Thirty-two teams descended upon the Loyola Blakefield, Towson, campus March 29 for the second annual outdoor track and field Loyola Spring Invitational.
Sixteen boys teams and 16 girls teams representing five Maryland counties competed in 18 events. Although our MIAA and IAAM schools fared well, they did not take home top honors in this preseason test of skills, techniques and speed.
The boys program saw Loyola Blakefield place second behind the first-place finisher, Old Mill High School with 90.3 points.
The Loyola Dons put up 74 points and scored in 11 of 18 events. The Dons were led by John Davenport, who paced Loyola to their second-place finish. Davenport claimed a first-place finish in the 400, took second place in the long jump, and third place in the 200-meter dash. Loyola also won the 4-by-200-meter relay and was third in the other three relays.
Placing third in the competition was Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, with 66.5 points. Head Coach Gene Hoffman lamented that dropped batons, a few miscues and some missing athletes hurt his team’s results – although Eric Franklin was on fire, winning both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Friar senior Jerome Junior also chipped in with a win in the high jump with a jump of 6 feet, 2 inches.
The Calvert Hall College High School, Towson, Cardinals placed fifth on the day with stellar, first-place performances from senior Pat Boyle in both the shot put and discus. Senior Anthony Rowe also won the 1,600-meter run.
On the girls side, the county schools dominated before the IAAM’s McDonogh School, Owings Mills, placed third – followed by Mount de Sales Academy, Catonsville, placing fourth with 59 points.
The Sailors did not take one first-place finish; instead, a team effort chipped away in each event for the team’s fourth-place finish.
The Sailors scored their most points in the 100-meter hurdles as three de Sales athletes scored for their team.
Laura Prindeze and Abby Wittstadt each finished with a time of 17.90 for third and fourth place, and Shannon Wright placed sixth with a time of 18.40 for a team total of 11 points.
The John Carroll School, Bel Air, placed 11th on the day. The team was led by senior Erika Stasakova, who nailed the 3,200-meter run for a first-place finish in a time of 11:22.0 for 10 points.
Actual IAAM and MIAA league meets will kick off this week with championships scheduled for mid-May at Calvert Hall.