys.
Meet directors Brad Lear and Ed Walker said the meet will finish tomorrow at 3: 30 p.m. at Lansdowne. The boys need to run the 3,200 meters, while both sides have to complete the following: 300 hurdles, 200 and 800 meters, as well as the 400 and 1,600 relays.
A strong performance in field events helped Perry Hall -- which swept last year's titles -- all but clinch the boys' crown.
The Gators scored 106.5 points in the field events alone and finished with 149.5, good for an amazing 100.5-point lead over second-place Dulaney (49) after 12 events.
"That was better than we expected," said Perry Hall coach Jerry Martin. "We expected to build a lead, but we didn't expect that."
The Gators blew away the field in the six field events. They won four events (discus, long jump, shot put, triple jump). They piled up points by taking the top three spots in the shot put and triple jump, then going 1-2-4 in the discus and 2-3-5 in the pole vault.
Jerry Meriwether and Chaz DeGalleford led the charge for Perry Hall. Meriwether won the long jump (20 feet, 6 inches) and triple jump (42-2). He beat out teammates James Montgomery (38-3 1/2 ) and Joey Cloud (39- 1/2 ) in that event.
DeGalleford, meanwhile, swept the shot put and discus. His throw of 44-1 in the shot put edged teammates John Foley (43-10) and Jeff Heiderman (43-1).
The Perry Hall girls also sat in first place, but with a much slimmer margin. Dulaney scored 22 points in the 3,200 meters, the final event before the rains came, to slice the Gators' lead to 79-62.
Alisha McClinton sparked Perry Hall with victories in the 100 (12.3) and the long jump (18-6) -- the second-best jump in Baltimore County history. Joanna Helm also won the high jump (5-2), and Natalie Gassman captured the discus with a throw of 107-10.
Dulaney had trailed by a large margin, but Meghan White helped it rally with a sweep of the 1,600 (5: 08.4) and 3,200 meters (11: 26.9). White won the 3,200 as the storm was beginning to hit, making her way through strong swirling winds.
Dulaney, which also won the 3,200 relay, has a strong corps of distance runners and will have a shot at Perry Hall. Martin said the Gators hope to hold off the charge.
"We just can't make any mistakes," said Martin. "We've got good events left, we just can't afford any errors."
Kate Macfarlane of Hereford also made a little bit of history yesterday. She won the first-ever pole vault competition for girls, clearing 9 feet. Macfarlane, jumping at a bar in a meet for only the second time, was the lone vaulter to clear the bar.
Pub Date: 5/12/96
