Ramstein's John Lowder, right, anchor man on the 4x100 meter relay team, crosses the finish line in 44.29 for first place. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Ramstein's John Lowder, right, anchor man on the 4x100 meter relay team, crosses the finish line in 44.29 for first place. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Heidelberg's Christine Holland, left, overtakes Tiffany Heard of Ansbach, next to her, to win the 200-meter dash at the European track and field championships. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Aviano's Shelby Yoakum is assisted after she collapsed after winning the 1,500. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Julius Johnson-Rich, left, of Patch wins the 100-meter dash in 11.46 seconds, ahead of teammate Benji Bowles, right, and Ramstein's Chris Williams. Johnson-Rich also won the 200- and 400-meter events (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Christine Holland of Heidelberg, left, poses with Ansbach's Tiffany Heard after the two received their medals at the DODDS-Europe track and field championships Sunday. Holland won three gold medals — in the 100 and 200 dashes and the 4x100 meter relay — while Heard won the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and took second in the 200-meter race. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
RüSSELSHEIM, Germany — .
At the gun, Heard exploded out of the blocks, and 15.3 seconds later she crossed the finish line with a victory and a European record Saturday in the 100-meter hurdles at the DODDS-Europe Track and Field Championship.
"I worked really hard and it means a lot," said Heard, an Ansbach sophomore. "I’ve come a long way."
She had. At the start of the season, Heard was running 16.9 seconds. But she pushed herself with 400-meter training runs for endurance plus 200s and 100s for speed. She honed the attitude of running "through" the 33-inch high hurdles instead of bounding over them.
"Overcoming the fear of the hurdles is the key," said Mike Jimerson, Ansbach’s hurdles coach. "Once you overcome the hurdles and develop respect for them, it kind of changes who you are."
Heard’s electronically measured time was 15.53, but .24 was subtracted, and 15.29 was rounded to 15.3, to equalize with hand-held times in the record book per the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Heard later won the 300-meter hurdles in 46.33 seconds and was named girls MVP for running.
Julius Johnson-Rich of Patch, the boys’ running MVP, won the 100, 200 and 400 meters in 11.46, 22.99 and 50.67 seconds, respectively.
"In the 100 you need a perfect start; in the 200 you’ve got to work the corner; in the 400 you’ve got to pace yourself and make the others work harder than you do," Johnson-Rich said.
Lakenheath’s Taylor Wright earned girls MVP for field events, finishing second in the long jump and first in the triple jump (36 feet, 8½ inches). Ansbach’s Xavier Sheppard, with silvers in the high and long jumps and gold in the triple jump (43-7¾), was boys MVP in field events.
In Saturday’s first race, Kaiserslautern beat Ramstein in the two teams’ ongoing duel in the boys 3,200 relay. The teams raced four times earlier this season with each winning twice. On Saturday, Kaiserslautern’s Ryan Berry found himself just a few feet behind as he took the baton for the final leg against Ramstein’s anchor, Kel Secrest.
"I wanted to trail behind him until the last 100 meters and then kick it in," Berry said.
Sure enough, Berry used his speed to pass Secrest in the final meters as Kaiserslautern finished in 8:26.77 to win by two strides.
Charlie Patten, Kaiserslautern’s distance coach, said that while Berry’s kick sealed the win, Alex Cunningham’s solid 800 meters to lead off, followed by personal-best times by Eric Perez and Michael Salinger in the middle legs, put Berry in position to win.
"That’s where you want to be — within striking distance," Patten said.
Other relay winners were Kaiserslautern (girls 1,600, 3,200) Wiesbaden (girls sprint medley) Heidelberg (girls 400) Ramstein (boys 400, sprint medley) and Würzburg (boys 1,600).
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