Team effort keeps BH track streak alive

[eagle 09]

The numbers on the fieldhouse at the end of Eagle Stadium are in need of an update.

To the string of consecutive years as district track champion that began in 2002, Barbers Hill’s boys added 2009 Thursday night with a stirring finish to the District 19-4A track meet.

Never mind that the Eagles had to share this, their eighth-straight, title with North Forest after both teams finished with 123 points.

Eagles coach Dwayne Nunez sure doesn’t.

“We’ll be happy with co-champs,†he said. “The kids really performed well. I was proud.â€

Since winning the 2008 meet, Nunez had to cope this season without some big point scorers who graduated from last year’s team, the addition of Dayton to the district and the consolidation of Forest Brook and North Shore that formed North Forest High.

The speed of Dayton, which finished third with 104 points, and North Forest, teams that combined to win all three double-point relays, was a sight to see and something for the Eagles to overcome.

Of course, it took a total team effort.

“We knew it was going to be close,†Nunez said, “but I didn’t know if we were going to quite have enough. But when we came out of the 3,200 (Tuesday night) and we were in first place, I thought we had a chance.â€

Barbers Hill scored seven points in the 3,200 meters – a third by Tim Ramsey and a sixth-place finish by freshman Manuel Munoz – to move ahead of Dayton 44-42 at the end of the meet’s first day.

Munoz was one of two first-year performers for The Hill that scored a point each – junior Ethan Isaacks, who finished sixth in the 300 hurdles, was the other – in a meet where every point counted.

“Those young guys that got a point here and there really helped us,†Nunez said.

“We had a meeting Monday afternoon and went through every event where we thought we’d get points. After (Tuesday’s) prelims and 3,200, we met again Wednesday afternoon and they had an idea what we needed to do to win.

“Then they went out and did it.â€

The Eagles started strong Thursday, taking third place in the 4x100-meter relay for 12 points and then scoring 16 more points in the next event, the 800 meters, where Kyle Brown, Luke Crain and Sean Evans finished second, third and fourth.

“Getting third in the 4x100 was big and then to come in 2-3-4 in the 800, we were right in it and we battled hard all night.â€

Brown and Matthew Viverette led the Eagles’ scorers, with Brown adding a win in the 400 meters (50.78) and anchoring the fourth-place 4x400 relay that clinched the championship tie.

Viverette qualified for regionals in three events, with third-place finishes in the triple jump, 4x100 relay and 300 hurdles.

The Barbers Hill girls, led by runnerup finishes by Larissa Rios in the 3,200 and Jenna Silva in the 400 meters, wound up in third place, behind Kingwood Park and C.E. King.

The Crosby girls finished fifth while the Crosby boys, led by Chance Casey’s win in the 300 hurdles and seconds in the 110 hurdles and high jump, finished fourth.

Goose Creek Memorial finished seventh in the girls’ standings and its boys were eighth.

[ForeverTrack34]

BH does need to update their signs. While they are doing that they can fix an error that I spotted last time I was there, and that is Track and Field District Champs 1998 they in fact did not win that year the honor belongs to HF.