The outdoor track team has sprung into action, with solid results and performances across their first five meets of the season. Coming off impressive showings during the indoor season, particularly at states and nationals, the team had confidence and has parlayed that into this outdoor season thus far, and they’ll look to keep up the good work going into their next stretch of meets.
“I was feeling very excited and positive about the start of the season,” distance coach Stephen Hays said. “We had a great indoor season, set some school records, finished fourth at states and had a few folks go on to nationals, which was very good.”
The Cats’ first task was to compete against teams from all across the state in the Gopher Invitational up in Glen Burnie on Saturday, March 21, where the boys’ relay squads finished second in the 4x800m and fourth in 4x200m. Additionally, senior Grant Levens placed fifth in the 1600m, and sophomore Kaius Green and junior Amadeo Apolinar recorded sixth place finishes in the 400m and 800m respectively.
“Going into the first few meets, we knew that if we kept the same momentum from states, we’d do really well,” Green said. “Our first meet was really good, we had good season openers, and we set the tone [for the rest of the season].”
The girls had arguably even better results, with their relay squads winning both the 4x800m and 4x200m, as well as placing fourth in the 4x400m. The team also excelled in both long and short distance races; sophomore Natalie McCarty got third in the 3200m, and senior Audrey Blake and freshman Alexis Spencer placed fourth and fifth respectively in the 1600m. Freshman Alexa Wingerter and sophomore Annaelle Dogbe placed fifth and sixth respectively in the 100m, with Wingerter also finishing fourth in the 200m.
The team’s next meet was a dual meet at home against a formidable Churchill on Wednesday, March 25. Coming off of winning the 800m at indoor track states, junior Jack Fiening won both the 400m and 800m, the latter of which Green trailed just behind him in third. Both the boys and girls excelled once again in the relay department, with the boys winning their 4x400m and 4x800m races, and the girls winning their 4x200m and 4x800m races. Additionally for the girls, Wingerter and Dogbe finished first and second respectively in the 100m, and junior Sydney Walsh and McCarty finished first and third respectively in the 800m. However, despite these good performances, the Cats fell short in other areas and ultimately in the meet as a whole.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have won, but we were missing some people, and they won some races that we just didn’t have enough firepower to compete against them in,” Hays said. “But, that’s okay, because in the end, it’s all about the postseason, and we’re just gonna keep working hard and getting better.”
The team faced a quick turnaround going into their last meet before spring break, the Linganore Invitational on Saturday, March 28. Fiening again won the 800m and also placed fifth in the 1600m, and Spencer placed fourth in the 3200m. The girls finished first in the 4x800m, third in the 4x200m and fifth in the 4x400m.
“It was really cold and difficult because the wind was really bad, which made it harder to run,” Spencer said. “Still, everyone did their best and it was fun because I got to do my first outdoor two-mile, so I’m just liking all the new experiences.”
The team’s next meet was the second-ever DMV Wildcat Invitational, hosted at WJ on Saturday, April 11, which was highlighted by Fiening winning and recording new PRs in both the 1600m and the 800m. Following victory in a dual meet at Whitman on Tuesday, the Cats will gear up for the Trojan Invitational at Gaithersburg on Saturday, April 18, and a tri-meet hosting B-CC and Wootton at WJ on Tuesday, April 21, in both of which the team will look to continue improving in the short and long term.
“Across the board, we can always improve,” Hays said. “The first meets are always just to try to get times in, get different people in different events and see what everyone can do, and I think we achieved those goals. We’re always striving to be our best on the one or two days of the state championship, so every time we go out, we want to get better and just keep working towards it.”
