By Titus Mohler
Correspondent

A girl’s track and field meet at King’s Fork High School featured some impressive performances, despite the plummeting temperature on Wednesday.

“Usually by now it’s a little milder,” Nansemond River head coach Robin Hirsch said. “It’s just really difficult for them to focus on really wanting to run.”

Nevertheless, they did, and NR standout Sha’Keela Saunders was among those who shone. She won the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 44.33 seconds and helped her team edge out King’s Fork to win the 4×100 relay with a 49.74 time.

When asked if her 300 hurdles time was a personal record, she had a surprising answer.

“That was my first time doing the 300 hurdles,” she said, “so it was a PR already.”

King’s Fork head coach Keisha Ricks was in good spirits as the meet drew to a close.

“My whole squad did particularly well,” she said. “My team is made up of a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so (they) really are coming on their own.”

A major star on the day for the Lady Bulldogs was Gabrielle Snipes, whose time of 12.54 seconds took first in the 100-meter dash. Then, her 16’5.5” leap won the long jump.

Lakeland had the most difficult go of it out of the Suffolk schools represented, but Coach Gregory Rountree provided perspective.

“It was average. We were missing a couple girls,” he said. “We got a couple of things that I think we could have (done) a little bit better; I think the cold affected them a little bit. But other than that, they gave it a hundred percent and we had a couple of season’s-best (scores) out of a couple of the girls.”

In the pole vault, Gabrielle Wash performed particularly well for Lakeland, placing second with a 7’6” score.

 

Wednesday’s Results:

 

Women’s Team Rankings

(17 Events Scored)

 

1) Western Branch High School, 207.50

2) Grassfield, 117

3) Indian River High School, 59

4) Great Bridge High School, 57

5) Hickory High School, 55.50

6) Nansemond River, 46.50

7) Kings Fork, 44.50

8) Deep Creek High School, 36

9) Lakeland, 15

10) Oscar Smith High School, 5

 

4Girls 100 Meter Dash: 1st-Snipes, Gabrielle, KF 12.54, 8th-Ricks, Courtney, KF 13.24, 9th-Lyles, Kara, NR 13.25, 15th-Barret, Kyiesha, L 13.71

4Girls 200 Meter Dash: 1st-Wright, Andrea, Indian River 24.99, 9th-Boone, Jasmine, NR 27.53, 13th-Myles, Te’Shaibrah, KF 28.31

 

4Girls 400 Meter Dash: 1st-Morton, Shannon, Indian River 1:00.17, 10th-Dixon, Kara, NR 1:05.80, 14th-Riddick, Lacresha, L 1:08.19, 17th-Cloudeh, Khadijah, L 1:08.94

 

4Girls 800 Meter Run: 1st-White, Ebony, Indian River 2:26.18

 

4Girls 1600 Meter Run: 1st-Mendes, Dominique, Western Branch 5:33.54

 

4Girls 3200 Meter Run: 1st-Cunniffe, Carolyn, Grassfield 11:37.09

 

4Girls 100 Meter Hurdles: 1st-Ellick, Tiffany, Western Branch 14.41

 

4Girls 300 Meter Hurdles: 1st-Saunders, Sha’Keela, NR 44.33, 6th-Spady, Roneka, KF 48.95, 7th-Hill, Danielle, KF 48.98, 9th-Ricks, Courtney, KF 51.35

 

4Girls 4×100 Meter Relay: 1st-Nansemond River ‘A’ 49.74, 2nd-Kings Fork ‘A’ 49.89, 6th-Lakeland ‘A’ 54.44

 

4Girls 4×400 Meter Relay: 1st-Indian River High School ‘A’ 4:03.96, 3rd-Nansemond River ‘A’ 4:22.33, 4th-Kings Fork ‘A’ 4:23.34

 

4Girls 4×800 Meter Relay: 1st-Hickory High School ‘A’ 11:12.35

 

4Girls High Jump: 1st-Smith, Heather, Great Bridge 5-00.00

 

4Girls Pole Vault: 1st-Rich, Cassandra, Grassfield 9-00.00, 2nd-Wash, Gabrielle, L 7-06.00, 4th-Ortiz, Laura, NR 7-00.00, 6th-Whitfield, Curtisha, KF 6-06.00

 

4Girls Long Jump: 1st-Snipes, Gabrielle, KF 16-05.50, 5th-Patterson, Markelle, NR 14-07.00, 6th-Riddick, Lacresha, L 14-05.00, 11th-Cloudeh, Khadijah, L 13-10.50

 

4Girls Triple Jump: 1st-Parks, Milan, Western Branch 35-03.00

 

4Girls Shot Put: 1st-Howell, Kiara, Grassfield 48-00.50, 3rd-Rashid, Zakiya, NR 34-04.00, 6th-Hinson, Hannah, KF 29-10.00

 

4Girls Discus Throw: 1st-Howell, Kiara, Grassfield 133-00, 3rd-Rashid, Zakiya, NR 92-08