Wiesbaden's Phylecia Faublas, center, won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.36 seconds. Second was Abigail Diaz, left, and Bitburg's Brettina Thomas was third. At right is Ansbach's Jennifer Strosnider, who finished sixth. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden's Phylecia Faublas, center, won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.36 seconds. Second was Abigail Diaz, left, and Bitburg's Brettina Thomas was third. At right is Ansbach's Jennifer Strosnider, who finished sixth. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck's Renanzo Williams reacts to winning the 110-meter hurdles in 16.07 seconds. At left is Lakenheath's Keenan Couture, who finished third, and at right is Michael Johnson of Ramstein, who was fourth. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
After winning Friday's long jump, Heidelberg's Wayne Dawkins captured the gold in the triple jump with a leap of 46 feet, 2.5 inches. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Tony Legare of AFNORTH took the discus title at the DODDS-Europe track and field championships with a throw of 141 feet, 6 inches. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Christian Mack of Naples, center, sprints to the finish line to capture the 100-meter dash in 11.20 seconds. At left is Bitburg's Corey Evans, who finished third, at right is 200-meter champion Shawn Peebles of Vlseck, who was fourth. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Anchor Roscoe Williams sprints to the finish line to give Wiesbaden the win in the 4x100-meter relay at the DODDS-Europe track and field finals. Williams and his teammates won in 43.34 seconds, ahead of Vilseck and Hohenfels (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's Jada Perry won the long jump competition at the DODDS-Europe track and field championships with a leap of 16 feet, 10 inches. Second was teammate Grace Gonzales and AFNORTH's Sara Sawyer was third. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Jessica Kafer leads Patch's Christina Hamilton, Baileigh Sessions and Hannah Rose around the track early in the 1,600-meter race. Kafer won in 5 minutes, 13.08 seconds ahead of Sessions and Ramstein's Anna Priddy. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Maria Beard of Naples won the shot put event with a throw of 33 feet, 3 inches. Second was Vilseck's Chloe Pomele, ahead of Aviano's Kyerha Smith. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck's David Lance bursts out of the blocks on his way to winning the 400-meter race in 49.96 seconds. Holding the blocks is Ben Nelson. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
SHAPE's Mishal Cotugno, right, leads Lakenheath's Uria Thomas and Patch's Julia Lockridge into the final lap in the 800-meter race. Cotugno won in 2 minutes 22.93 seconds. Lockridge was second and Thomas seventh. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
AFNORTH's Sara Sawyer, center, sprints to the finish line in the 200-meter race at the DODDS-Europe track and field championships. At left is Heidelberg's Ayanna Bernard, who finished second and Vilseck's Monica Way, who came in fourth. Sawyer's time was 26.60 seconds. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck's Shawn Peebles, right, won the 200-meter race in 22.44 seconds ahead of teammate James Suemenoglu and Lamar Benjamin of Hohenfels, left. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Brian Hannum sprints to the finish line to win the 3,200-meter race at the DODDS-Europe track and field championships in Russelsheim, Germany, Saturday. Hannum won in 9 minutes 53.68 seconds, ahead of Michael Lawson and Sean Davis of Kaiserslautern. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
David Hoke of Heidelberg won the 300-meter hurdles in 40.45 seconds. At left is Ramstein's Michael Johnson, who was third, (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ashley Forte of Naples sprints to the finish line to win the 400-meter race in 1 minute 0.13 seconds. Baumholder's Dionna Marcus was second. Abigail Diaz of Patch was third. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck's Sharmil Whyatt won the high jump competition at 5 feet, ahead of Caprice Lockett of Ansbach and Angela Powell of Kaiserslautern. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Jaap Van Gaalen rounds the final curve while anchoring the 4x800-meter relay. Along with teammates Virgil Sneed, Carl Lewenhaupt and Jackson Bargery, the Royals won the event in 8 minutes 14.44 seconds, ahead of Heidelberg and Kaiserslautern. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Patch's Abigail Diaz clears the final hurdle on her way to winning the 300 meter event in 46.73 seconds. At left is Vicenza's Ashley Edwards, who finished second. At right is Jada Vaughn of Hohenfels, who was fourth. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's Briana Williams, Jada Perry, Jada Bostic and Hannah McPherson won the 4 x 100-meter relay in 43.34 seconds ahead of Vilseck and Hohenfels. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Menwith Hill's Mikala McClain, left, took the gold in the 100-meter race in a time of 13.09 seconds, ahead of Bamberg's Kayla Rainey, center, and Briana Williams of Kaiserslautern, right. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
RUSSELSHEIM, Germany – What a difference a day can make.
At the DODDS-Europe track and field championships on Friday, Heidelberg distance ace Brian Hannum collapsed in second place across the finish line in the 1,600-meter run.
In Saturday’s 3,200-meter final, Hannum sprinted to the finish en route to a personal best time of 9 minutes, 53.68 seconds and the perfect ending to his high school running career.
“This is the best moment of my senior year so far,” he beamed after the race.
Hannum’s run was among a number of stellar performances turned in by DODDS-Europe athletes on the second and final day of the championships.
Leading the way were Vilseck’s David Lance, Ramstein’s Jessica Kafer, AFNorth’s Sara Sawyer and Heidelberg’s Wayne Dawkins. The four seniors were named the meet’s most valuable performers.
Sawyer scored 26 points by herself to lead AFNORTH to the girls’ Division II team title with wins in the triple jump and 200-meter dash and a bronze medal in the long jump.
“It’s bittersweet. This is it. She’s gone,” AFNORTH track coach D.C. McDonald said of his senior, whom he’s coached since middle school.
Dawkins won a pair of gold medals in the triple and long jumps. In the triple jump Saturday, Dawkins hit 46 feet, 2.5 inches to break his own school record and beat Aviano’s Darien Cornett, whom he credits with bringing out his best. “That guy is persistent,” Dawkins said of Cornett. “Every year, I jump something, and he betters it. We go back and forth. “
After winning the 3,200 decisively on Friday, Kafer came back to score another gold medal in the 1,600 on Saturday, finishing in 5:13.08, ahead of Patch sophomore Baileigh Sessions, who finished in 5:16.97. Kafer also medaled in the 800.
“You can’t even say enough about her,” Ramstein track coach Will Buckley said. “She works hard. She’s very dedicated.”
After winning the 800 on Friday, Lance added gold medals Saturday in the 400 and the 1,600 sprint medley. He almost added a fourth in the 1,600 relay, but he couldn’t quite close the gap on Ramstein’s Jaap Van Gaalen on the anchor leg.
But the Vilseck boys didn’t need to win the meet’s final event to earn their first-ever team title in track and field, according to Vilseck track coach Eric Mead.
The one-two finish of Vilseck’s Shawn Peebles and James Suemenoglu in the boys’ 200 “sealed the deal,” Mead said.
“We had a group of seniors that really pulled through,” Mead said of the team win, singling out the performances of Lance and senior Renanzo Williams. Williams was in tears after winning the 110 hurdles in 16.07. “I worked so hard this year,” he said. “Last year I got beat. I’m so happy I went to practice on the days I didn’t want to go.”
Equally thrilled with his victory was Heidelberg’s David Hoke in the 300 hurdles. He clocked 40.45 seconds to just beat Williams, who finished in 41.16 seconds.
Patch’s girls earned their first team victory in recent memory on the legs of 12 girls. Coach Josh McCall noted the gusty performance of freshman Julia Lockridge, who ran back-to-back 800s, medaling in the open 800 and anchoring the Panthers’ winning 1,600 sprint medley with a gash in her ankle.
Other noteworthy performances Saturday included:
- The Wiesbaden boys and the Kaiserslautern girls won their respective 400-meter relays. The Wiesbaden team of sophomore De’ Quan Reed, seniors Brian Sealey and Matthew Jordan, and junior Roscoe Johnson crossed the line in 43.34 seconds. “It’s so much fun. There’s nothing like it,” Jordan said of competing in the European championships. For Kaiserslautern, juniors Jada Perry and Hannah McPherson, freshman Jada Bostic and senior Briana Williams won in 50.38 seconds. Perry also won the long jump, hitting a season’s best of 16 feet, 10 inches on her final jump.
- In the girls’ 100, Menwith Hills freshman speedster Mikala McClain held off a strong field to win in 12.90 seconds. On the boys’ side, Naples sophomore Christian Mack won in a finish so close that even the fans weren’t sure who was first. Mack edged Wiesbaden’s Brian Sealey, 11.20 to 11.22 seconds.
- The Ramstein boys’ winning 3,200-meter relay team of Virgil Sneed, Carl Lewenhaupt, Jackson Bargery and Van Gaalen ran 8:14.44, missing the DODDS-Europe record by a handful of seconds.
- Patch senior Abigail Diaz won the 300 hurdles in 46.53 seconds, shortly after finishing third in the 400.
- Heidelberg’s girls – Courtney Morgan, Adellah Summerlin, RaeAnn Stark and Shanice Harmon - won a thrilling 1,600-meter relay, edging Patch at the finish, 4:16.99 to 4:17.14.
