A trend of youthful champions has emerged from the
Southwest Preparatory Conference's track championship last
week.
Powered by gold-medal winning performances from sophomore
Richard Crawford, St. Mark's won the boys meet with 142.5
points. On the girls side, junior Kim Briant's gold in the 300
hurdles, long jump, sprint relay and mile relay helped
Greenhill to its second consecutive championship.
Afterward, both teams went to a local restaurant to
celebrate.
"We went there last year and the St. Mark's coaches bought
us dinner," Briant said. "This year, we had to buy our own."
 Kim
Briant |
The key to St. Mark's victory was the field events, where
Crawford won gold in the long jump and triple jump – to go
with gold in the 100 and 200 – and junior Kyle Thornton won
gold in the shot put and discus.
"We are getting a lot from our underclassmen," St. Mark's
coach John Turek said of 22 freshmen and sophomores. "Overall,
our depth is outstanding, with people scoring in every event."
Junior Michael Vick also claimed gold in the pole vault.
With Greenhill holding a slim lead over Episcopal Houston,
it was up to the 4 x 400 relay team of sophomores Mallory
Williams and Lindsey Jaggers, freshman Tiffany Carlson and
Briant to win for coach Tom Holodak, who is leaving the school
after 21 years.
Greenhill also got top performances from junior Autumn
Erickson, who won the high jump, Williams, who won the 100,
and senior Ashley Wellington, who had top-five showings in the
800, 1,600 and 3,200. The sprint relay team of freshman Megan
Fortenbery, Williams, Jaggers and Briant was also victorious.
Other local athletes winning gold at the SPC meet were
Greenhill senior David Knowles in boys high jump and Hockaday
girls senior Chichi Acho in the shot put.
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