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By JEREMY RASMUSSEN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 13, 2001
TAMPA -- Wharton swept the boys and girls meets it hosted Thursday to win Western Conference championships.
The Wildcat boys were dominant with nine first-place finishes out of 17 events for a total of 154 points. King (83.5) was second followed by Armwood (67).
The Wharton girls were almost as good, garnering five golds en route to a 104-point first-place total. Plant (74.7 points) and Riverview (68.7) followed.
"We've set a goal to win every meet this year all the way up through regionals," Wharton coach Dave Watson said. "Then, we want to do decent at states, too."
Wharton did not score a point in the state meet last year, but the Wildcats appear poised to make a better showing this season.
For one thing, the transfer of Dwight Ellick has helped. Ellick sewed up the 100- and 200-meter races, took second in the long jump and anchored Wharton's impressive 4x400 relay win. Meanwhile, Armwood was impressive in the field events. Keith Watts, Kevin McClean and Mike Zelazo swept the discus.
"We have a good group because I can correct them on something and they'll go off and work on it themselves. They're smart," Armwood coach Matt Thompson said.
In the girls meet, Gaither's Dara Alton, a runner-up in the pole vault at last year's state meet, cleared 10 feet, 6 inches, a mark that would have won the boys meet as well.
Wharton's Kendra Smith took the 100-meter high hurdles, the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the triple jump. She finished second in the long jump to teammate Tamia Wilson.
"It's okay, because we're a team," Smith said. "As long as we finished 1-2, I'm happy."
Smith said she was still not satisfied with her 300 hurdles time. This past week, she and coach Wes Newton changed the number of steps she was taking on the first hurdle from seven to six.
"(Newton) said I was coming up to that first hurdle too fast and it was throwing off the rest of my race," she said. "Now, I'll be ready for districts in two weeks."
Bloomingdale's Amber Littleton was impressive in winning the 1,600 and 3,200. She said she will try to break five minutes in the 3,200 at the district meet.