Built in same mold, TJ boys, Urbana girls claim team titles at state track and field championships

Nov 14, 2023

May 27—LANDOVER — As the Urbana girls celebrated yet another team championship Saturday, posing for pictures with the trophy, the Thomas Johnson boys stood not far away in the infield at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex, preparing to douse their coach, Bobby Humphries, with a Gatorade bucket full of ice water after claiming their first state team title in more than a decade.

If the Patriots needed a blueprint for how to pull it off, they never had to look far.

The Urbana girls have been winning state team titles for much of the past decade on the sheer strength of their depth. The Hawks win a few events in most meets — they didn't in winning their fourth straight Class 4A indoor team title in December — and place in just about all of them.

And that's more or less the model the TJ boys followed Saturday, taking the 3A team championship without the benefit of a single event victory.

Yet the Patriots still generated enough points (56) over the course of 18 events to hold off arch-rival Frederick High (51.75) and claim their first state team title since their three-peat in 2009-11. It's the fifth they won overall, counting the one they won in 2000.

"It means the world to me that we just won this. It was awesome," said junior distance runner James Partlow, who helped lead the charge by placing second in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs over the course of the two-day meet for 3A and 4A schools.

During the indoor season, the TJ boys were right in the hunt for a state title. The won team titles at the Central Maryland Conference, Frederick County Public Schools and 3A West regional meets before falling short by five points to champion Northern at the state meet.

That close call created a fierce determination this spring among the Patriots to finish the job.

In addition to Partlow, senior Dillen Owusu and sophomore Gilberto Ramos tied for third in the pole vault, while senior Luke Freimanis was sixth. Junior Kalani Pu'uloa ran a blazingly fast time to place second in the 200 dash (21.93 seconds), sophomore Jonathan Regules placed in both the 1,600 (seventh) and the 800 (eighth), and senior Thomas Sligh was third in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump.

"It's just great for the athletes to see all of the hard work they have been putting in come to fruition," said Humphries, who pledged going into the meet to let his athletes shave his head if they could bring home the championship. "It was close, but all of that training we did finally got us through it."

The Frederick County track and field community is fairly close knit, and that was evident as the TJ boys and the Urbana girls posed for a joint photo with their trophies after Saturday's meet.

The Hawks have made an old habit of this, having now won outdoor team titles in 2016, '19 and '22 prior to Saturday to go along with all of their state indoor team championships.

On Saturday, it was a pair of seniors leading the way with Angeline Amefia and Samantha Heyison winning the 100-meter hurdles and the shot put, respectively.

The Urbana girls generated 82.5 points and cruised to victory over second-place C.H. Flowers (63).

"I hope these girls never forget what this team is about," said Amefia, who posted a winning time of 14.59 seconds in the 100 hurdles. "It's about having fun and being good while you are doing it."

Meanwhile, Heyison, an accomplished hammer thrower and multi-time state discus champion, broke through to win her first shot put title with a winning mark of 35-11.

"It's pretty big," Heyison said. "Based off of the 4A rankings, I am probably like fifth or sixth, and I was third going [into the finals]. So, to be able to have a big jump like that is very exciting. I never thought I'd win shot put at states."

It was a banner day for Frederick County throwers, as Oakdale sophomore Grant Lohr backed up his 3A shot put state title Friday with a discus championship Saturday.

To do it, he trumped Linganore senior Logan Rich, who set a school record in the discus with a toss of 157 feet, 2 inches.

On his very next throw, Lohr tossed it 158-6, which held up through the finals to give him the win. Prior to that throw, he was on the verge of being out of the competition, having scratched on the first two attempts in his flight.

Lohr and Rich spent three weeks going head to head in the discus at the county, regional and now the state meet. At the county meet, they traded the lead three times in the event before Rich prevailed.

"I am just happy for both of us to be out here having fun," Lohr said of the relationship he has developed with Rich.

The Frederick High boys thrust themselves into contention for the team title Friday with wins by senior Nashon McKinney Spear in the long jump and the 4x200 relay.

On Saturday, McKinney-Spear ran the first leg for the Cadets' 4x100 relay, which blazed to a winning time of 42.17 seconds in the 3A race.

He was joined on the relay by seniors Reggie Snowden and Travon Neal and sophomore Tyrico Morgan Jr. Snowden and Morgan Jr. were also part of the winning 4x200 team, which set a school record in 1:27.83.

"It felt great [to win the 4x100]," said Neal, who ran the anchor leg of that race. "I heard everyone yelling. So, I picked my knees up. But it felt great."

Then, there is the story of Oakdale senior Ellen Gill, who had to win the 3A girls 300 hurdles on two occasions Saturday because meet officials forgot to put a set of hurdles on the track the first time the race was run.

"I was nervous. I was nervous the other runners were going to recover before me, and I was not going to run a great time," Gill said about having to rerun the race. "But I knew it was all mental, and, if I wanted it really badly, I would get it."

Gill's winning time went from 44.84 seconds on the first time running it to 45.59 the second time. But the more important thing to her was that was able to defend her title in the race.

"It was a great feeling knowing that I can run this twice and still come out on top," said Gill, who will run the 400 hurdles next year at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. "I still ran a good [time] to win. So, I am happy with it. But I wish it were under better circumstances."

Follow Greg Swatek on Twitter: @greg_swatek