Panthers track down elusive crown | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Jessica Tongue took the baton for the final leg of the 400 relay, and she crossed the finish line a handful of seconds before anybody else.

While she's done that plenty of times throughout her high school career, the star senior had never experienced the aftermath of her first-place finish.

The 10 points that she helped her Panthers earn clinched Wednesday's county championship for the Annapolis girls on their home track, marking the first outright title the Panthers have ever won.

Annapolis tied for the county title with Broadneck in 2001, and finished second twice, most recently last year to Meade.

"It's great, because we've been working so hard to get it," Tongue said. "I ran my heart out. I really wanted it."

Tongue placed first in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and finished second in the high hurdles to teammate Torrie Saunders.

In addition to her high hurdles win,

Saunders also won the 300 hurdles and the triple jump

"This is excellent," Saunders said. "We've been waiting for this for four years, and it feels good."

Annapolis outscored Meade 120-113 to win the title. Arundel came in third with 109.

Although Tongue and Saunders garnered the bulk of the points, as per usual, other teammates chipped in with some clutch performances too, to get the Panthers over the hump.

"We had a talk yesterday, and we said, 'We both can't do this. If we really want to win it, we've all got to do it,'" Saunders said. "I think they got the hint."

Senior Ashley Cottrell outleaped Meade's Lauren Lovejoy for the long jump title, and sophomore Laressa Wilds finished second in the triple jump and fourth in the high hurdles.

"It's special," said Annapolis coach Brian Brown. "This is a special group of girls. I made a point where I said that if the other girls do not perform we were not going to win. Ashley Cottrell and Laressa Wilds stepped up bigtime today, and we got some more individual performances by other girls."

The Panthers had some good fortune, as well.

Heading into the final leg of the 400 relay, Meade was in second place, and seemed primed for the eight points. But a dropped handoff disqualified the Mustangs, leaving them without any points in the event. The second-place finish would have been enough for the Mustangs to overcome Annapolis by one point.

Meade's boys team won its third consecutive county crown convincingly, scoring 153 points. The next closest team was Old Mill, which finished with 76.

The Mustangs' formula for success was the same one they used to sweep county, region and state titles in the winter - the four-pronged senior attack of Justin Murdock, Anya Uzoh, Matthew Brinkley and Dahmar Smiles.

Murdock ran blistering times in the 100 and 200 dashes, defending his 2007 titles in both events.

His time in the 100, 10.46 seconds, was just .06 shy of the county record, and he finished both races three strides ahead of a star-studded pack that featured Severna Park's Terrence Major, Southern's David Riggs and Annapolis' Donte Wright, among others.

"I got out real well," Murdock said. "That's what I was trying to do. It was a good field, the best it's been in a couple of years."

He ran a 21.63 in the 200, defeating Wright and Old Mill's Shane Cox.

Murdock also tried competing in the high jump for the first time, and finished in fifth place.

"This has been an incredible year for him," said Meade coach Nigel Holder. "The lord has blessed him with two of the greatest legs any 18-year-old has ever encountered, and he's taken full advantage of it."

Uzoh won the 400 and the triple jump and finished second in the long jump, and Brinkley won the 300 hurdles and the 800 and finished second in the high hurdles.

Smiles won the high hurdles, and finished second to Uzoh in the 400 and Brinkley in the 300 hurdles by a combined .21 seconds.

Other stellar performances on the boys side were turned in by Southern jumper Lawrence Jenkins, who won the high jump and long jump, and placed second in the triple jump, and Annapolis' Christian Smooth, who captured the 1,600, holding off Severna Park's Andrew Finlayson in a sprint down the final stretch.

On the girls side, Meade's Anna Grimes won the 1,600 and 3,200, and Severna Park's Jenny Thornton captured the 400 and finished second in the 800.

However, as great as other athletes' times and distances were, it was Tongue and Saunders who were the story. The duo accounted for 76 of Annapolis' points.

"They're two special people," Brown said. "They're wonderful girls to work with, they treat teammates well and they work hard. They dont get this stuff easy."

GIRLS TEAM RESULTS

1. Annapolis 120; 2. Meade 113; 3. Arundel 109; 4. Chesapeake 76; 5. Old Mill 44; 6. Broadneck 29; 7. South River 28; 8. Severna Park 21; 9. Southern 9; 10. North County 4; 11. Northeast 1; 11. Glen Burnie 1.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

3200 relay - 1. Broadneck, 9:45.81; 2. Meade, 9:48.3; 3. Chesapeake, 10:04.05. High hurdles - 1. Saunders (AN) 14.79; 2. Tongue (AN) 14.86; 3. Hunt (ME) 15.25. 100 dash - 1. Tongue (AN) 12.16; 2. Saunders (AN) 12.22; 3. Lovejoy (ME) 12.54. 1600 run - 1. Grimes (ME) 5:18.81; 2. Crane (BN) 5:23.44; 3. Heatley (AR) 5:24.62. 800 relay - 1. Arundel, 1:46; 2. Meade, 1:46.7; 3. Annapolis, 1:47. 400 dash - 1. Thornton (SP) 57.89; 2. Armstead (AR) 1:00.1; 3. Leclercq (ME) 1:00.8. 3200 run - 1. Grimes (ME) 11:44.47; 2. Blevins (CH) 11:48.84; 3. Lee (SR) 12:00.87. 300 hurdles - 1. Saunders (AN) 44.7; 2. Hunt (ME) 45.19; 3. Armstead (AR) 46.36; 200 dash - 1. Tongue (AN) 25.09; 2. Lupinek (CH) 26.19; 3. Lovejoy (ME) 26.41. 800 run - 1. Trevino (MO) 2:20.61; 2. Thornton (SP) 2:22.31; 3. Heatley (AR) 2:22.54. 400 relay - 1. Annapolis, 49.54; 2. Arundel, 50.59; 3. Chesapeake, 51.68. 1600 relay - 1. Meade, 4:01.33; 2. Arundel, 4:05.91; 3. Broadneck, 4:15.03. High jump - 1. Frye (CH) 5-0; 2. McFadden (AR) 5-0; 3. Edoho (AR) 4-10. Long jump - 1. Cottrell (AN) 17-03.5; 2. Lovejoy (ME) 17-0; 3. Waters (CH) 16-11.25. Triple jump - 1. Saunders (AN) 38-02; 2. Wilds (AN) 34-05; 3. Jones (AR) 32-08. Pole vault - 1. Bowen (CH) 9-0; 2. Paskalides (SR) 9-0; 3. Whitfield (SR) 9-0. Shot put - 1. Curry (AR) 35-08.25; 2. Green (AN) 35-08.25; 3. Cox (ME) 33-09; Discus - 1. Georgiou (OM) 115-04; 2. Holmes (OM) 100-11; 3. Curry (AR) 99-03.

BOYS TEAM RESULTS

1. Meade 153; 2. Old Mill 76; 3. Southern 69; 3. Annapolis 69; 5. Chesapeake 61; 6. Arundel 52; 7. Severna Park 42; 8. Northeast 20; 9. South River 14; 10. North County 2; 11. Glen Burnie 0; 11. Broadneck 0.

BOYS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

3200 relay - 1. Northeast, 8:11.1; 2. Chesapeake, 8:13.23; 3. Meade 8:25.8; High hurdles - 1. Smiles (ME) 14.32; 2. Brinkley (ME) 15.04; 3. Edwards (OM) 15.05; 100 dash - 1. Murdock (ME) 10.46; 2. Wright (AN) 10.92; 3. Major (SP) 11.02; 1600 run - 1. Smooth (AN) 4:32.36; 2. Finlayson (SP) 4:33.32; 3. Bickell (AN) 4:38.57; 800 relay - 1. Old Mill, 1:31.89; 2. Southern, 1:33.94; 3. Meade, 1:34.06; 400 dash - 1. Uzoh (ME) 49.0; 2. Smiles (ME) 49.09; 3. Phillips (AR) 50.21; 3200 run - 1. Phipps (CH) 9:49.8; 2. Cowing (SP) 9:56.39; 3. Day (ME) 10:06.99; 300 hurdles - 1. Brinkley (ME) 39.18; 2. Smiles (ME) 39.30; 3. Huddleston (AR) 42.46; 200 dash - 1. Murdock (ME) 21.63; 2. Wright (AN) 21.71; 3. Cox (OM) 22,43; 800 run - 1. Brinkley (ME) 1:56.54; 2. Wolf (NE) 1:57.15; 3. Finlayson (SP) 1:59.43; 400 relay - 1. Annapolis, 42.85; 2. Old Mill, 42.93; 3. Arundel, 44.61; 1600 relay - 1. Meade, 3:20.99; 2. Annapolis, 3:30.45; 3. Old Mill, 3:31.07. High jump - 1. Jenkins (SO) 6-0; 2. Davis (AR) 6-0; 3. Huddleston (AR) 5-10. Long jump - 1. Jenkins (SO) 22-03; 2. Uzoh (ME) 21-08; 3. Phillips (AR) 22-05.5; Triple jump - 1. Uzoh (ME) 43-01; 2. Jenkins (SO) 42-06.5; 3. Morgan (ME) 39-09. Pole vault - 1. Kshimetski (CH) 12-06; 2. Fratino (SO) 12-0; 3. Sullivan (SO) 12-0. Shot put - 1. Brandford (AN) 45-08; 2. Gill (OM) 45-04.5; 3. Akonomo (OM) 44-10. Discus - 1. Campbell (CH) 145-03; 2. Bearry (CH) 144-0; 3. Glover (ME) 138-03.