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The Montgomery Journal
Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley take track titles
Originally Published in The Montgomery Journal on Monday, January 29, 1990
By: Pat Dalton
Photographer: Bill Wood


Republished with permission granted by The Washington Newspaper Publishing Co. LLC d/b/a MediaDC. Back to Montgomery Journal articles

Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley take track titles

By PAT DALTON
Special to The Journal

Gaithersburg High School, perhaps taking advantage of a little home-court knowledge, dominated the boys field events Friday afternoon and recorded an impressive come-from-behind victory in the Montgomery County High School Indoor Track Meet.

Seneca Valley easily won the girls competition with 69 points, 31 more than runner-up Springbrook.

Following the boys running events Wednesday night at Towson State University, Gaithersburg was in ninth place with 20 points and appeared out of the hunt for the title. Springbrook led with 43 points, second-place Kennedy had 41 and B-CC and Rockville both had 36.

But Gaithersburg picked up 18 points in the high jump with a first-place finish by Kirk Morris (6-foot-3) and a third-place finish by Claude Dugue (5-8), plus 14 points in the shot-put with a win by Mike Neubeiser (47-7). Gaithersburg vaulted to the top with 52 points.

Springbrook was shut out in the field events, and Kennedy picked up fifth place in the shot-put to tie for second with 43. B-CC was third with 40.

"If it was fairly close [after the running events], we knew we'd be strong in the field events," said Gaithersburg's Fred Joyce, who shares indoor coaching duties with Fran Parry. "We probably have the best indoor facilities in the county. A lot of schools just don't emphasize field events."

On Tuesday and Friday afternoons when the basketball team is not using the gym for practice, the Trojan coaches work with their field-event athletes, Joyce said.

"We work with them on approaches [in the high jump] and that sort of thing," he said.

The work obviously paid off. Morris' winning leap of 6-3 broke the meet record of 6-2 set in 1988 by Einstein's Tim Edwards. Magruder's Erroll Paden was second with a jump at 5-8. DuGue also jumped 5-8 but had more misses and finished third. Another Gaithersburg jumper, Gerard LaFontant, finished fifth at 5-6.

Joyce said that with a technique adjustment Morris is capable of jumping 6-6 or 6-7 during the outdoor season.

"When he goes over the bar, he comes out of his arch and lowers his hips too soon," Joyce said.

Behind Neubeiser in the shot-put was Wheaton's Marc Leiderman (43-1.50) and Richard Montgomery's David Beck (42-4). Gaithersburg also picked up four fourth-place points when Craig Cohen put the shot 40-3.

Joyce said both Neubeiser, who threw the shot 53-10.50 in December, and Cohen will perform better in the future. Neubeiser, a football linebacker who has said he will attend Wake Forest, has been working in the weight room and will be spending more time on technique later.

"I also expected Craig Cohen to throw better, but I think exams hurt. He hadn't practiced in a week," Joyce said.

In the girls competition, Seneca Valley Coach Steve Robertsonn said his athletes exceeded expectations.

After running events, the Screaming Eagles had 42 points to lead runner-up Walter Johnson (35) and third-place Springbrook (30). A poor performance in the field events would have left them vulnerable. Instead, they responded with 16 points in the shot-put and 11 in the high jump for a total of 69, far ahead of Springbrook's 38 and Walter Johnson's 37.

"I was hoping for a reasonable performance and got a tremendous one," Robertson said.

One of those tremendous performances came from Seneca Valley's Karen Dyson, who won the shot-put with a throw of 36-08.50, 6 feet better than her previous indoor best.

"Karen finally relaxed a little," Robertson said. "It just happened last week in practice. She started throwing 35, and then another 35. When she went to the National Guard Games [in Baltimore Jan. 20], she threw against better competition and I think she got a feeling for the quickness of what they were doing."

Springbrook's Jessica Humphrey was the runner-up with a 30-09.50, while Wheaton's Rosanna Ng was third at 26-08.50. Seneca Valley picked up fourth- and fifth-place points from Heather Williams (26-1.50) and Tanya Pickney (24-10.50).

Whitman's Andrea Dritschilo won the high jump with a leap of 5-0 and Damascus' Tammy Tesar was second with a 4-10. But again Seneca Valley picked up the most points with a third from Melanie Etz (4-6), a fourth from Liz Frederick (4-4) and a sixth from Nikki Brassell (4-4 with more misses).

Photo caption: The Trojans' Kirk Morris clears 6 feet 3 inches to win the high jump at the county indoor championship meet Friday.




Dalton, Pat. "Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley Take Track Titles." Montgomery Journal, 29 Jan. 1990, p. B4.
Transcribed by: Kevin Milsted 01/16/2020


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