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Recap - Mobile Challenge of Champions TF - 2014 DyeStatPublished by
Hill, Morken earn accolades at Mobile
By ARTHUR L. MACK for DyeStat
MOBILE, Alabama—This year’s Mobile Challenge of Champions meet had to battle worries about bad weather and a few high profile no-shows — but it still had some pretty darn good performances.
When the dust settled, Rockdale County (Ga.) High’s Candace Hill and Niceville (Fla. High’s Nicolas Morken were the Outstanding Meet performers in the 22nd annual Mobile Challenge of Champions Meet Invitational Division held at St. Paul’s E.E. Delaney Stadium on Saturday. RESULTS
Hill, only a freshman, won the Donna Dye Outstanding Meet Performer honors for wins in the 100 and 200 meter dashes in times of 11.69 and 23.81 respectively. The 11.69 ranked her fourth in the nation, while the 23.81 ranked seventh.
 Morken, a senior who signed with the University of North Florida, won the boys’ mile in 4:20.53 and ran anchor on the 4 X 800 meter relay, which defeated highly regarded Ridgewood (NJ), 7:55.12 to 7:56.95, to win the John Dye Outstanding Meet Performer Award.Hill was feeling somewhat apprehensive coming into the meet, but one found it hard to tell after her performances easily outclassed the rest of the field in the 100 and 200.
“I was feeling a little bit nervous before the meet, because I looked at the competition and they had run faster times than me,” she said. “I understood that this was a new meet (for me) and a new time, so I just had to bring it. I felt that I had a pretty good start, and that helped me with my race and my times. I pumped my arms hard and ran with it.”
“I’m sure a lot of good people have won this award in past years, so if feels really good to win it,” said Morken, who finished second to teammate Thomas Howell in the Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country Meet last September. Howell won the Boys’ Invitational two-mile in 9:20.36.
Ridgewood came into Saturday’s meet as the favorite in the boys’ 4 X 800, but found the going tough as Niceville—with Morken as anchor—gave the New Jersey a battle from the start. It came down to the anchor leg, where Morken pulled away from the field to win.
Morken then had to come back more than an hour later to run the mile, and was in a pack of about six or seven runners who went through the first half mile at a relatively slow pace. It came down to a battle between him and Louisville (Kentucky) St. Xavier’s William Molloy.
Molloy gave it all he had, but Morken picked it up in the homestretch and won by less than a second. Later, he said strategy was the key to winning.
“In other meets, we have more rest (after the 4 X 800), so I had to warm up differently and eat differently,” he said. “Nobody wanted to take the early lead, but I knew I had a good kick. With about 300 meters to go, the guy that was in second (Molloy) put on a surge, but with about 75 meters to go, I passed him.”
Ruston’s Kristin Clark set the lone meet record on Saturday, where she threw 141-4 in the javelin to break the old record of 137-5 by Nichole Freeman of Mandeville, La. in 2011. What was all the more remarkable was that Clark has not had a specialized coach in that event since her freshman year.
“I had a coach in my freshman year, but he left,” said Clark, who signed with Texas A&M. “I’m a part of the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, and I was able to get some training while in Finland, but it’s kind of hard when you don’t have a coach in your backyard.”
It was an Alabama sweep in the boys’ 100 and 200-meter dashes. Alabaster Thompson’s Jaalen Jones edged Prattville’s Travis Johnson 10.55 to 10.56 in the 100, with Decatur Austin’sKendrick Smith third in 10.68.
“I didn’t get out of the blocks real well, but my drive phase was great,” Jones said. “Without the drive phase, I would have been done for (in the 100).
Johnson did get somewhat of a measure of revenge in the 200, winning in 21.60, whileDe’Ondre McClain of Hazel Green was second in 21.61 and Thompson third in 21.71.
The home crowd had plenty to cheer about, as several Mobile area athletes had outstanding performances. Among them were St. Paul’s Shelly Spires and McGill-Toolen’s Sean Collins.
Spires was a double winner in the long jump (18-6 ¼) and high jump (5-9). Both were personal bests.
“It’s so much fun to set personal bests, and I was glad to get a chance to do it in this meet,” she said. “There were no running events interfering with the jumps. I was really looking forward to focusing on the jumps. We worked hard during the week, but we had a couple of days to rest. I really felt great this morning.”
Collins took advantage of several big name no-shows in the boys’ pole vault—notably Devin King of Kentwood (La.) Jules Sumner—to win with a clearance of 15-6, while Collins’ teammate Chris Taylor was second (14-0).
With a tough swirling wind that caused two competitors to no-height, Collins felt he was lucky to win.
“The wind was bad, and I had to sit around to wait for the wind to die down,” he said. “Some of the competitors were affected by the wind, and I was just lucky that it (the competition) wasn’t closer, because it would have been a different outcome.”
In the girls’ pole vault, there was an exciting three-way battle between Carson Dingler of First Presbyterian, Fountainbleau’s Madison Heath and Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic’s Margaret Ollinger. All three cleared 13 feet, but Dingler won in a jump-off and Heath and Ollinger wound up tied for second.
Dingler’s teammate, Gabrielle Jennings, won the girls’ mile in 5:00.45, while Georgia teams dominated the sprint relays. McEachern won the girls 4 X 100 (47.20) and 4 X 400 (3:49.37); while Rockdale County won the boys 4 X 100 (42.10) and the 4 X 400 (3:20.11).
Seven athletes threw 50 feet or better in the boys’ shot put. Pensacola’s West Florida High’sDane Stolsig won with an effort of 54-1, edging favorite Sam Kempka of Houston (Germantown TN), who threw 53-11.25. |
