Area athletes claim 9 titles at Class 1A state track meet; Alco girls place 2nd

May 25—LANDOVER — Carter Hess and Brandi Gochenauer completed their three-peats, MaeLeigh Plummer got two state titles, Lydia Nelson took one and Avery Miller completed a historic three-year run at the Maryland Class 1A outdoor track and field state championships this week in Landover.

The Camper girls team placed second overall, their highest finish in school history.

"Placing second at states is a true accomplishment and a testament to what these young ladies are made of," Allegany girls track and field coach Katie Rice said. "They show up every day to practice, ready to work hard and continue to build on their successes.

"No one is complacent and satisfied with where they currently are. They dig deep and find that extra that it takes to be champions. We are blessed as coaches to have these young ladies in our track program and the future is bright."

Allegany's Miller, who won four individual events last year, became the first girl in the 52-year history of the Maryland outdoor track and field championships to win the maximum four events twice.

She won the 100m (12.03), 200m (24.65), 400m (55.30) and long jump (18' 10.5"), setting personal bests in all three running events with a dominating average margin of victory of 1.59 seconds. She also won the long jump by over two feet.

"I went into the races knowing that I was the top seed, so I was confident," Miller said. "We have worked so hard preparing physically. I knew I just needed to run my race like I always do.

"When I won the long jump for my fourth win I was relieved. It was tougher mentally this year but easier physically. Coach (George) Brown and coach Rice had us really well-prepared. I felt strong."

Miller completes her junior season with 10 individual outdoor track and field titles. Only Kisha Jett of Hammond and Sally Glynn of Walter Johnson sit above Miller on the all-time career state titles leaderboard. She will have a chance to surpass them as a senior. Both Jett and Glynn went on to become collegiate All-Americans at Florida and Stanford, respectively.

Hess of Fort Hill was no less dominant in the discus. His winning throw of 189' 3" is the second-best in the history of the boys meet, regardless of class, and the furthest ever in Class 1A.

Only Vikas Gowda's heave of 200' 2" for Frederick in 2001 was longer in Maryland's history. It was also a personal best for Hess by 17 feet.

"This state championship in disc definitely feels a little more special than my previous two," Hess said. "Getting the second-best of all time in Maryland wasn't my initial goal going into the season, but I saw an opportunity to make improvements to how I was throwing and happened to peak at the perfect time.

"It was an honor to be able to compete all four years of high school and I am more than grateful for the support I received from everybody throughout the season. Especially my coach for letting me practice whenever I was able to, propelling me to another gold."

The future Fordham football player completed an incredible senior season where he collected state titles in football and wrestling as well.

The Sentinels' Plummer also claimed two state titles. She won the triple jump with a mark of 36' 10.75" and the high jump at 5' 2". She also earned points by finishing fifth in long jump (15' 8.75").

"The first day I was truly set on getting third on second. I was holding my second-place spot for a while until my final jump in the finals," Plummer said of the triple jump event. "I was so excited because I thought I messed it up for myself with the way I landed.

"The second day was a little rougher, but I gave it everything I had for the high jump. I had amazing competition who weren't making it easy. I'm truly happy that I could take the gold home for my county and represent well."

Gochenauer, a Towson commit, threw 36' 2.5" to win her third straight state title in shot put. She also finished second in the discus (114' 8").

"I thought my win was a great way to finish off my senior season and it's been an honor to win my third state championship in shot put," Gochenauer said. "Though I finished second in discus, I'm glad I got to break my school's record in my last meet as a high school student."

Northern's Nelson, signed to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, took home gold in the 1600m (5:11.77). She finished second in the 800m (2:19.37) and fourth in the 3200m (12:01.43). She teamed with Kaylee Bowser, Emma Hostetler and McKenzie Upole to take third in the 4x800 relay (9:55.22).

Athletes earn points for their team by finishing in the top eight in an event, and the Allegany girls' 79 points placed them second to Smithsburg, which scored 112.

Sierra Campbell added to the Campers' total by finishing second in long jump, third in triple jump and sixth in high jump. Myia Miller claimed a sixth-place finish in pole vault, and the 4x800 team of Morgan Trautwein, Morgan Ruggles, Ellena Nelson and Sophia Valois finished seventh.

"Clearly, their main story is always about Avery Miller, and rightfully so," coach Rice said. "However, there are so many talented student-athletes on the girls' team. ... We hope to do some in school recruiting next season, as I'm sure there are girls out there that can help round-out our program even more."

The following area athletes also earned points for their teams:

Boys

—Andrew Highland, Allegany, shot put (3rd), discus (3rd)

—Ackerly Mulcaster, Mountain Ridge, 1600m (4th), 3200m (8th)

—Dae Dae Smith, Allegany, triple jump (4th), long jump (8th)

—Mountain Ridge 4x800 relay of Landon Sweitzer, Austin Simpson, Mulcaster, Owen Pratt (4th)

—Andrew Ketterman, Mountain Ridge, discus (5th), pole vault (8th)

—Zach Haberlein, Mountain Ridge, long jump (5th)

—Mountain Ridge 4x100 relay of Noah Blank, Eli Cooper, Ethan DeRiso, Haberlein (6th)

—Allegany 4x100 relay of Smith, Macello Kitchen, Brody Williams, Jacob Salonish (7th)

—Fort Hill 4x400 relay of Landon Sensabaugh, Nick Willison, Hamilton, Chase Lamb (7th)

—Liam Hamilton, Fort Hill, 300m hurdles (8th)

—Mountain Ridge 4x200 relay of Cooper, DeRiso, Haberlein, Will Patterson (8th)

Girls

—Mountain Ridge 4x400 relay of Emma Michael, Rizzo, Sydney Snyder, Kealana Pua'ali (2nd)

—Ella Bennett, Fort Hill, high jump (3rd)

—Sophia Brill, Mountain Ridge, 1600m (4th), 3200m (8th)

—Mountain Ridge 4x800 relay of Snyder, Brylee Gray, Fiona Ruddell, Brill (4th)

—Mountain Ridge 4x100 relay of Reese Rizzo, Annabeth Hughes, Allie Knieriem, Layla Miller (5th)

—Carolyn Hughes, Mountain Ridge, 100 hurdles (6th), 300 hurdles (6th)

—Reghan Sivic, Mountain Ridge, pole vault (6th), triple jump (8th)

—Brenly Hershberger, Fort Hill, discus (7th)

—Kaylee Bowser, Northern, long jump (8th)

—Abby Butina, Southern, 400m (8th)

—Abbi Beeman, Southern, discus (8th)

Note: If any area athletes that earned points were not included above, email sports@times-news.com

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.