Boys team-title race comes down to final event in DIAA Indoor Track

LANDOVER, Md. – Narrow victories were the norm Saturday in the boys competition at the DIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

That included the team-title race at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Center.

Dover High and Salesianum School were tied going into the meet’s final event, the 4x400-meter relay.

When the Senators’ foursome of Hezakiah Ali-Bentley, Ric Johnson, Dante Jones and Nathanael Guy prevailed, it gave them the team championship.

“We just knew we had to get 60 points,” Dover coach Jim Solomon said. “That was the magic number.”

Dover had 66 points. Salesianum, which was seeking a second straight state crown, didn’t score in that event but still finished second with 56. Close behind were Middletown in third with 54 and A.I. du Pont in fourth with 52. The Charter School of Wilmington finished fifth.

It was Dover’s second team title in four years and fifth since the advent of team competition in 1982. The others were in 1995, 1998 and 2002. The meet itself dates to 1963, making this the 57th annual.

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As is usually necessary in winning the team title at these meets, depth was the key for Dover.

Shot-putter Bradly Anyanwu was the Senators’ lone individual winner. But Dover piled up points without winning, such as the nine it got in the long jump with Tamir Caldwell placing fourth and Javon Peace placing fifth.

And senior Jordan Magee, Dover’s Temple-bound football standout who hadn’t done track and field since middle school, placed third in the shot put and fourth in the high jump.

“We finally won a state championship in my four years,” Magee said. “I hadn’t really won one. We were 9-1 in football, but that didn’t mean anything without a state title so this feels good. We knew coming in it was gonna be hard, but we had it in the bag the whole time.”

Dover also got plenty of contributions on the track. Solomon singled out the fourth-place finish in the 400 by senior Dazhmier Brooks.

“He had very little training so that was big,” Solomon said.

“We kinda followed the model after Salesianum,” Solomon added. “We’ve been fortunate to go back and forth with those guys. They’re great competitors. They’ve kind of set the bar for us.”  

Salesianum had piled up 15 points in the 3,200 meters and led by nine, but Dover caught up in the field events and prevailed in the final relay.

The Sals had an individual winner in Michael Keehan. His 1,600-meter victory was in 4:37.82, well off his best time but plenty fast enough to prevail.

The day’s big winner was Appoquninimk’s Xavier Phoenix, who swept the long jump (20-7) and triple jump (44-4).

On the track, Leon Jett became Caesar Rodney’s first 55 hurdles champ with a 7.63 winning time. William Penn’s Matthew Hibbert prevailed by two-hundredths of a second in the 55 dash in 6.54.

Smyrna crowned its first-ever 200-meter dash winner in Raymond Nyameke, who clocked a 22.25.

In the 400, Clarence Smith nipped Delcastle teammate Javante Biddle by 0.04 and Wilmington Charter’s Jack Seiffert by 0.05 with a winning 51.27. They took a wide last turn and then threw themselves down the stretch and at the finish line in a frantic last charge. Smith became the Cougars’ first 400 champ since Gua-wan Smith in 1990.

Shane Massey became the first indoor 800 champ in Lake Forest’s proud track history, winning a close race against a strong field in 1:57.73. Tatnall’s Napoleon Hernandez (1:58.04) and Keehan (1:58.21) were on his heels.

“I’ve been trying to beat Napoleon for three years now,” he said, crediting coach Charlie Pollard. “It feels so great to finally get him. I just really wanted it.’’

Wilmington Charter’s Andrew Avila churned to a 3,200-meter win in 9:29.21.

The Charter School of Wilmington overcame a dropped baton to still win the 4x800 relay in dominant fashion and Delcastle took the 4x200.

Other field-event winners were Middletown’s Elijah Wilson in the long jump (6-5) and A.I. du Pont’s Leroy Lynch in the pole vault (12-6).

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.

DIAA INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At the Prince Georges Sports & Learning Center

Landover, Md.

BOYS RESULTS

Team standings

1-Dover, 66; 2-Salesianum, 56; 3-Middletown, 54; 4-A.I. du Pont, 52; 5-Charter School of Wilmington, 41; 6-Appoquinimink, 36; 7-(tie) Delcastle, Smyrna, 33; 9-(tie) Tatnall, Cape Henlopen, 26; 11-Caesar Rodney, 25; 12-William Penn, 20; 13-Howard, 15; 14-(tie) St. Mark’s, Hodgson, 14; 16-(tie) Caravel, Lake Forest, 12; 18-Glasgow, 10; 19-(tie) Christiana, Polytech, 9; 21-St. Andrew’s, 7; 22-(tie) Concord, St, Georges, 4; 24-Sussex Tech, 3.

55 meters

1-Matthew Hibbert (William Penn), 6.54; 2-Bishop (AI), 6.56; 3-Glover (StM), 6.59; 4-Lewis (AI), 6.59; 5-Vick (Mid), 6.69; 6-Dennis (WP), 6.70; 7-Pepukayi (Mid), 6.70; 8-Davis (CR), 6.73.

55 hurdles

1-Leon Jett (Caesar Rodney), 7.63; 2-Vick (Mid), 7.67; 3-Dawkins (Hod), 8.14; 4-Kelsey (How); 5-Fillyau (Cape), 8.36; 6-Jones (ST), 8.41; 7-Merced (8.50); 8-Jones (Delc), 8.57.

200

1-Raymond Nyameke (Smyrna), 22.25; 2-Pepukayi (Mid), 22.65; 3-Glover (StM), 22.97; 4-Dennis (WP), 23.19; 5-Shields (Delc), 23.22; 6-Bishop (AI), 23.25; 7-Fountain (Appo), 23.25; 8-Roane (How), 23.40.

400

1-Clarence Smith (Delcastle), 51.27; 2-Biddle (Delc), 51.31; 2-Seiffert (CSW), 51.32; 4-Brooks (Dov), 51.67; 5-Dottery (G), 52.23; 6-Bowe (Car), 52.54; 7-Staats (Hod), 52.66; 8-McCall (Smy), 52.84.

800

1-Shane Massey (Lake Forest), 1:57.73; 2-Hernandez (Tat), 1:58.04; 3-Keehan (Sal), 1:58.21; 4-Guy (Dov), 1:01.23; 5-Brown (CSW), 2:03.80; 6-McCoy (StA), 2:05.03; 7-Hamilton (Car), 2:06.88; 8-Hart (Conc), 2:11.10.

1,600

1-Michael Keehan (Salesianum), 4:37; 2-S.Banko (Sal), 4:38.48; 3-Hamilton (Car), 4:39.69; 4-Martin (CSW), 4:45.40; 5-R.Banko (Sal), 4:46.86; 6-Welch (Conc), 4:47.75; 7-Courtney (Dov), 4:53.28; 8-Moyer (CR), 4:55.43.

3,200

1-Andrew Avila (Charter School of Wilmington), 9:29.21; 2-Banko (Sal), 9:34.12; 3-Garrett (Tat), 9:35.67; 4-Balthis (Tat), 9:41.06); 5-Keehan (Sal), 9:55.80; 6-Higley (Sal), 9:58.94; 7-McDonnell (Tat), 10:00.0; 8-Hundley (StA), 10:00.72.

4x200 relay

1-Delcastle (name unavailable, Dae-Shawn Shields, Javante Biddle, Gordon Smith), 1:33.58; 2-Caesar Rodney, 1:33.76; 3-A.I. du Pont, 1:33.79; 4-Dover, 1:33.82; 5-Smyrna, 1:33.99; 6-Howard, 1:34.54; 7-Middletown, 1:35.36; 8-Glasgow, 1:35.70.    

4x400 relay

1-Dover (Hezakiah Ali-Bentley, Ric Johnson, Dante Jones, Nathanael Guy), 3:35.70; 2-A.I. du Pont, 3:35.90; 3-Howard, 3:37.59; 4-Glasgow, 3:37.98; 5-Appoquinimink, 3:39.38; 6-Middletown, 3:39.43; 7-St. Mark;s, 3:40.37; 8-Tatnall, 3:41.24.

4x800 relay

1-Charter School of Wilmington (Jack Seiffert, Andrew Avila, Aurelius Bordrick, Chris Brown), 8:15.57; 2-Salesianum, 8:26.51; 3-Dover, 8:30.36; 4-Appoquinimink, 8:48.81; 5-Tatnall, 8:53.66; 6-Cape Henlopen, 8:56.26; 7-A.I. du Pont, 9:00.18; 8-Caravel, 9:00.75.

Shot put

1-Bradly Anyanwu (Dover), 48-9 ¾; 2-Young (Smy), 47-11 ¾; 3-Magee (Dov), 47-6; 4-Monahan (Sal), 47-0 ¾; 5-Cheaton (StG), 46-10 ¾; 6-Miller (Cape), 46-9; 7-Brown (WP), 46-3 ¾; 8-Guidibo (Chr) 44-10 ¾.

Long jump

1-Xavier Phoenix (Appoquinimink), 20-7; 2-Walker (Mid), 20-3 ¾; 3-Hite (CSW), 19-11; 4-Caldwell (Dov), 19-7 ½ ; 5-Peace (Dov), 19-6 ½; 6-Barnes (Chr), 19-5 ½; 7-Edmunds (AI), 19-5 ¼; 8-Pepukayi (Mid), 18-11 3/4.

Triple jump

1-Xavier Phoenix (Appoquinimink), 44-4 ¼; 2-Walker (Mid), 43-11 1/2; 3-Dawkins (Hod), 43-4 ½; 4-Barnes (Chr), 42-3 ½; 5-Nyameke (Smy), 42-2 ½; 6-Caldwell (Dov), 42-2; 7-Palmer (Cape), 41-5 ¼; 8-Hooker (Pt), 39-9 ¾.

High jump

1-Elijah Wilson (Middletown), 6-5; 2-Edmunds (AI), 6-0; 3-Palmer (Cape), 5-10); 4-Magee (Dov), 5-10; 5-Wise (Cape), 5-6; 6-Ibitoye (StA), 5-6; 7-Brown (LF), 5-6.

Pole vault

1-Leroy Lynch (A.I. du Pont), 12-6; 2-Hooker (Pt), 12-0; 3-Lewis (Smy), 11-6; 4-Herbstritt (Appo), 11-6; 5-Bendfeldt (Cape), 11-0; 6-Turner (CR), 10-6.