Saturday, March 22, 1997

Hendrick/All-American City Track Classic

By BILL HART

Senior Staff Writer

Paul McClendon's day started before sunrise Friday, but it turned out to successful for the senior from Stamford.

He stopped in Anson at 8 a.m. and competed in the District 7-2A University Interscholastic League literary events, helping his computer science team win first place.

Then he came to the Hendrick All-American City Track Classic and won two events in Division III, the only boys division. His 23-3 long jump was a half-inch off his personal best and his 6-6 high jump matched his previous best.

Jaclyn Owusu led a 1-2-4 long jump finish to help Big Spring take the first day lead in Division I with 63 points, 22 coming in that event alone. Stephenville has 27 points and defending champion Wylie has 26.

McClendon was competing in the two events at the same time and at opposite ends of Elmer Gray Stadium. However, he didn't take his last two long jumps in order to concentrate on the high jump.

"I don't like doing two events at a time because you're doing a lot of running back and forth," he said. "My legs were tired toward the end of the high jump, but we had two hard practices earlier in the week and my legs were sore from a lot of bounding."

He and Mike Beasley of Eastland both cleared 6-6, but McClendon won on fewer misses. He won the long jump by almost a foot. Eastland leads Division III with 43 points.ep McClendon also ran his fastest 400 of the year, 49.84, but was a distant second in his heat to Roy Williams of Clarendon, who was fully automatically timed in 48.00, one of the best times in the state this year.

Owusu, who wears a knee brace, beat teammate Keesha Lott, who was second at 16-81/2 and the two have been 1-2 in most meets this year, but necessarily in this order.

"We have a friendly rivalry," said Owusu, who formerly lived in Abilene and is the daughter of Ghana Olympian Josh Owusu. "If she (Lott) jumps well, I try to beat that, but if I jump well, she wants to beat me.

"I injured my knee at a regional qualifiers meet last year, but it doesn't hurt much and the brace doesn't affect my jumping. I've had problems keeping my head up after I hit the board, but today I didn't and I had my best jump of the year."

Nadia Cole gave Big Spring another win when she had a season's best 39-11, but Wylie netted the other two first places. Meredith Ripley had tied Dee Hill at 5-0 in the high jump, then cleared 5-1 in a jumpoff to win. Tamika Lamb threw the discus 112-11 to win that event.

Jeanna Kozelsky of Winters high jumped 5-0, Hillerie Shelton of Cisco long jumped 16-81/2, Kim Alexander of Clarendon put the shot 34-10 and Melissa Keener of Klondike threw the discus 118-4 for gold medals in the Division II field events. Clarendon scored 28 points and is one ahead of Wintrs.

Joining McClendon in the winners circle were Bowie pole vaulter Dustin Hunter (14-0), Eastland discus thrower Dustin Walker (152-8) and Bowie shotputter Mark Young (47-6).

The only running final Friday was the 3,200 and Kristy Frank of Stephenville won the Division I title in 12:26.01, Melissa Harrington of Lake View JV won the Division II race in 13:32.08 and Mike Ashley of Bowie won the III race in 11:05.3

DIVISION I GIRLS

Team totals (after 5 events) - 1. Big Spring 63; 2. Stephenville 27; 3.Wylie 26; 4. Lake View 24; 4. 5. Snyder 8; 6. Merkel 4; 7. Dalhrt 2; 8. Sonora 1.

3,200 - 1. Kristy Frank, Stephenville, 12:22.39; 2. Bridgette Wilson, Big Spring, 12:26.01; 3. Crystal Watson, Lake View, 12:47.71; 4. Lauren Harris, Stephenville, 13:01.57; 5. Sharla Leifeste, Lake View, 13:08.17; 6. Brandie Powell, Lake View, 13:18.58.

Long jump - 1. Jaclyn Owusu, Big Spring, 17-61/2; 2. Keesha Lott, Big Spring, 16-81/2; 3. Devon Reed, Snyder, 16-33/4; 4. Krissi McWherter, Big Spring, 15-93/4; 5. Heather Hatchett, Wylie, 15-83/4; 6. Christi Bulloch, Lake View, 15-2.

Discus - 1. Tamika Lamb, Wylie, 112-11; 2. Gina Valdez, Big Spring, 110-0; 3. Kim Williford, Lake View, 106-11; 4. Paula Lansford, Stephenville, 95-5; 5. Tiffany Tidwell, Stephenville, 89-0; 6. Fara Rives, Stephenville, 85-1.

High jump - 1. Meredith Ripley, Wylie, 5-0 (Ripley won jumpoff at 5-1); 2. Dee Hill, Big Spring, 5-0; 3. Krissi McWherter, Big Spring, 5-0; 4. McKinsey Laird, Merkel, 4-10; 5. Alicia Peoples, Snyder, 4-10; 6. Cara Mayfield, Sonora, 4-10.

Shot put - 1. Nadia Cole, Big Spring, 39-11; 2. Kim Williford, Lake View, 36-1; 3. Krystal Jones, Stephenville, 33-10; 4. Tamika Lamb, Wylie, 32-11; 5. Tara Ballew, Dalhart, 32-5; 6. Karen Parendez, Big Spring, 31-9.

DIVISION II GIRLS

Team totals - 1. Clarendon 28; 2.Winters 27; 3.Whiteface 22; 4. Cisco 21;; 5. Klondike 16; 6. Lake View JV 14; 7. Stamford 12; 8. Tie, Coahoma 6, Crosbyton 6; 10. Tie, Wylie JV 1, Stephenville JV 1, Throckmorton 1.

3,200 - 1. Melissa Harrington, Lake View JV, 13:32.08; 2. Noemi Vega, Winers, 13:38.32; 3. J. Shock, Crosbyton, 13:50.97; 4. Misty Daniels, Lake View JV, 14:23.75; 5. Noemi Vega, Winters, 14:34.30; 6. Amanda Ward, Wylie JV, 14:39.53.

Shot put - 1 Kim Alexander, Clarendon, 34-10; 2. Kasi Ashcraft, Clarendon, 33-0; 3. Melissa Keener, Klondike, 31-9; 4. Rachel Ashmore, Whiteface, 29- 101/2; 6. Paige Grissom, Stephenville JV, 28-11.

Long jump - 1. Hillerie Shelton, Cisco, 16-81/2; 2. Dee Dugas, Cisco, 16-3; 3. Jeanna Kozelsky, Winters, 16-13/4; 4. Mandy Weatherton, Clarendon, 15-61/4; 5. Alicia Lawrence, Cisco, 15-11/2; 6. Karen Oats, Winters, 15-0.

High jump - 1. Jeanna Kozelsky, Winters, 5-0; 2. Amy Foote, Whiteface, 4-10; 3. Krista Stanislaus, Coahoma, 4-10; 4. Sarah McClendon, Stamford, 4-10; 5. Janan Bankhead, Whiteface, 4-10; 6. Georgia Hargrove, Throckmorton, 4-8.

Discus - 1. Melissa Keener, Klondike, 118-4; 2. Rachel Ashmore, White face, 94-3; 3. Kasi Ashcraft, Clarendon, 94-3; 4. Lezli Smith, Stamford, 91-8; 5. Lisa Campbell, Stamford, 89-10; 6. Brianna Frazier, Cisco, 89-7.

DIVISION III BOYS

Team totals - 1. Eastland 43; 2. Bowie 39; 3. Stamford 35; 4. Breckenridge 251/2; 5. Cisco 14; 6. Wellington 12; 7. Merkel 6; 8. Abilene JV 4; 9. Throckmorton 1/2.

3,200 - 1. Mike Ashley, Bowie, 11:05.3; 2. Joel Moore, Eastland, 11:24.1; 3. Wesley Needham, Wellington, 12:15.1.

Shot put - 1. Mark Young, Bowie, 47-6; 2. Dustin Walker, Eastland, 46-11; 3. Jeremy Stinnett, Stamford, 46-2; 4. Jamie Whitt, Breckenridge, 44-10; 5. Richard Whitmire, Breckenridge, 39-11; 6. Chris Christian, Breckenridge, 39-4.

Long jump - 1. Paul McClendon, Stamford, 23-3; 2. Julius Reed, Cisco, 21-8; 3. Brian Lerma, Merkel, 20-7; 4. Daniel Toof, Cisco, 20-3; 5. Chancelor Fletcher, Cisco, 20-2; 6. Mike Beasley, Eastland, 20-1.

Pole vault - 1. Dustin Hunter, Bowie, 14-0; 2. Thor Thornhill, Bowie, 13-6; 3. Ryan Smalley, Breckenridge, 13-6; 4. Casey Perkins, Abilene High JV, 13-0; 5. Nathan Kidd, Eastland, 13-0; 6. Tie, James Gober, Throckmorton, 11-6, and Michael Boyd, Breckenridge, 11-6..

Discus - 1. Dustin Walker, Eastland, 152-8; 2. Jeremy Stinnett, Stamford, 149-0; 3. Jeff Willis, Breckenridge, 144-7; 4. Jason McKoy, Breckenridge, 144-1; 5. Mark Young, Bowie, 129-9; 6. Chris Levens, Stamford, 123-11.

High jump - 1. Paul McClendon, Stamford, 6-6; 2. Mike Beasley, Eastland, 6-6; 3. Dean Beasley, Eastland, 6-4; 4. Kevin Thomas, Wellington, 6-0; 5. Nakia Nash, Wellington, 6-0; 6. Will Holt, Breckenridge, 6-0.