Top Performances of the Meet (2): Liberty Unleashes the Sprinters
Forget all about keeping up with the Joneses. The new game south of the Palmer Divide would appear to be keeping up with the Lancers.
Liberty posted nearly a round of sprint performances that should carry forward--if necessary--to the state meet on Saturday's marks alone.
Liberty went back-to-back with 4x200 wins, first with the boys posting a 1:29.72, then the girls going big with a 1:45.30. Nobody was close in either case. When you see 4x200s that fast this early in the season, it's a strong indicator there's more coming where that came from. Keep a careful watch.
After the lunch break, Alex Thomas posted the winning 400 in 51.57. Then Emerson Collins went 22.75 to win the 200.
Liberty's girls picked their places a little less conspicuously, but there's no mistaking the fact the Liberty girls should be able to lock and load a few relays when it comes to the point of the season where it counts. Look for names like Tariana Williams, Adia Samial, Aliyah George, Jennifer Van Bueren, Katie Roth, and Sophia Collins to start pulling regular duty on Liberty relays.
Like a lot of other teams at this point in the season, Liberty wasn't loading their sprinters hard for this one, but there are definitely indications that when the Lancers decide to go that route, it will be stand-up-and-take-notice time. They don't appear to have the kind of star power that's going to generate a lot of individual points at State, but relays should be a deep well for Liberty.