This coming Saturday at Long Reach High School in Columbia, the Howard County Spring Classic returns and this year promises to bring more excitement and fast times than years past. Teams are entered from around the state and the distance events promise (weather permitting) to give a preview of the state meet.

Currently this is a listing of the teams entered - Atholton, Bishop McNamara, CM Wright, Calvert, Centennial, Eastern Tech, Friendly, Gaithersburg, Great Mills, Hammond, Hereford, Howard, Langley, Linganore, Lock Raven, Long Reach, Loyola, Maryvale, McDonough, McKean (De), Mt. Hebron, Northwood, Oakland Mills, Parkview, Perry Hall, South Lakes, Wilde Lake and Wise

There is less than a week to go until entries close and this is how the meet is stacking up as of Sunday April 27.

Sprints –
Kelechi Odocha of Atholton leads the 100 qualifiers on the boy’s side with his 11.46 at the Pikesville Invite earlier this season. Gaithersburg’s Antoine Johnson has a 11.62 to his credit at Meade.  Sam Trimble, Oakland Mills, Spencer Wilkins, Mt. Hebron and Everett Farmer of Loyola also are looking for a fast time.

In the 400,  John Davenport of Loyola and Antonio Palmer of Gaithersburg are the class of the field with both having posted times sub 50 this season.

In the hurdle races Jackson Jordan of Mt. Hebron and Owen Cain of Gaithersburg lead the field while in the 300 hurdles, John Flesher of Loch Raven is looking to drop under 39 seconds.

For the girls, Alissa Jewell and Amanda Washington of Gaithersburg lead the 200 field with Monica Mason of Bishop McNamara also in the 25 second category. Even though she hasn’t yet been entered, Funmi Alabi of host school Long Reach will be hard to beat in any sprint.

There are five girls under 60 right now in the 400 led by Jewell and Mason. In the hurdle races, Taylor Butler of Bishop McNamara is the class of the field.

Distance –
The boys 800 could see a few people dropping under 1:55. Antonio Palmer, Sumanth Kuppalli of Perry Hall, Joey Thompson of Howard and Joe Orsulak of Loyola all have legitimate 1:57 times this season.

Last year, Thompson outkicked Kuppalli in the last 100 for the win at this meet, but Kuppalli is fresh off a solo 4:20.7 run last weekend and Thompson hit 4:22.2 for the full mile at the Penn Relays. Graham Bazell of Atholton is also entered and has a 4:23 to his credit at a league meet earlier this season.

It is unlikely that Thompson and Kuppalli will run all three races, but they are entered in the 3200. If they opt out of running, freshman Matt Jablonski of Loyola and Mike Glassman of Loch Raven are the leaders at this point.

Kathryn Franke of Loch Raven and Sara Bailey of CM Wright will be going head to head against each other in the 800 and 1600, while the Mustangs have Shannon Rafferty and Hannah McKenzie as the top two seeds in the 3200.

Field –
Shawn Myers of Perry Hall is the leader in the pole vault after his 14-06 vault last weekend and Derick Bryant of CM Wright leads the high jump at 6-02. Owen Cain, Gaithersburg and John Davenport and Brandon Floyd of Loyola all have jumps at 21 feet or over. Sean Stanley of Gaithersburg is the class of the field in the throwing events with a 58 foot shot put and a 150 foot discus throw to his credit.

Lauren Jones of Great Mills lead the lady high jumpers at 5-03. Kiersten LaRoche of Bishop McNamara and Gabrielle Barnes of Oakland Mills both have 17-06 long jumps this year.  Shianna Smith of Wilde Lake leads the discus throwers over 116-00.

ORDER OF EVENTS

RUNNING EVENTS

100 METER DASH SEMI G/B
100 HURDLES SEMI G
110 HURDLES SEMI B
3200METER RELAY GIRLS
3200METER RELAY BOYS
110 HURDLES FINALS
100 HURDLES FINALS
100 METER DASH FINALS B/G
1600 METER RUN G/B
800 METER RELAY G/B
400 METER DASH G/ WHEELCHAIR/B
3200 METER RUN G/B
300 HURDLES G/B
200 METER DASH FINALS G /WHEELCHAIR /B
800 METER RUN G/B
400 METER RELAY G/B
1600 METER RELAY G/B


FIELD EVENTS FINALS ONLY

10:00 BOYS’ SHOT PUT, TRIPLE JUMP, POLE VAULT
GIRLS’ DISCUS, HIGH JUMP, LONG JUMP
Start 30 min after completion of 10:00 events
GIRLS’ SHOT PUT, TRIPLE JUMP, POLE VAULT
BOYS’ DISCUS, HIGH JUMP, LONG JUMP