Wharton routs field at USF meet

The Wildcat boys win the Charles Johnson Invitational by 66 points, the girls by 72.

By THOMAS SIMONETTI
Published March 13, 2005

TAMPA - Wharton was the big winner at the Charles Johnson Invitational Saturday at USF.

The Wildcats boys and girls teams each won by more than 60 points in an event that attracted 14 boys teams and 12 girls teams.

"I think we had a real good day today," Wharton's boys coach Jason Tyrell said. "The kids really stepped up and performed. I think we placed in every event and when you can do that you have some nice depth and you're able to pull out a meet like this."

The meet gave the athletes a chance to run on an all-weather surface like the one used in the state meet.

"We wanted the opportunity to run on this artificial surface," Wharton's girls coach Wes Newton said.

The Wharton boys finished with 176 points; Plant was second with 110 points and Chamberlain finished third with 75.

The Wildcats got individual titles in the discus from Tyler Perkins (146 feet, 10 inches), the high jump from Machel Hunter (6-2), the 4x800 meter relay (43.03), the 1,600 from Ryan Courtoy (4:47.78), the 3,200 from Courtoy (10:04.03) and the 4x400 relay (3:27.73).

The Wharton girls had 156 points; Gaither was second with 84 points, just ahead of Hillsborough's 83.

The Wildcats won in the triple jump from Acequoia Diggs (33-51/2), the 4x800 relay (10:28.37), the 100m high hurdles from Teona Rodgers (15.91) and the 4x400 relay (4:14.50).

Some individual events were competitive but Tyrell said all the teams finished right about where he expected.

"I was not surprised with the results," Tyrell said. "A lot of teams had a good day. I commend them for coming out and performing and bringing the level of competition up."

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:23:15]