THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502010123
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
WESTERN BRANCH IS THE defending champion in both the boys and girls divisions in the annual Southeastern District indoor track meet.
The two-day meet will begin Wednesday at Churchland. It will conclude at the same site Saturday.
Leading contenders to dethrone the champs are the Churchland boys and the Great Bridge girls. Both Norcom's and Deep Creek's boys teams will be threats.
Field events will be held Wednesday starting at 2 p.m. Saturday's running events will begin at 10 a.m.
As always, the ``indoor'' meet is held outdoors since there are no facilities inside the Southeastern schools.
Five records were broken and another was tied last year despite freezing weather. The victories by the two Western Branch teams were the first indoor titles for either.
Overall balance is the key for Western Branch once again. Last year the Bruins' boys team won only one of the 15 events but placed in 12 categories.
``We have some quality people but I don't know if we have enough to win,'' said Churchland coach Clarence Brown, whose Truckers won the title two years ago. ``Western Branch has a lot of people, and a lot of good people.
``To illustrate the depth Western Branch has, we won an event this year and lost ground to the Bruins. We had six points for a first and they had nine for second, third and fourth-place finishes.''
In tuning up for the district meet the teams had four quad meets, two in December and two in January.
Churchland's Greg Boothe reeled off a 6.45 clocking in the recent Wendy's meet in Blacksburg, just missing the Truckers' school record of 6.3 set by district and region champion Chris Edmond.
The district meet indoor record also is 6.3, shared by Edmond (1993) and Wilson's Demetrius Hinton (1988).
``Greg is just rounding into form and I think he can break it,'' said Brown. But he can expect to be pushed by Deep Creek's Lawrence Claiborne.
The Truckers have several other title hopefuls in distance runners Ryan Smith, Robbie Williams and Bjorn Shoulders, 500-meters runner and hurdler Jarmon Mayes, hurdler Alvin Goodman and field events specialist Jamin Elliott.
Joe Langston, back at the helm at Norcom, was recovering from surgery at last year's meet.
Shotputter Lavar Bowers heads the Greyhounds.
Jermile Smith adds to a talented field in the hurdles and has posted a 7.7 time this year, just one-tenth of a second off the district mark.
Norcom, as always, will be formidable in the relays.
Wilson's top runner, Perez Bottoms, is also a starter on the basketball team and divides time between the two sports. Bottoms is a 1,000-meter contender.
Perhaps the standout among the girls from Portsmouth teams is Norcom's Jennifer Cook, who will go after titles in the 55-meter dash and the 300-meters.
Wilson's Jenita Harris and Keisha Graves of Norcom are hurdle contenders.
Erica Hines and Jonelle Whitley of Wilson are sprint threats. Shanell Jenkins is the defending champion in the long jump.
Qualifiers will advance to the Eastern Region meet Feb. 20 and Feb. 22. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY KNAPP
Bjorn Shoulders of Churchland may be a contender in distance
running.
Photo
Greg Boothe
Churchland
by CNB