IAAM 2012 ITF CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
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This photo and story was written by Craig Amoss (camoss@runningmaryland.com) and provided to the IAAM through the courtesy of Running Maryland
McDonogh’s fourth consecutive IAAM indoor championship featured no such skin-of-the-teeth finish as was the MIAA finish, as the Eagles’ 158 points put them comfortably in front. But the Eagles weren’t quite the shoo-in they were in the past, as second-place Maryvale (87.5) and third-place Spalding (82.5) demonstrated that they had a talon or two as well. And unlike past McDonogh teams, which won with consummate ease, the 2012 version had to scratch and claw a bit.
But when the time came, McDonogh turned to a couple of old hands, seniors Jessica Caldwell and Autumne Franklin, who simply stooped and put the load on their shoulders. Caldwell took both the triple jump and the long jump, while Franklin was victorious in the hurdles and the 55-meter dash. Caldwell’s 32-10 in the triple jump was rather pedestrian by her own lofty standards, particularly someone who’s taking aim at the holy grail of 40 feet, but it’s also been a year where she’s had to deal with all of the distractions involving a high school senior trying to decide where she’ll ultimately become a college freshman.
“The whole process has been a lot busier than I expected,” said Caldwell, who has visited three college campuses already and is planning a fourth later this month. “If I had to advise future seniors, it would be just to prepare for the long year. It’s definitely a lot of back-and-forth communication, paperwork and research.”
She and the rest of the Eagles also had to prepare for a team that wasn’t perhaps quite as deep as it had been in years past. Whereas before the Eagles could virtually claim the top three spots in multiple events and leave behind only the scraps, now they have to spread themselves out a tad more. And with the graduation of distance ace Madeline Dulac, the Eagles dominance doesn’t cover the broad spectrum of events that it once did. That makes the presence of senior leaders such as Caldwell and Franklin even more important.
“This is a very different team,” said Franklin of here captainship. “The responsibilities are sort of the same—we’ve always had an active role—but it’s just this year we have a title for it so everyone knew to look up to us for things. Everything’s still basically the same, but it’s been a little harder to divide up events and relays because we have less people.”
But sometimes it isn’t how many people you have, but which ones. And if freshmen such as Lakim Hatcher, who placed first in the 300-meters, are any indication of what’s to come, McDonogh won’t be relinquishing its topmost perch without a fight.
“The team has definitely shifted,” said Caldwell. “But we have a lot of excellent young people. We have a ton of freshmen and sophomores who give their all in practice and come to meets and give one hundred and ten percent and are just doing excellent.”
If there was a central thread in these championships, it was about individual excellence, perhaps best personified by the likes of Catholic sophomore Ellie Gonzalez, Mount de Sales sophomore Jessica Harris, Maryvale senior Maggie Rampolla, and the Archbishop Spalding relays.
Gonzalez sailed through the 1600 in less time (4:57) than it takes most people to make eggs and toast. As an encore, she blazed through the 3200 in 11:03, meaning that in the two longest events of the meet, she spent a grand total of 16 minutes on the track.
“I wanted to maybe go a little faster, but you can only do what you can do,” she said.
If Rampolla junior faced Maggie Rampolla senior in the pole vault, the former would have been obliterated by two-and-half-feet. That’s because the Maryvale standout took a quantum leap at the championships, improving her 2011 winning height of 9-0 to 11-6 in this year’s championships. And although her state record attempt of 11-9 was delayed somewhat by an official measurement (for verification purposes, which she ultimately missed), a state record is certainly within the grasp of someone who ultimately has twelve feet in her sights come outdoor season.
“It (the wait) wasn’t that big of a distraction,” she said afterward. “But I would have liked to have gone ahead and just gotten it over with.”
Spalding’s relay teams certainly got things over with in a hurry as the Cavaliers’ 3200-relay team of Caitlin Anson, Elisa Heacock, Alie Kamm and Caitlynn McGuinness destroyed the old meet record by more than 30 seconds in 9:34. The Cavaliers also won the 800-meter relay and finished third in the 1600. And with only one senior on the 3200-relay in particular, the Cavaliers won’t be in a position to pass the torch instead of the baton anytime soon.
“It’s our coaches, to be honest,” said Anson, whose 2:22 time in the 800-meter set a meet record, but still behind Harris’s sit-up-and-take notice time of 2:16. “They’ve really brought us together.”
It will only be a short winter’s nap before all get together again. Outdoor season is less than six weeks away.
