Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Saturday, there was no replay, deja vu or anything else similar to Wednesday. Patrick Henry again lost the final relay event to William Fleming, but this time the Patriots held on to the lead as they captured their first Cosmopolitan Club track meet championship since 1969.
By doing so, the Patriots became a double winner as the girls' team swept to its fourth consecutive title. While Fleming could have won the boys' team championship on the final event, the Colonels needed a lot of help. PH would have had to finish fifth for Fleming to take the title and fourth to create a tie between the teams.
The Patriots came in third to assure themselves the meet title, then were moved up to second behind the Colonels when Franklin County was disqualified.
Not to be lost in Fleming's second-place finish was a tremendous individual effort by the Colonels' Dominick Millner. The versatile senior won five events, anchoring the winning 1,600 relay team.
Fleming lost points because part of its team was on a senior class trip. The most striking absence was that of Andre Roberson, an outstanding hurdler who might have made the difference.
Two records fell. One went to PH's Jamie Price, who became the Cosmo's king of speed with a 10.4-second time in the 100 meters. The junior broke the record of 10.5 set last year by Salem's Keith Moyer, who is now sprinting for Virginia Tech.
"It wasn't a grudge, but Keith and I grew up together. He was older than me and he always beat me," Price said. "I wanted to call him today and tell him I was going for his record. But he was at the Penn Relays."
Price ran into a strong head wind and missed tying the record of 21.6 in the 200 by one-tenth of a second.
The other record belonged to the Cave Spring girls' 3,200 relay team, which ran a time of 10:16.4 to smash the mark of 10:25.7 set by last year's Knights.
Millner carried Fleming on his back as the Colonels sought their first title since 1990, when they won the last of 17 in a row.
Millner's last individual victory came in the 800, when he outdueled Patrick Henry's Robert McGrath.
"It was tough. I dug down deep as I could to see if I could catch him," said Millner, who came from behind. "I knew the team was counting on me to win."
Millner had won the long and triple jumps before taking the 400. He failed, however, to break the jump records held by Cave Spring's Tiki Barber.
The PH girls had an easier time than the boys, with their victory assured going into the final event. Arminta Crosby, coming back from a pulled hamstring suffered during the indoor season, won the 100 and 200, as well as scoring points in the triple and long jumps.
"I'm trying to work myself back into shape, and I think I'll be ready by regional and state [competition]," Crosby said.
Jeff Johnson, who coaches the boys and girls at PH, was ecstatic at the double victory.
"Our athletes did a super job," Johnson said. "I thought we could do it, but we just don't have a lot of people. I know Fleming missed their hurdler [Roberson], but I'll take it. I'm happy for our senior girls because they've won this meet each year."
Rudy Dillard, Fleming's coach, refused to use the absence of Roberson or anyone else as an excuse for the loss.
"Their kids did a real good job and you can't take it away from them," Dillard said. "We're young, with three sophomores and a freshman on the varsity, so our day will come," Dillard said.
The only boys' multiple winner besides Millner and Price was Cave Spring distance runner Jason Dowdy. He pulled away from Franklin County's David Angell in the 3,200 to win by less than a second after the two ran step-for-step most of the way.
"I knew he was there," Dowdy said of Angell. "In another race, I stayed behind him and then got the lead late. I was confident I could hold him off."
In the girls' competition, Fleming's Michelle Watson won the long and triple jumps and was the outstanding field-events performer. Besides Watson and Crosby, the only other double-winner was Glenvar sophomore Trish Nervo, who took both distance events to share outstanding runner honors with Crosby.
Last year, Nervo wasn't a factor in the 1,600 and 3,200. Now she's going after two Group A state titles, and if she adds them to her cross country championships, she'll have six state titles before her junior year.
"I wasn't any good [as a runner] last year," Nervo said. "I sprained an ankle. Then I trained easier because I didn't want to reinjure it and I wasn't really in shape. I'm running 100 percent better."
Cave Spring's Emily Rakes failed to equal her record of 5-5 in the high jump. But the two-time Group AAA state champion says the reason is she's running more events. Saturday, she placed in both hurdles and the 100-meter dash and ran a leg on the 400-meter relay team that placed.
The girls' hurdles was a split decision. Salem's Amy Pitts beat Franklin County's Sandy Hudson in the 100 hurdles, then lost to the Eagles runner in the 300 hurdles.
Hudson, who finished sixth in the 1993 Group AAA meet, just missed a record.
"I messed up in the straight away. I'm just a little bit better this year," the junior said. "I can't win the state. I just want to place higher."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***