Saniel Atkinson

More often than not, throwers stomp into the circle like an angry adolescent, perform their pre-throw ritual and send the shot put into the air then release a scream that hopes to frighten the ball a few inches farther.

Despite losing their head coach and several key legs due to graduation from last year, the Eleanor Roosevelt girls still find a way to rise to the top on the national leaderboard in the relays as shown with their 1:38.27 clocking in the 4x200 meter relay at the Virginia Invitational, which could stay as the #1 time for quite some time. The state of Maryland produced 3 US #1 performances this weekend in Blacksburg including Afia Charles of Eleanor Roosevelt beating two previous US #1 leaders in the 500 meter dash (1:14.69) and Saniel Atkinson of Bishop McNamara now sharing the top performance in the high jump at 5'9". (Photo by Brandon Miles) 5 New US #1 Leaders Girls 4x200 - Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) 1:38.27 Girls 4x400 - Bethel (VA) 3:48.91 Girls 4x800 - Southern Regional (NJ) 9:07.67 Girls 500 - Afia Charles (Eleanor Roosevelt MD) 1:14.69 Girls High Jump - Saniel Atkinson (Bishop McNamara MD) 5'9"

The State of Maryland produced 12 Girls All American individuals and teams, along with three National Champions! All three National Championships were taken by Eleanor Roosevelt HS in the 4x4 (4:05.5), 1600 Medley (3:54.3), and 4x8 (9:14.82). The \"Blazin Raiders\" also took home a second place finish in the DMR with a time of 12:07.3. Theresa Lewis took home the bronze medal in the 60m Hurdles, running 8.42. She also nabbed a bronze medal running in the 4x55 Shuttle Hurdles with Flying Doves TC. MD had three 4th place finishers in Tameka Jameson (2:12.85, 800m), Alison Smith (4:57.09, 1 Mile), and Flying Doves TC (1:43.00, 4x2). Maryland also has three fifth place finishers in Teshika Rivers (5:17.37, Fresh Mile), Saniel Atkinson (5-05, HJ), and McDonogh School (1:43.38, 4x2). MD had one sixth place finisher in Kristin Malloy (Fresh Mile, 5:17.80) Congrats to our All Americans, and a list of all Maryland finishers is inside!