Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506060073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL LEFFLER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
But it was Bowers who took top honors and St. Claire who had to settle for second place in the boys discus at the two-day Group AAA track meet at Todd Field Saturday.
Throwing in a heavy rain, St. Claire got off a 160 feet, 3-inch toss that led the competition until the very last throw by Bowers.
Bowers, the Eastern Region champion, had a winning throw of 160 feet, 8 inches just after the rain stopped and disgustedly walked off, pounding a fist in his other hand.
``When they announced it, I thought I had lost by two inches,'' said Bowers. ``Then I realized that I had won.''
``It was really disappointing for me,'' said St. Claire. ``I had my throw in the rain and it was slippery when I threw it. Then I thought it would stand up all the way and he comes back to win on his last throw.''
Bowers had not reached 150 feet in earlier attempts and was in fifth place.
St. Claire's teammate, Russell Mills, finished fifth at 148- 7.
The team titles went to Eastern Region schools - Menchville in the boys' division and Bayside in the girls'.
Menchville finished with 45 points, four ahead of West Springfield. Great Bridge was third with 29, followed by Western Branch with 25, Hampton with 24 and West Potomac with 22.
The Bayside girls had 39 points, followed by Centreville with 36 and John F. Kennedy with 34.
Three meet records were shattered.
In the boys' 800 meters, Seneca Lassiter of Lafayette, who bypassed competing in other events to focus on breaking this record, reeled off a 1:49.7 time. The record of 1:50.34 was set by Cedric Matterson of T. C. Williams in 1984.
The Thomas Jefferson girls' 3,200-meter relay unit won in 9:17.90, erasing a record of 9:22.64 set last year by E. C. Glass.
Menchville's boys 3,200 team posted a 7:46.83 time. The standard of 7:48.6 was set by T. C. Williams in 1990.
Hayfield's Ian Winston repeated as state sprint king, winning in the 100 and 200-meter dashes for the second year straight. He was pushed in the latter by Patrick Henry's Jamie Price, who grabbed runner-up honors. Winston won in 21.81. Price finished at 22.13, edging Churchland's Greg Boothe who had not been beaten this year.
Price was fourth in the 100.
William Fleming took third in the boys 3,200 relay and fifth in the girls 400 relay.
On Friday, Franklin County's Letitcia Claytor won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 7 1/4 inches.
see microfilm for complete scores
Memo: ***CORRECTION***