With the season winding down, the track team competed in the Montgomery Invitational on Jan. 13, hoping to build momentum before regionals. In the boys’ 4×400 relay, the team of senior Ambrose Devine and juniors Keith Cartwright, Shayne Brooks and Julien Bastin finished ninth with a time of 3:42.05. In the boys’ 500 meter race, Brooks finished 13th with a time of 1:10.64.

In the boys’ 4×800 relay, the team of senior Matthew Klein, and juniors Richard Qiao, Brooks and Bastin finished 16th with a time of 8:46.93. In the boys’ DMR 1200-400-800-1600 meter race, the team of juniors Zachary Blackman, Brendan Bock, Jaiden Shah and sophomore Scott Sritharan finished 12th with a time of 11:54.05.

In the girls’ 4×200 relay, the team of senior Nabila Okudo, juniors Angela Porter, Kayla Hill and sophomore Grace Osman finished 24th with a time of 1:51.89. In the girls’ 4×400 relay, the same team of Okudo, Porter, Hill, and Osman finished 14th with a time of 4:22.39. In the girls’ 4×800 relay, the team of senior Emma Henderson, juniors Erin Chelf, Margaret Christovich and Lucia Splittgerber finished 17th with a time of 10:38.07.

The team then competed at the Last Track to Philly event on Jan. 20. In the boys’  one-mile race, Qiao finished eighth with a time of 4:56.78. In the boys’ 4×800 race, the team of seniors Amir Van Gieson and Ronald Wong, along with Bastin and Qiao finished sixth with a time of 8:55.05.

In the boys’ SMR 200-200-400-800 meter race, the team of senior Sam Yi, Devine, Cartwright and Brooks finished fourth with a time of 3:55.94. In the boys’ 4×55 Shuttle Hurdles, the same team of Yi, Devine, Cartwright, and Brooks finished 4th with a time of 30.95. “I thought that our team performed well in this meet which gave us a lot of confidence heading into the later part of the season,” Yi said.

In the girls’ SMR 200-200-400-800 meter race, the team of senior Ana Scherf, and Hill, Chelf, and Osman finished fifth with a time of 4:33.17. In the girls’ DMR 1200-400-800-1600 meter race, the team of junior Jessica Trzeciak, Chelf, Hill and freshman Angela Parra finished 11th with a time of 14:24.13.

In the team’s final meet before regionals, they competed in the Montgomery County Championships on Jan. 30. In the Boys’ 500 meter race, Brooks achieved his personal record, finishing third with a time of 1:08.75. In the finals of the boys’ 55m hurdles, Devine finished third with a time of 8.04, which was his new personal record.

In the boys’ triple jump event, freshman Sean Kim finished 10th, jumping a total of 33 feet 4 inches. In the boys’ long jump event, Cartwright finished first, jumping 20 feet 11.75 inches, which is a new personal record.

The girls’ 800 meter race was one of the best events of the day for the team. Trzeciak finished seventh with a time of 2:30.12 and Chelf finished right behind her in eighth, with a time of 2:30.78. Trzeciak also did well in the 1600-meter race, finishing 10th with a time of 5:38.49. In the girls’ long jump event, sophomore Nicole Parent finished 10th, jumping 13 feet 5.5 inches, which is a new personal record.

After the Montgomery County Championships, the team had time trials on Feb. 1 to prepare for regionals. In the boys’ 55-meter dash, freshman Yannis Shoemaker finished first with a time of 7.10 seconds, a new personal record. Shoemaker also finished first in the Boys’ 300 meter race, with a time of 41.0 seconds, also a personal record. In the boys’ 1600 meter race, Sritharan finished first with a time of 5:10 and Shah finished second with a time of 5:26.4, a new personal record.

In the girls’ 55-meter dash, sophomore Samaa Zaman finished first with a time of 8.10 seconds, a personal record. Zaman also finished first in the girls’ 300-meter race, with a time of 48.2 seconds. In the girls’ 1600-meter race, Parra finished first with a time of 5:56. Sophomore Victoria Shumakovich finished second with a time of 6:17, which was a new personal record.

Throughout the season, the team had put in the hard work to prepare for regionals, so when they competed on Feb. 8, they were ready. In the boys’ 500-meter race, Brooks finished fourth with a time of 1:12.36. In the boys’ 55-meter hurdles, Devine finished third, with a time of 8.23 seconds. In the boys’ 4×400 relay, the team of Cartwright, Brooks, Devine, and sophomore Osagie Aimiuwu finished sixth with a time of 3:52.33.

In the girls’ 1600 meter race, Trzeciak finished fifth with a time of 5:39.45. In the Girls’ 55-meter dash, senior Ana Scherf finished seventh with a time of 7.74 seconds. In the girls’ 4×200 relay, the team of Okudo, Scherf, Porter, and Osman finished seventh with a time of 1:57.09. In the girls’ 4×400 relay, the team of Porter, Hill, Scherf, and Osman finished sixth with a time of 4:26.98.

It was a successful meet for the team, as two runners qualified for State Championships. Brooks qualified for the boys’ 500-meter race and Devine qualified for the boys’ 55-meter hurdles. The state championships are are on Feb. 20, too late to be covered in this issue.

Ryan Ullman

Sports Editor