The track and field season may be coming to an end soon, but the playoff season is in full swing. The County A & County B meets were a success this past week and the team looks forward to continuing their success at regionals and states. 

On May 11, the team participated in the Montgomery County Section A Championships. This meet was for the fastest runners on each team only under specific time and throw restrictions. This meet was located at Seneca Valley and added spice to the middle of the week. The varsity boys tied with Watkins Mill for 18th place out of 21 teams (five race points). The varsity girls finished fifth out of 20 teams at 26 race points.

Distance coach Jackson Nosbisch said he knew all year long he had a great group of young stars to help lift the team to new heights but he never expected what he would actually see and what his runners would actually accomplish. “The standout performance I would say out of both meets was Victoria Ketzler. It is so tough to do four events at such a high level like she did on Wednesday. The fact she did the 4×800, 1600, 800, and 4×4 in a span of five hours and medaling in three out of four shows how tough she is. A lot of people on the team would have been scared to do that but she attacked it with no fear,”  coach Nosbisch said. 

On May 14, the rest of the selected group of varsity runners competed in the MoCo Section B Championships. This meet was for any of the team’s runners who didn’t make County A. This meet was located at Albert Einstein, and all who participated continued the success of their teammates in the previous meet. The boys team finished 12th out of 22 teams with a score of 21 race points, and the girls team finished 11th out of 20 teams with a score of 20 race points. 

“I liked how everyone that participated was excited to be there and excited to run. We are a very young team and the passion that a lot of our athletes have for track and field is truly impressive. That passion for competing and wanting to do well individually and for the team is only going to help us as we grow in the next years,” Nosbisch said. 

Some highlights of County A included: 

1. Victoria Ketzler placed third in the 1600 (5:13)
2. Aaliyah Jollah placed third in the 400 (1:00) 
3. Maya Gottesman placed third in the 2-Mile (11:38) 
4. Autumn Ingram PR’d in the 300 (50.67) 
5. Boys 4×1 finished fourth 
6. Boys 4×2 finished fourth 
7. Girls 4×4 finished fourth 
8. Girls 4×8 finished second 
9. Amaris Palanga placed second in the shot put (33-11-75) 
10. Jake Drykerman placed fourth in the long jump (21-02-75) 

Some highlights of County B included: 

1. Every single thrower PR’d 
2. Noah Friedman finished 17th in the 100 (12.09)
3. Zainab Deen PR’d in the 200 (30.92) 
4. Girls 4×8 finished second 
5. Aanya Tiwari finished second in the 2-Mile (12:39) 
6. Lily King placed 14th in the 100 hurdles 

The new additions to the team of different grades and skill levels has increased the upside and potential. 

“There had been a lot of new, young additions to the team and everyone showed good progress throughout the season. At this time of year, some injuries tend to pop up and many have been able to manage those and still get PRs (Personal Records) and finish out the season on a high note. Seeing these performances has me extremely excited for the future of the program,” printers coach Mo Drammeh said. 

Seeing this many PR’s in events from different people was impressive to the coaches. 

 “We had a lot of success in the boys’ high jump winning both A (Yule Pieters: 6′ 0″) and B (Yassine Idrissa: 5′ 10″) competitions with marks that would be top three in the region and top 10 in Wootton history. We also had a lot of fourth place and top three finishes at the County A meet, which would translate well to the regional meet because the subset of schools that are in our region were all at the county meet, except for one,” Drammeh said. 

The Regional Meet Day 1 will be held at 4 p.m. at Gaithersburg on Wednesday, May 18, while Day 2 will be on Thursday, May 19, at 4 p.m.. The state meet will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28, at Prince George’s Sportsplex.