Middie girls place second at GMC meet
Senior Dierra Riley runs in four of Middletown's seven event wins; boys win three events and finish fifth.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
FAIRFIELD — Middletown senior Dierra Riley took home four titles Friday, May 16, at the Greater Miami Conference meet, winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes and anchoring two first-place relays teams (4x100 and 4x200). The Middie girls won seven titles overall, en route to a second-place finish at Fairfield Stadium.
The Middie boys took home three titles — junior Deejay Hunter in the 100, the 4x100 relay team and senior Blaec Walker in the discus – but finished a disappointing fifth.
Extras
Mason's boys and girls teams both took first.
"If it was strictly a sprint meet, we'd probably win," Middies girls' coach Keith Vinson said. "We just don't have the distance runners to stay with Mason. ... But overall you gotta be happy with second place."
Riley completed the four-event sweep despite fighting through some back soreness. She ran the 100 in 12.33 seconds and the 200 in 25.65 seconds, neither of which were personal records.
"In the 200, my back was hurting. Down the stretch, I was trying not to think about it."
By season's end, Riley hopes to run an 11.8 in the 100 and a 24.0 in the 200.
Hunter also was running through pain — he has been nursing shin splints for several weeks.
Nevertheless, Hunter still managed to win the 100 — just barely. With a time of 11.16 — more than half a second off his personal record — Hunter won by one-hundredths of a second over fellow Middie Daryl Conley.
Led by Hunter and Conley, the 4x100 team won the title with a time of 43.20. But due to his shin splints, Hunter chose not to run the 200.
"The (shin splints) have been holding me back," Hunter said. "I just gotta keep on icing it, keep on running in the grass."
Walker won the discus with a throw of 137-6. Sophomore Fabia McDonald won the girls high jump (5-2), and Dredria Brown won the girls long jump (17-1/2).
The girls also won the 4x400, and did so in dramatic fashion. Sophomore Chaniqua Corinealdi overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the final leg, passing the Mason runner "in the final step" to win by one-tenth of a second.
"It's all about heart. You can never give up," Corinealdi said.
The top five girls teams were Mason (194), Middletown (105), Sycamore (98), Colerain (79) and Hamilton (41.5).
The top five boys teams were Mason (126), Hamilton (83), Lakota West (80), Princeton (72) and Middletown (66).



