THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210412
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: DENNIS HUGHES, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Despite injuring his back in warmups, Deep Creek's Jason Waters swept the high, long and triple jumps, repeating his performance in the Southeastern District meet, to stake the Hornets to the first-day lead in the Eastern Region indoor track meet Monday at Menchville.
``It's probably a strain,'' said Deep Creek coach Richard Cox.
The injury slowed Waters early as he scratched on his first two qualifying attempts in the long jump. ``I wasn't nervous,'' said Waters. ``Coach told me just to back up and get a good jump.''
He did, with a leap of 22 feet, 4 1/2 inches, a distance he equaled in the finals. He won the triple jump with his 45-9 qualifying jump, then took the high jump with a 6-2.
``He's very strong, very dedicated to his weightlifting, which he does year-round,'' said Cox.
The Hornets' Lamont Johnson placed fourth and Chad England tied for fifth in the high jump to help Deep Creek amass 35 1/2 points. Tony Smith finished third in the long and triple jump to help Western Branch move into second with 16 points and Jamin Elliott was second in the triple jump, fifth in the long jump and sixth in the pole vault as Churchland scored 12.
Menchville's Bobby Wilson won the pole with a vault of 14-3, breaking by three inches the previous meet record set in 1993 by former Great Bridge and current University of Tennessee standout Lawrence Johnson.
Michelle Thompson led a 1-2 Bayside finish in the high jump, then placed third in the long jump as the Marlins totaled 24 points to grab a two-point lead over Beach District rival Salem in the girls competition. Monica Mathews was second in the high jump.
Salem's Sherlane Armstrong set a record with a triple jump of 37-6, shattering the mark of 36-8 1/2 recorded by Green Run's Davida Walker in 1988.
Norcom's Missy Banks won the shot with a put of 40-7. First Colonial's Jamie Kollar, who also scored six points in the Patriots' loss to Bayside in a Beach District quarterfinal Tuesday, was second with a put of 36-7 1/2.
Action resumes Wednesday with the running events at Todd Stadium in Newport News. by CNB