SNOW HILL — “I felt like I had an extra gear in me, so I gave it my all in the last 20 meters,” Cambridge-South Dorchester senior Dante’ Meekins said.

Some kids just make a coach proud.

Dante’s coaches are certainly pleased with his performance – as well as those of his teammates – at the Bayside Conference’s Indoor Track and Field Championships on Jan. 24.

C-SD’s girls finished fourth among 14 scoring teams, and were the highest-placing 1A squad among the ladies. The Vikings boys were ninth of 14 scoring teams.

The top three boys’ teams and their scores were: Kent Island, 100; North Caroline, 79; and Parkside, 67. C-SD finished with 26 points.

The top three girls’ teams were: Kent Island, 112.5; North Caroline, 88; and James M. Bennett, 80.16. C-SD’s girls finished with 56 points.

Every event was scored to eight places, with points awarded being 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Points are divided in case of ties.

There was plenty of success among the 13 races, jumps and throws, but maybe none more exciting than Dante’s photo finish, which showed as well as any event just how much every bit of effort counts.

Young Mr. Meekins finished fourth in the 55-meter dash, one of the most competitive events in the conference, in a time of 6.97 seconds. Fifth-place finisher Torre Williams of Wicomico crossed the line in 6.98 seconds.

That’s one one-hundredth of a second.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

People talk about something happening very quickly “in the blink of an eye.” That blink takes about 33 hundredths of a second, or 33 times longer than the difference in these two finishes.

It came down to a close examination of the laser timer and a photo from a camera that scans the finish line at 1,000 frames per second, to be sure that Dante’ the Viking had prevailed.

“Hard work pays off,” he said. “I always have positive thoughts of me having a good race or jump. I knew I could finish in a high rank and win a close race.”

“I would like to thank all the coaching staff for helping and believing in me,” Dante’ said. “I couldn’t do this without the support of the coaches and the whole team.”

Destiny Frantum agreed that hard work pays off - though not always as soon as an athlete might want – after grabbing fifth in pole vault with a mark of 7’6”, a one-and-a-half foot PR.

“It’s about time,” she said with a smile, as she sat nearly breathless on the C-SD track during Friday’s workout. “I couldn’t clear opening height before.”

Today, the boys’ and girls’ teams head to Snow Hill for their final regular-season meet of the indoor season. On Monday, they go to Prince George’s SportsPlex for the Region 1A Championships, where C-SD’s top athletes will compete to qualify for the state championships the following Monday.

For complete results of Baysides, visit trackmeet.io.