C4 | SPORTS THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST | SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2018

Runner of the Year

JAIDA SMITHFREDERICK SENIOR SPRINTSn Won every race but one in the 55-meter dash. Also

finished undefeated in the 60 and 200 dashes and won the 300 dash at the Frederick County Public Schools and Central Maryland Conference championships, in addition to being part of the winning 800 relay at the FCPS meet.

n In her best event, the 55 dash, she ran the sixth-fastest time in the history of the state indoor meet (7.0001 seconds) to win her third consecutive title in the event for Class 3A.

n Set personal indoor records in the 55 dash (7.0001 seconds), the 60 dash (7.60), the 200 dash (24.84), the 300 dash (40.37) and the long jump (15 feet, 2 inches).

n Placed second in the 60 dash (7.60) in the junior division of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.

Field Athlete of the Year

PAIGE TOLBARDFREDERICK JUNIOR THROWSn Captured her first state title in the shot put with a

personal-best distance of 41 feet, 6¾ inches to win Class 3A at the state indoor meet. No other thrower in the field came within three inches of the mark.

n Won Frederick County Public Schools (38-11), Central Maryland Conference (40-3) and 3A West regional titles (38-2¾) in the shot put.

n Went on to place 10th (40-2¼) at the New Balance National Indoor Championships.

n Helped the Frederick girls place third in the team stand-ings at the state meet with 40 points.

FIRST TEAMELLA AUDERSETFRESHMAN MIDDLE DISTANCE

URBANA

n Her versatility shined with a county championship in the 800 run (2:28.34) and second-place finish in the 500 at Class 4A state meet. Also placed 21st at New Balance Indoor National Championships in 400.

HONORABLE MENTIONBrunswick—Olivia Estep, Amy Tarcza, Gretchen YoungCatoctin—Rachel WaldronFrederick—Kaia Jenerette, Dorcas Nyakiti, Bwari Ogendi, Malaya ReidLinganore—Ani Boghossian-JamesMiddletown—Kayla Dalhouse, Allie WattOakdale—Maegan Gabby, Katelynn Raumann, Alexa TarzyThomas Johnson—Ciara Bossaller, Deja Drummond, Deborah ObadofinTuscarora—Paris Hunter, Natalie Markoff, Destiny Noel, Haley StevensonUrbana—Susannah Auderset, Evyn Banawoye, Kelsey Calabrese, Rachel Custer, Riley Johnson, Lily Morrell, Shaye Morrell, Lydia RoblingWalkersville—Mara Leuciuc, Kasie Ogwulu, Joanna Saimbre

ELLY MCGILLIVRAYSENIOR DISTANCE

BRUNSWICK

n Turned in another outstanding season in the distance races, winning the 1A West regional championship in the 3,200 (12:28.39) before placing fourth at states. Also placed second at states in the 1,600 run after placing third at regionals.

DARDLIE LEFEVREJUNIOR MIDDLE DISTANCE

TUSCARORA

n Ran a personal-best time of 41.1 sec-onds in the 300 dash to place second in the Class 3A West regional meet before placing seventh at states. Also helped the Titans’ 800 (seventh place) and 1,600 reach the state meet.

RYANNA KIMBEMBESENIOR MIDDLE DISTANCE

TUSCARORA

n Won the Class 3A West regional title in the 800 run (2:27.34) before placing second at the state meet. Also the county champion in the 500 (1:20.71) and helped the Titans place second at states in the 3,200 relay.

KATIE GALLAGHERSENIOR HIGH JUMP

LINGANORE

n After overcoming an injury in the high jump in a previous season, she put it all together for her best season to date. Won the Class 3A championship in the event with a leap of 5 feet, 4 inches, one inch shy of her personal best.

ROSIE CICMANECSENIOR HIGH JUMP

BRUNSWICK

n Set a school indoor record in the high jump with a winning leap of 5 feet, 5 inches to win the Smithsburg Invitational in early January prior to winning her third straight Class 1A state title in the event.

PAYTON BOHRERJUNIOR POLE VAULT

URBANA

n Set a personal record of 10 feet, 9 inches to win the Class 4A state title in the pole vault. Also won the Frederick County Public Schools (10-5) and 4A Central regional titles in the event.

MIKHALE FOM MAYOUJUNIOR SHOT PUT

FREDERICK

n Alongside teammate Paige Tolbard, gave the Cadets a potent tandem in the shot put. Placed third in the Class 3A state meet with her best throw of the season (38 feet, 1 ½ inches) after placing second at regionals and second at the Frederick County Public Schools meet.

HANNAH MEREDITHSENIOR HURDLES, RELAYS

FREDERICK

n Turned in outstanding results all season in the 55-meter hurdles, winning the Cen-tral Maryland Conference (8.55 seconds) and Frederick County Public Schools (8.68) titles before placing second in Class 3A at the state meet with her top time (8.49).

MARY MILLERJUNIOR DISTANCE

URBANA

n Won the Central Maryland Conference championship in the 3,200 run (11:40.13) and helped the Hawks win the 3,200 relay at the CMC meet (10:14.73). Qualified for the Class 4A state meet in both the 1,600 and 3,200.

AUTUMN PARSONSENIOR SPRINTS, RELAYS

WALKERSVILLE

n Her finest season to date involved winning the Class 2A-1A West regional title in the 55-meter dash (7.50) before placing sixth at the state meet. Also qualified for states in the 300 (third in Class 2A) and the 800 relay (second in 2A).

BRIN STROUSEJUNIOR DISTANCE

URBANA

n In her first season of indoor track, ran her best time (5:19.71) to win the 1,600 run at the Frederick County Public Schools meet on her way to placing eighth at states. Also won the 3,200 at the FCPS meet with a personal best 11:35.38 and was sixth at states.

EMMA STRICKLANDSOPHOMORE MIDDLE DISTANCE

CATOCTIN

n Won her first state title in the Class 1A 800 run with a time of 2:27.22. Also won the Central Maryland Conference title in the race with a personal-best time of 2:23.74 before placing second at the 1A West regional meet.

GIRLS

By STEVE REEDAssociated Press

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Second-year Cup Series driver Erik Jones may be on the verge of getting a break-through win at Bristol Motor Speedway today.

Jones is coming off a fourth-place finish last week at Texas and has finished in the top 11 five times in seven Cup races this season. He also has a history of running well at Bristol, earning the pole last Au-gust and leading a race-high 260 laps before finishing second to cur-rent teammate Kyle Busch.

Add in that the 21-year-old had the top 10-lap average in the first practice Saturday, and there are the

makings of a first career Cup win.“Winning my first Cup race is

something that I really want to get done,” Jones said. “I feel like if we can get one knocked out of the way that more is kind of going to come with that, so we’re going to contin-ue to push this weekend.”

Jones won at Bristol in 2016 and 2017 in the Xfinity Series, so he cer-tainly knows his way around the half-mile track.

“It’s good to come back to a place where your team is fast, where you’re comfortable and the car unloads good,” Jones said. “We’ve had a good weekend so far, we just need to keep it heading that way.”

Things to watch at Bristol Motor

Speedway:

WEATHER CONCERNSNASCAR has moved the start of

the race to 1 p.m. due to the threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms in the area. But it may not matter as rain is predicted beginning in the morning and is expected to last all day and well into the night.

If the race is postponed, it will be run on Monday.

BUSCH CRASHES LATEKurt Busch was scheduled to

start on the outside of the front row but now is headed to the back of the field after a crash late in the fi-nal practice on Saturday.

Busch was in the midst of a late run when his No. 41 got into the in-side wall and suffered significant damage. The team has gone to a backup car, which means Busch will need to start at the rear of the 39-car field.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Brad Keselowski was in his trail-er Friday afternoon when he heard the roar of cars running around the track. He wondered to himself, “What’s that?” It turns out nobody had informed Keselowski that the practice session had been moved up 30 minutes.

Keselowski hustled to his car and got in to drive a few laps.

“That was different,” he said with a laugh. “I guess they changed the scheduling, and we didn’t know. I found out the fun way. Bet-ter that than the race.”

It didn’t seem to hurt Keselows-ki, who wound up qualifying third.

HARVICK STARTS IN BACK

Kevin Harvick has won three Cup Series races already this year, but it won’t be easy to win a fourth at Bristol starting at the back of the field. Harvick’s suspension broke in practice on Friday, and his car hit the outside wall hard. He was not hurt but was forced to turn to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend.

NASCAR’s Jones in search of breakthrough Cup win at Bristol