What could Marquis Dendy have accomplished with indoor practice track facilities?
The
Middletown (Del.) senior superstar has been forced to practice outdoors all winter, yet soared a tremendous 25 feet, 9 ½ inches to win the long jump during the Mid-Atlantic Championships in Landover, Md.
He achieved a personal record and the all-time No. 3 indoor leap even though he has been concentrating on the triple jump and has had to fight snow and rain throughout the indoor season.
Marquis Dendy.
Photo courtesy of Joy Kamani
"The snow is gone and I can deal with the rain," he said philosophically. "This meet was supposed to be just a little warm-up for New Balance. I just wanted to stay home, stretch, relax in a hot tub and get my (sore) knees ready. Fact is, I was feeling good, so why not? I try to be really good on the board and wasn't thinking about distance," he pointed out.
Not being able to practice in good conditions, however, has messed with his timing. On his first jump he got off on his wrong foot and went less than 23 feet. That stood up just enough to qualify him for the finals, because he fouled on his next two jumps.
In the finals he fouled two more times (one going nearly 26 feet), but he came through with his winning effort on his sixth and final jump.
IRWIN VAULTS 17-6 1/2Mount Ida (Ark.) senior Andrew Irwin cleared an outstanding 17-6 ½ to win the pole vault during the Tri-Lakes Invitational in Lake Hamilton, Ark. It is the 14th-best effort all-time in an outdoors meet.
He started at 15-5 with just one other competitor still alive. Then the bar went to 17-1. As darkness set in, he made the winning height. He then switched to a stronger pole – the first time he ever used It - but failed three times at 17-9 ¼.
"Honestly, no," Irwin said when asked if he expected to do so well. "Practice the week before the meet was not that great. PRs (personal records) were flying all over the place. Fifteen people had PRs."
VENA BREAKS ARMORY RECORDMorristown (N.J.) senior Nick Vena broke the New Balance Armory shot put record with a toss of 71-3 ¼ during the Eastern States Championships in New York City.
Edward Cheserek of
St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) won the two-mile in a superb 9:02.4. Another outstanding distance runner, Jim Rosa of
West Windsor-Plainsboro North (Plainsboro, N.J.), finished second in 9:08.32.
Summit (N.J.) senior Mark Jones won the high jump at 6-10, edging Alex Bowen (Beacon, N.Y.) due to fewer misses.
CUFFE, NADEL SHINECornwall Central (New Windsor, N.Y.) senior Aisling Cuffe won the 3,000-meter run in 9:29.89 during the New York Indoor State Meet at Cornell University. Her clocking is a New York state record and No. 6 all-time. Samantha Nadel of
North Shore (Glen Head, N.Y.) finished second in 9:33.41, which broke Cuffe's junior state record.
MORGANN LELEUX CLEARS 14 FEETCatholic (New Iberia, La.) senior Morgann LeLeux reached No. 2 all-time when she pole vaulted an even 14 feet at the Streva Relays in New Iberia, La. It marked the second time this season that she has matched her personal outdoors record.
ANDRIE DOMINATES WYOMING MEETPaula Andrie scored 40 points for champion
Campbell County (Gillette, Wyo.) during the Wyoming State Indoor Meet in Gillette, Wyo. She won the 55 hurdles in 8.65 seconds, the pole vault at 12-6, the triple jump at 36-4 ¼ and the long jump at 17-5 ¾.
MEYERS RUNS 4:47.27 MILENorthwest (Seattle) junior Maddie Meyers, pushed by a field of collegians, ran the mile in an outstanding time of 4:47.27 during the University of Washington Final Qualifier in Seattle. She finished fourth in a strong field of 17.
BURNS SHINES IN HURDLESNorthwestern (Miami) sophomore hurdler Artie Burns appears to have a shot at national sophomore-class records held by Wayne Davis and Reggie Wyatt. During the Sam Burley Invitational in Miami, Burns won the 110 high hurdles in 13.77 and the 300 hurdles in 36.87. Davis ran the 110 hurdles in 13.65, while Wyatt covered the 300 in 35.90.
