Track: Reservoir Boys Defend, Hammond Girls Win

Reservoir Repeats

Reservoir Head Coach Phil Rogers knew after taking last year’s county title that he would need a lot of his younger guys to grow up quickly for the team to be in the same spot this year.

“We graduated 12 of 14 scorers.” Rogers reflected. This performance, he said, “is a testament to those younger kids who stepped up big time.“

Younger kids like Jalen Thomas, who started running the season with times in the 46-47 seconds range in the 300.

 “I told him, ‘In order for us to win this meet today you’re going to have run a big race today,’ ” Rogers said.

Thomas was seeded in the third heat, meaning he could score by running a fast enough time to beat runners from the fastest heat.  “You got to win it, you got to blister it,” Rogers told the junior sprinter.  

Thomas said he knew he had to run fast to pace and that gave him “an extra drive.” He took third overall with a time of 41.04.  

Thomas is not resting on his laurels, but looking for another big improvement at regionals.  

“I think I am going to do well,” Thomas said. “Hopefully better.”

Rogers said the points Thomas got them might have been what put them over the top, but other runners stepped up big for the team, too.

“No one expected the 4 x 800 to do what it did. I didn’t expect it to break 8:20, and here we go with a 8:08.”

It was Rogers’ distance workhorses, Josh Camden and Eric Schuler, who stepped up to take a third-seeded team to a win in the 4 x 800. Both ran the 4 x 800 and open 800. Schuler also ran the 1600, and Camden ran the 4 x 400. They finished second and third in the 800.

Camden, who took second, said that Schuler is “a great teammate; he pushes me. Especially in the eight, we have completely different running styles and we usually meet in the end. It gives me an extra boast.” At regionals, Camden is hoping he ends up first in the 800. 

Schuler’s third-place finish helped Reservoir get precious additional points. “I was just running to see what I had left and I got third, so that was good,” he said. The 800 came so close after the 1600 that there was little time for Schuler to recover.

Hammond Takes First Outdoor Title Since 1992

Hammond Coach Robert Etheridge was not ready to declare an early victory. He agreed Hammond could certainly come out on top once all the points were added up. Never willing to let up early, like any good coach, Etheridge said, “It’ll come down to the 4 x 4,” which was the last event.

“I think we’ll win it,” he quickly added.

He was right.

A 4 x 400 team made up of Djnab Williams, Beatrice Wolo, Dutrie Williams and Angela Diggs won the race by 50 meters, taking the county championship with it.  

After the race, the girls were smiling from ear to ear. When told of the county championship, Djnab Williams said, “I’m so psyched, just excited. Oh yeah, it’s pretty big.”

There’s more big news for the Hammond team. On Wednesday, senior Titt Oden will sign a letter of intent to attend Northwestern State University in Louisiana and take NSU’s full scholarship offer. Rutgers University also offered the senior a partial scholarship.

Oden is one of Etheridge’s big success stories. She started high school in Georgia and ran her sophomore and junior years at Howard High. She came to Hammond her senior year and blossomed. Etheridge made the sprinter—Oden ran the 100, 200, 400 and 4 x 100 at counties—run cross country. It was all worth it in the end.

“It’s perfect!” Oden exclaimed. The senior gets a full ride back to her roots in the south. 

Another Chair Racing Star at Atholton

A track meet is always full of stories, about the teams that win and the individual athletes who shine from both genders, whether on the track, in the field, or even among the standouts from the C heats. 

Sarah McFadden, a sophomore from Atholton, cruised to an easy victory in the girls 800. McFadden, a chair racer, started on the outside but began picking off runners after just 100 meters. She was in the lead by the end of the first lap and had left the field far behind by the time she crossed the finish line.

McFadden is training with another chair racer, her sister, Tatyana. Both girls lost their legs at birth. Tatyana has gained international fame in chair racing with six Paralympic medals. She competed in the Athens games at the age of just 15. While in high school at Atholton, the elder McFadden competed mostly in sprinting events, but she’s won the wheelchair divisions at the NY Marathon, Dubai and Chicago.

McFadden attends the University of Illinois, a noted training ground for Paralympic athletes. She is on full scholarship but is taking online classes as she readies for the 2012 games and trains with her sister.