THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605230168
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH POMPEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 66 lines
WESTERN BRANCH overcame an injury to star performer Clayton Porter to claim its first Southeastern District boys outdoor track title last weekend.
The Great Bridge girls won with their second straight girls title.
The Western Branch boys scored 109 points, edging second-place Oscar Smith by just 3 1/2 points.
The Wildcats, however, ran way with the competition, scoring 170 points. Norcom, the district indoor champion, took second with 113. Oscar Smith finished third with 88 points.
Great Bridge coach Pat Banks said balance was the key to the Wildcats' victory. ``You really couldn't pick one strength,'' he said. ``I think we have one of the best balanced teams in the region.''
Great Bridge won eight events and took second place in three.
``If feels good that we won,'' the Wildcats' Chandra Lewis said. ``I had a feeling we were going to win. But I didn't think we would do this well.''
If anyone had to be singled out as the star, it was Denita Eason.
The Great Bridge junior hobbled around the track due to a sore ankle.
But you wouldn't have known that once she hit the track.
Eason won the 100, 200 and ran on the record-breaking 4x400 relay (3 minutes, 59.7 seconds). Tracey O'Neal also won two events - the 1600 and 3200-meter runs.
In the boys meet, Western Branch's hopes almost faded when Porter went down in the 100.
Porter - the area's second fastest at 10.78 - pulled his hamstring at the 90-meter mark. He finished a disappointing last-place.
His teammates, however, took up the slack, scoring in every event.
``They really performed well,'' Western Branch coach Wade Williams said. ``When Porter went down it seemed like it was over but our younger guys gave it their all.''
Leading the way was Kenny Moseley. The sophomore won the 110 and 300 hurdles. Teammate Billy McGlaughan won the 3200 and took third in the 1600.
Darren Walton won the 100. Malik Cook won the 200. His brother, Mustafa Cook, took fourth in the 400. And the 4x100 relay posted the area's fastest time of 41.57.
Other standouts were Great Bridge's Jason Buckley, Oscar Smith's Shawnas Moore and Norcom's Brandi Smith.
Buckley outkicked McGlaughan and Wilson Kenya Edwards to win the 1600 and did the same to Deep Creek's Connell Williams in the 800.
Moore anchored the Tigers winning 4x100. Then, with only a five-minute rest, the sophomore won the 400.
Smith set a meet record in the girls triple jump (37-feet 5-inches), took second in the 100 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles.
Actually the boys meet didn't finish until Monday when the pole vault was held. Great Bridge's Brian Hunter was the winner at 14-0. However, it had no bearing on the final results as neither the winning Bruins or the runner-up Tigers had pole vault entries.
It was the last Southeastern meet for the three Portsmouth schools, realigned in the Eastern District beginning in September.
The top six individual finishers in each event and the three leading relay units qualified for this weekend's Eastern Region meet at Todd Stadium. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Denita Eason of Great Bridge won this 200-meter run at the
Southeastern District track meet.
DISTRICT CHAMPS
[For a copy of the list, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB