After completing the time trials on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29, the team was ready to put their hard work to the test at a meet. Their first meet was the MCPS Meet #1 on Dec. 5. At this meet, the team competed against 24 other Montgomery County teams. This meet allowed the coaches to see how the team would fare against other competition.
In the men’s 300 meter race, junior Keith Cartwright finished eighth with a time of 39.24 seconds. Senior Ambrose Devine finished 21st with a time of 39.79 seconds and senior Samuel Yi finished 43rd with a time of 41.05 seconds. “It was a lot of fun to compete in a meet again and I think that we will continually improve throughout the season,” Yi said.
In the men’s 500 meter race, junior Shane Brooks also finished eighth with a time of 1:12.23. Junior Julien Bastin finished 48th with a time of 1:18.65 and freshman Yannis Shoemaker finished 53rd place with a time of 1:19.73.
In the men’s 55-meter hurdles race, Devine finished in fifth with a time of 8.40 seconds and Brooks finished 12th with a time of 9.11 seconds. Both Devine and Brooks performed well in this event and will look to improve their times throughout the season. “I thought the team did pretty well and since there are a lot of new athletes who are talented and I think that we’ll go pretty far,” Devine said.
In the men’s 55-meter dash, Cartwright finished 19th with a time of 6.99 seconds. Yi finished 26th with a time of 7.06 seconds, and sophomore Osagie Aimiuwu finished 76th with a time of 7.46 seconds.
The girls’ team did well in the 55-meter dash, finishing with three runners in the top 23. Senior Chanel Lucas finished 11th with a time of 7.78 seconds. Junior Kayla Hill finished 14th with a time of 7.80 seconds and senior Nabila Okudo finished 23rd with a time of 7.92 seconds.
In the girls’ 300-meter race, Hill finished 12th with a time of 44.56 seconds. Senior Ana Scherf finished 35th with a time of 46.98 seconds and sophomore Grace Osman finished right behind in 36th place, with a time of 47.25 seconds. This was one of the better races for the team, as they finished with three runners inside the top 36.
In the girls’ 1600-meter, or one-mile race, freshman Angela Parra followed up her impressive time trial by finishing the race 18th, with a time of 5:50.11. Freshman Catherine Ledoux finished 46th with a time of 6:26.70 and senior Emma Baldwin finished 47th, with a time of 6:29.38.
The team was scheduled to have another meet, MCPS Meet #2, on Dec. 9. However, due to the unlikely snow that fell that day, the meet was canceled as the sports complex was not open. The meet has not been rescheduled at this time and will potentially not be.
Unless the MCPS Meet #2 is rescheduled, the team’s next meet will be the MCPS Meet #3 on Dec. 26, too late to be covered in this issue.
Ryan Ullman
Senior Sports Editor