Eric Gibson helps Gilman to first-day edge

Eric Gibson of Gilman gave the Greyhounds a nice finish — in a few different ways — on the first day of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association outdoor track and field championship meet Wednesday at McDonogh.

Gibson made a great kick on the final race of the night and roared back to win the A Conference 3,200-meter run. That helped the Greyhounds come out of the opening day with a 25-point lead over No. 9 Loyola Blakefield.

The girls — the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland — have their first day of competition today at Howard Com- munity College. Both the boys and the girls finish their meets Saturday at Calvert Hall.

Gibson sat in third place behind Hunter Petrik of Mount Saint Joseph and Loyola’s Camden Gilmore for much of the eight-lap race. On the final lap, Gibson made his move starting with about 200 meters left.

He took off, moved to the outside and went on a sprint for the final 100 meters to win in 9 minutes, 27.97 seconds. That beat out Gilmore (9:29.38), Owen Johnson from Calvert Hall (9:32.19) and Petrik (9:32.62).

“I moved on, just took off and didn’t look back,” Gibson said. “I just hung on Camden and Hunter the whole race and [waited].”

That gave Gilman 71 points, far ahead of Loyola (46) and Mount Saint Joseph (43).

The 3,200 was the second race Gibson had a part in winning Thursday. He ran the anchor leg of the 3,200 relay, which the Greyhounds captured in 8:08.35.