Gabriel Murray Leads Oakland Mills Boys Past Tsedeke Jakovics and Old Mill For 3A Title

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

Tsedeke Jakovics did everything he could to help Old Mill claim the 3A boys title at the Maryland state meet, but it wasn't enough to lift his squad past Gabriel Murray and Oakland Mills.

Jakovics, a Princeton commit, pulled off the elusive distance quadruple, winning the 800 meters (1:53.58), 1,600 meters (4:16.59) and 3,200 meters (9:32.55) and anchoring his 4x800 relay team (7:53.08) to a win. Those four wins accounted for over two-thirds of Old Mill’s 59 points.

Murray was the superstar for Oakland Mills. He won the 100 meters (10.66), 110-meter hurdles (13.85w) and 300-meter hurdles (37.10), and he took legs in the 4x200 (1:29.01) and 4x400 (3:18.00) relays, both of which took third. 

He had some help from his teammates in the field events, too. AJ York finished third in the long jump and tied for fifth in the high jump, and Keshon Tate won the triple jump (46-4.25w).

Rian Johnson from North Hagerstown put together an exceptional triple in the girls distance races. She won the 800 in 2:12.73, the 1,600 in 4:45.88 and the 3,200 in 10:25.74, personal bests in all three events. 

The Oakland Mills girls, meanwhile, won their own title in nail-biting fashion. Heading into the 4x400 meter relay, they sat seven points behind Howard, but they delivered when it mattered most, putting eight points on the board with a second place finish (3:54.97) behind Oxon Hill's 3:50.18. Centennial finished less than half a second back. If Centennial had beaten Oakland Mills, Howard would have won the overall title.

Oakland Mills performed well in the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays as well, taking second in the former and first in the latter. 

Janelle Codrington and Payton Buchanan led the way in the individual events. They finished third and sixth in the 100  hurdles, respectively, and third and fourth in the 300 hurdles. Buchanan also added a second in the 400 meters. Alicia Hall tacked on a win in the triple jump (39-9.25).

Class 4A

Cohren Corbin of North Point swept the 4A sprint finals and ran 11.58w to win the 100 meters, 23.62 to win the 200 and 55.20 to win the 400.

Coming into the meet, Urbana was projected to score 62 points on paper, well below Woodlawn’s 74.

Urbana scored 88 points, solidly beating Woodlawn’s 72.5. They performed especially well in the hurdles and jumps, far exceeding their projected totals in those categories. Divine Bamgboye took second in the 100-meter hurdles and won the 300-meter hurdles, while a quartet of jumpers, vaulters and throwers added on points in the field.

Felicia Siewe took second in the long jump and fifth in the shot put. Zikora Etolue took second in the triple jump. Julie Patchou won the discus. Bailey Smith took second in the pole vault. Between the four of them, they scored 38 points.

Woodlawn’s 72.5 points was enough for second. They were led by Destiny Coleman and Angela Fitzhugh, who scored 34.5 points in the sprints and hurdles (Fitzhugh tied for fourth in the 100 meters). Coleman blitzed throught the 100 hurdls in 13.25w.

They also won the 4x100 and 4x200  relays, and they took second in the 4x400 relay. Coleman was a part of all three relays and Fitzhugh was a part of the first two. 

On the boys side, Mergenthaler Vocational Tech enjoyed a dominant win, beating runner-up Crofton by 25 points. They only scored in six events, but they piled it on in those six. Justin DeVaughn and Deandre Thomas dominated the hurdles; DeVaughn won the 110-meter hurdles and took fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, while Thomas took second in both.

While they were at it, they decided to have some fun in the long jump as well; DeVaughn won that event, while Thomas picked up his third silver medal of the meet. 

They also helped Mergenthaler to a win in the 4x200 relay, and DeVaughn took a leg in the 4x100 meter relay, where they finished second. The only other Mergenthaler athlete to score individual points was Deon’ze Eldridge, who took third place in the 200 meters.

James Harrison from C.H. Flowers ran 10.41w in the prelims of the 100 meters and won the final in 10.57w.

Class 2A

The Westlake boys won the meet by 27 points, and 60 of their 81 points came from six events: the three individual sprints and the three sprint relays. 

David Nnabuko ran a time of 20.97 seconds to win the 200. He and Mekhi Prather scored 25 points combined in the 100 meters and 200 meters and led Westlake to wins in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. Chase Francis and Jayson Williams picked up points in the hurdles, while Noah Hospedales added some in the 400-meter dash and joined Nnabuko and Prather in the relays.

Harford Tech won the girls title with 109 points, also leaning heavily on their sprint and hurdle attack, but they also got some help in the field. The quartet of Winter Evans, Madisen Morgan, Destiny Baker and Madisyn Bobb scored a whopping 92 points by themselves across nine events. Baker won the 300 hurdles in 41.92 seconds. 

Class 1A

Smithsburg evidently doesn’t need a big squad to do damage. The girls team scored 100 points to win the 1A girls division — with just 10 scorers.

The majority of those points came from seven athletes, a group of sprinters and distance runners who competed in three or four events each. Jenna Howe picked up 14 points across the three individual sprint events and ran in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays, which her team won.

Her teammates Alaina Pate, Lillian Hade and Taylor King also put plenty of points on the board; King joined Howe on all of the sprint relays, while Pate finished seventh in the 100 meters and Hade scored in the 400 meters and pole vault.

On the distance side, the trio of Kayla Hawbecker, Core Gentzel and Ella Fisher picked up 27 points in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters, and they scored 10 more with a win in the 4x800 relay.

Western Tech came in second with 91 points thanks to a strong showing in the field events and hurdle races.

Meanwhile, the Liberty boys won a close team race, beating runner-up Friendly by five points, 87 to 82. Gregory Schellberg led the way, winning the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters and anchoring their 4x800 relay squad to second place. Liberty also picked up 33 points in the field events.

TEAM CHAMPIONS

Class 4A - Mergenthaler Vocational Tech boys, Urbana girls - RESULTS

Class 3A - Oakland Mills boys, Oakland Mills girls - RESULTS

Class 2A - Westlake boys, Harford Tech girls - RESULTS

Class 1A - Liberty boys, Smithsburg girls - RESULTS