By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — It was supposed to be a sprint showdown between Salisbury’s Romar Morris and Lexington’s James Drummond in the CCC track championships at Salisbury on Wednesday afternoon.
Would this be the day Morris, the defending state champ in the 100 and 200 meters, met his match?
Morris, hampered by a hamstring for the past month, did not see Drummond, who, ironically enough, had a hamstring problem himself. He didn’t even run in the meet for the Yellow Jackets.
It wouldn’t have mattered. Salisbury won the conference meet by 76 points, scoring 211 to 135 by Central Davidson and Morris was a big reason why.
Morris hoped Drummond would have run, saying, “I probably would have run faster if I had more competition.”
Morris did win the 100 meters (10.4) and helped on some relay teams, before deciding against the 200 because of the hamstring.
“I felt it a little bit,” Morris reported. “It’s doing better. I’ve been running pretty good today.”
Coaches were marveling after his 100 prelim, where he ran a 10.5 and told them he really wasn’t trying that hard.
“Romar was back to his old self,” Salisbury coach Darius Bryson smiled. “We held him out of the 200 because he felt (the hamstring) a little bit. We’ve got bigger things to worry about, like the regionals and the state.”
Salisbury will be favored in those meets as well. The Hornets are the defending state champions.
The Hornets are a complete team as William Brown pointed out after winning the 400 by a wide margin. He ran a season-best 52 seconds.
“I tried to keep a good pace and push it at the end,” said Brown, who was undefeated in the CCC. “I try to do as much for the team as possible. That’s 10 points right there.”
The points kept coming. The big Hornet winners were Darien Rankin and Philip Tonseth. Each took three events.
Rankin took the triple jump (42-8), long jump (21-10) and high jump (6-8).
“Not surprised,” Bryson said. “That’s what I expect.”
Tonseth came off the baseball field to win all of the distance events — 1600 (4:40), the 800 (2:04.69) and the 3200 (10:27).
Other firsts were recorded by Keion Adams in the shot (51-10), James Means and Victor Faires in the pole vault (a tie at 11-6) and the 4×800 relay team.
Bryson lauded Justin Lewis, who had his best time in the 110 hurdles, placing second (15.70).
“I’m happy,” said Bryson, whose Hornets go to the 2A regionals at Cuthbertson in two weeks.
How much will he monitor Morris’ hamstring until then?
“I’ll have to sleep on it,” he said. “You might think (a hamstring) is 100 percent but you never know. It’s so tricky. A lot of guys come back too soon. I don’t think I’ll rest him too much but I’ll take it easy.”