ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604290116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
The decision by the directors of the All-American Relays to invite only Group A teams this year was made in an effort to give competitors from smaller schools an opportunity to win more events than they've won in recent years.
At the same time, the decision all but gave the team championships to the boys and girls from Giles High School.
The engravers could have etched the Spartans' names on the winners' trophies before the meet began, as Giles, led by strong individual performances from Kevin Slusser and Megan Noble, won team titles during the 27th annual meet Saturday at Radford High School.
Slusser was the top overall boys' performer, with two first-place finishes and 241/2 points. Noble scored a meet-high 30 points.
As a result, the Spartans' girls finished with 98 points - nearly 24 ahead of runner-up Patrick Henry-Glade Spring in the 15-team field - and the boys won their 14-team portion with 93 points - 36 points more than PH.
``It feels good to win both,'' said Jerry Huffman, the Giles boys' coach, ``but we didn't come here saying we were going to wipe everybody off the track.''
The Spartans could have. After all, the Giles girls won the Group AA portion of these relays last year when those schools still were part of the field.
``Last year was great,'' said Noble, a junior who finished first in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles. ``We weren't so sure [about winning] this year. We knew Patrick Henry had a pretty good team ... but we knew we had better sprinters.''
Giles won the girls' meet not with a singular star, as it did last year behind Tomika Saunders, but with depth. Noble was the Spartans' only first-place finisher, but Lori Talbert placed in three events and Keeli Whetzel placed in two.
``It's a veteran team that's used to winning,'' said coach Rusty Kelley, the Spartans girls' coach. ``We come here just for the competition, not just to win. We use these meets as `big-meet' experience. We run against kids who push us beyond what we're used to seeing.''
While the Giles girls will be hard-pressed to match their Group A runner-up performance of a year ago, the Spartans will be favored to repeat as Three Rivers District and Region C champions in the girls' and boys' competition.
These relays ``help us going into the district [meet] and region,'' said Slusser, who won the long jump and 110 hurdles. ``We see where we stand and what we need to work on.''
That's a pretty short list. Shane Bramblett high-jumped 6-foot-1 to win that event and placed in three others for the Spartans, and the sprint-medley relay team of Shawn Vaught, Matt Whitehead, Tommy Workman and Brian Lambert finished first.
There were no records set on a sunny day chilled by a constant breeze.
``We haven't had a 70-degree day yet,'' Huffman said.
Parry McCluer's Mark Decker, who won the 200 and 400 meters, and Bath County's K.C. Jones, who won the 300 hurdles, were the top running performers with 161/2 points each. In the field events, Parry McCluer's Jeremy Garrett, Covington's Robert Roman and Giles' Reggie Hoston each scored 11 points in field events.
In girls' competition, Chilhowie's Melanie Hicks was the top running performer, with 18 points, and PH-Glade Spring's Nikki Davis led the field performers with 15 points.
The only multi-event winner in girls' competition was Radford's Charlee Taylor, who finished first in the 800 and 1,600.
Seemingly only the distance runners, who ran a varying number of circles around the Radford track, were not affected by the blustery conditions.
``One way, it's against you,'' Taylor said. ``One way, it's with you.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB