BHS grad Wade earns All-American in shot put

Brentwood Home Page news reports
Brentwood Academy's Abbie Whitehurst won the inaugural Girls Freshman 100-meter dash at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in track and field Thursday in Greensboro, N.C.

This photo finish shows BA's Abbie Whitehurst winning her heat before going on to capture the Outdoor Nationals in the Girls Freshman 100 meters.

Recent Brentwood High graduate Steve Wade placed fourth in the Championship (or highest) flight of the shot put on Friday to make All-American with a throw of 59 feet, 11.75 inches. Wade, an East Tennessee State University signee, also threw in the Championship discus on Saturday.

Brentwood High rising senior Amber Sudzius finished seventh in the Girls Emerging Elite discus throw, on the first day of the event Thursday at North Carolina A&T University. Sudzius also competed in Saturday's Championship division of the hammer throw.

Ravenwood High rising senior Cameron Brown placed 16th in the Championship hammer throw at 166 feet, 3 inches on Friday. His best so far this year is a state-leading 177-10.

The Outdoor National event is the most prestigious high school track meet in the nation.

Whitehurst now holds the meet record of 12.30 seconds since it's a new division in the distance. That time came in preliminaries where she was also the fastest overall, winning her heat by .16 of a second.

Her finals time was 12.38, beating Paige Chapman of Bel Air, Md. (12.46), whose 12.36 qualifying race was the fastest in the other heat.

Two-time state champion Wade's best shot put came on his second throw and then he fouled on his next three attempts. The winning toss was 68-10.50 by Kyle McKelvey of Beresford, S.D.

BHS grad Steve Wade earned All-American in the shot put.

By finishing in the top six, Wade earned All-American status. He didn't fare so well in the discus, where he only managed a best throw of 166-10, well off his state-best toss of 176-2.5.

Sudzius' discus toss was 122-10-- almost 10 feet off her BHS record -- while winner Brielle Rowe of Los Altos, Calif., threw a meet record of 134 feet.

Sudzius placed 28th in the Championship Hammer Throw with a distance of 115-11.

At the recent TSSAA Spring Fling state championships, Sudzius took second place in the AAA discus and broke an eight-year-old BHS school record.

Wade won his second straight shot put title and was runner-up in discus to help boost the Bruins to a repeat as Class AAA boys champions. Brown finished fourth in the state in shot put for RHS.

Whitehurst captured the Division II 200-meter dash as an eighth-grader in 2010, and was runner-up last month in the DII 100 as a freshman.