CAMBRIDGE — Friday’s Bayside Conference outdoor track and field championship meet was the last for Kent Island High’s head coach Justin Holland, who is retiring from coaching at the end of this season.
And though Holland was not there for the finish, he may never forget the ending.
Parkside appeared headed for the girls’ team title, as it held a nine-point lead heading into the final event — the 4x400-meter relay. All the Rams needed was a top-nine finish and they would win the title.
But Parkside’s team did not show up for the relay, opening the door for the Buccaneers, whose team of Gabrielle Bernhard, Lacey Dauses, Reese Heyliger and Kendra Coffey took first place for 10 points, giving Kent Island the team championship by one point. The Bucs finished with 101 points to the Rams’ 100.
Cambridge-South Dorchester easily won the boys championship, totaling 119½ points. Kent Island rallied to finish in a second-place tie with Wicomico at 82 points.
Holland was at the meet at Cambridge-South Dorchester for over three hours, but left to go watch his son Austin’s lacrosse playoff at Kent Island. The Bucs’ longtime head coach continued to follow the meet’s progress, which was being streamed live.”
Parkside was winning the girls shot put, and was also the fifth seeded in the 4x400 relay, leaving Holland to believe the Bucs weren’t going to have enough to win.
Holland turned his phone off, watched some of the lacrosse game, then turned his phone back on to learn Parkside had finished second in the shot.
“I was like, ‘Oh. OK,’” Holland said.
After the game was over, Holland quickly got back on his phone. He was following the meet through David Dodson’s great technical work with updates, which for this meet provided relay splits.
“I’m watching the splits,” Holland said. “I think they (the Bucs’ 4x400 relay) were in third after the first lap, and then they moved up to second. And then they were first and I’m like, ‘OK. I think Gabby is the anchor so we should win this.’”
But when Holland called up the final results, it read Wicomico first, James M. Bennett second.
“I’m like, ‘What?’” Holland asked rhetorically. “What did we fall down or something? Holy cow.”
The final results were soon corrected to where Kent Island was first in the relay and first in the girls competition.
“It was definitely the most exciting (finish) in this situation,” Holland said. “And then of course I was immediately like, ‘Ah, I wish I could have been there.’ I can picture all the girls, how excited they were.”
Holland met the team when it arrived back at Kent Island and celebrated.
“We did everything we could and they didn’t,” Holland said of winning the title. “It’s the way it goes.”
The relay victory capped a four-win day for Bernhard, who broke her own conference record when she cleared 11 feet, 3 inches to win the pole vault. The senior who is headed for the U.S. Naval Academy after graduation, also won the 100-meter hurdles (15.90 seconds) and the 300 intermediate hurdles (46.48).
“I don’t know why but if it’s colder weather I do better,” Bernhard said of Friday’s blustery day which felt more like late November than early spring. “I don’t know why, but if it’s 90 degrees and hot, it’s just harder to run faster. I guess this is Gabby weather because I PR’d in pole vault today with 11-3. I haven’t PR’d in pole vault in a long time so that felt really good. I’m feeling pump. Finish out the season strong.”
Kent Island also got a big performance from Dauses, who won the 800 in 2:31.99 and was third in the 400 (1:02.75).
“She’s going to be a treat for whoever coaches her next year,” Holland said of Dauses, who has emerged as a standout.
Heyliger was second in the 400 (1:02.60).
Kent Island’s big finish wasn’t the only surprise of the meet.
Easton senior Siang Sama won the girls long jump with a personal-record leap of 16-4¾.
Then there was Colonel Richardson junior Aydan Downie, who in just his second time ever running the hurdles, rallied down the stretch to upset defending 1A state champion Tori Willis Jr. in the 300 hurdles in a time of 40.48.
“Last week I kind of did it on a whim,” Downie said of winning the North Bayside title in the 300. “I know he (Willis) wasn’t running his fastest. I feel great. It was a tough crowd to beat. I didn’t think I was going to get first. I think I’m going to try to focus on hurdles from here on ‘til states.
“Hundred percent,” Downie said when asked if he was surprised he beat Willis. “We got down to the final 100 and he was right there. I had a little bit of energy and I just gave it everything.”
Not surprising was the efforts of Queen Anne’s junior Ben Marks, who cruised to victory in the 1,600 meters 4:44.41, then destroyed the field en route to setting a new conference record of 1:55.86 while winning the 800.
“I put myself out there to go fast,” Marks said of the 800. “Came in with the right mentality, doing it all by myself today. Conditions weren’t always in my favor today. I’m not going to make excuses. I’m ready for more to come and more competition.”
Willis paced the Vikings to the boys title, winning the 110 hurdles in 15.08, followed by teammates Jayden Smith (2nd, 15.21) and Antonio Blueford (4th, 15.77). Willis was second in the 300 hurdles (40.58), followed by Blueford (41.20) in third and Smith (43.03) in fourth, and took fourth in the 100 (11.16).
Kent Island’s Evan Newcomer won the boys 400 in 50.95. Easton won the boys 4x800 relay, as Colin Smith, William Orndoff, Jacob Camper and Jonah Rosser won in 8:34.88. North Dorchester’s Vernon Price won the high jump in 6-0, and teammate Jase Todd took first ion the discus (132-1). And Queen Anne’s freshman JaDereon Thompson won the long jump in 22-¼.
North Caroline’s Brooke Sullivan, Linda Ridgell, Seanna Rupp and Morgan Knott won the girls’ 4x800 relay in 10:13.76. Cambridge-SD’s Le’Asia Todd won the high jump in 4-10, while teammate Kassidy Young was first in the discus (106-8).
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