All-Gazette track and field: Girls First team

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

All-Gazette track and field: Girls First team

Athlete of the Year

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Dan Gross

slug: AllGazTrackSPO061108b_rgb Photo Dan Gross All Gazette track teams. Girls team front row L to R -- Elisabeth Warren, Suzanne Falk, Cally Deppen, Kellie Redmond (Coach of the year), Olivia Ekpone (Player of the year), Liz Calhoun, Thea LaFond, Arleigh Rose. Back row L to R -- Tessa Morrison, Celeste Pilato, Gabrielle McKenzie, Liza Schlach, Leslie Morrison, Amirah Polite, Monica Gerald, Olivia Durr, Amanda Washington, Simone Harris, Alissa Jewell, Nicole Peterson. Gazette warehouse, Gaithersburg. 6/2/08

Olivia Ekponé

Wootton, Freshman

Hard to top her high school debut. Won county, regional and state titles in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, breaking two county meet records along way. Came within .04 seconds of state-record 100 time in prelims. Season continues this summer with Olympic qualifying.

Kellie Redmond

Wootton, 2nd year

Built program to be reckoned with. Developed squad of point-scorers around Ekponé, leading Patriots to county and regional championships, second-place finish at states. Team accrued 56 more points at ’08 state meet than it did in ’07, not all Ekponé’s doing.

Morgane GayWhitman, Senior, 800m

Last year’s state 1,600 champ dropped down in distance to run county’s best 800 of season (2:11.58) at states. County and regional titleist will compete at Virginia.

Leslie MorrisonWhitman, Senior, 1,600m

Duke-bound standout traded specialties with Gay, following last year’s state 800 title by winning this year’s 1,600 championship, in 5:04.59. Also first at regionals.

Britt EckerstromNorthwest, Freshman, 3,200m

Announced arrival by winning county and regional titles by at least six seconds each, latter in county-best 11:11.38. Placed second at first state outdoor meet of career.

Amirah PoliteChurchill, Junior, 100m high hurdles

Took over from Audrey Gariepy-Bogui as Bulldogs’ hurdle specialist, winning county, 4A West Region titles and placing fifth at state meet.

Olivia DurrPoolesville, Junior, 100m high hurdles⁄300m intermediate hurdles

Swept county, 1A West Region and state titles in 300. Added regional and state 100 titles after placing second at counties. Ran fastest times in both (14.74, 44.78) at states.

Gaithersburg 4x100 relay(Alissa Jewell, Simone Harris, NicolePeterson, Amanda Washington)

Consistent young foursome ran similar times to win counties (48.84) and take third at states (49.00). Also won 4A West Region title.

Wootton 4x200 relay(Cally Deppen, Olivia Ekponé, Suzanne Falk, Maya Walsh)

Won 4A West Region title, then ran county’s fastest time of season (1:42.65) to take fourth at state meet. Also had county’s best unit in this event during indoor.

Whitman 4x400 relay(Morgane Gay, Leslie Morrison, TessaMorrison, Celeste Pilato)

Led by two individual first-teamers, county and 4A West Region champions placed third at states, nearly breaking 4-minute barrier in each meet.

Whitman 4x800 relay(Morgane Gay, Gabrielle McKenzie, Leslie Morrison, Liza Schalch)

Third first-team appearance in two years, indoor and outdoor. Broke county meet record (9:22.14), then went even lower to win regionals (9:20.29) and take second at states (9:16.22).

Monica GeraldBlake, Senior, High jump

Consistently cleared this year’s best mark, 5-4, during championship season, winning counties and regionals and placing third at states by doing so.

Elisabeth WarrenHoly Child, Senior, Long jump

Broke school record (17-2.25) to win second ISL title in three years. Also set school 100, 200 benchmarks. Four-time All-ISL performer will compete at Fordham.

Thea LaFondKennedy, Freshman, Triple jump

One to watch for future. Jumped 37-10 during dual-meet season, went on to win county and 3A West Region titles, taking third at state meet (36-7).

Arleigh RoseSherwood, Senior, Shot put, discus

Bound for Colorado State, capped career with two titles each at counties, regionals. Second in both events at states to Thomas Johnson’s unstoppable Emily Vannoy.

Liz CalhounWootton, Senior, Pole vault

Only county vaulter to clear 9-0 this season, repeated last season’s county and regional titles. Flew over 9-6 to improve on 2007 state finish (fourth) by one place.

Katie Wolf, Churchill, Soph. (100m, 300 ih)

Le’Quisha Parker, Northwood, Fr. (200m)

Arielle Statham, Paint Branch, Jr. (400m)

Leslie Morrison, Whitman, Sr. (800m)

Erin McManus, Churchill, Sr. (1,600m)

Jessie Rubin, Wootton, Soph. (3,200m)

Katherine Salke, Sherwood, Jr. (100 hh)

Clarksburg 4x100 relay (Courtney Clark, Paige Harris, Turquoia Johnson, Charnay Ryland)

Paint Branch 4x200 relay (Ashleigh Council, Korine Duval, Jasmine Jones, Vanessa Jules)

Paint Branch 4x400 relay (Ashleigh Council, Jasmine Jones, Vanessa Jules, Arielle Statham)

Churchill 4x800 relay (Owoade Ayorinde, Maryam Fikri, Alex Giedd, Erin McManus)

Vanessa Jules, Paint Branch, Jr. (High jump)