The middle of the winter holiday season in this area will once again have a potential competition and spectator gap in track and field more than ably filled with the 12th Annual Friends of Indoor Track Invitational this Friday, January 27 at the Prince George\'s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland.
Approximatley 1,000 athletes representing close to fifty schools from the metropolitan area are expected for the proceedings. Field events are slated for a 9:00 a.m. start with the girls and boys long jump, girls high jump and boys shot put, while the boys pole vault will begin at 9:45 a.m.
Early arriving spectators may still be in the middle of their morning cup of coffee with the start of the first running event, the distance medley relay at 8:15 a.m. Following the DMR\'s will be the 4x800 meter relays at 9:00 a.m. as the meet then follows the regular VHSL order of events for the indoor season.
In the running events, there will not be any trial heats for advancement to finals. Rather, the events are seeded with the fastest competitors in the first sections and the subsequent sections being run off in descending order with the girls races preceding the boys races.
Field events will employ the five alive method for the vertical jumping events and there will be no finals for the shot put or long and triple jumps, but instead, competitors will receive four attempts in their specialty provided they have a legal mark among the first three.
Following is a preview of some of the top performers expected for the F.I.T. Invitational.
GIRLS:
Field Events: It appears this meet could be the first return to serious indoor meet action this year for Centreville\'s Brittni Finch. The Wildcats junior is the top seed in the long jump, an event where she is the defending Northern Region champion both indoors and outdoors and Finch is also the defending indoor state AAA champion and meet record holder at 19 feet, 10.25 inches.
Finch is also the top seed in the triple jump, where she is an all region and all state performer. Both horizontal jumps also feature three other all regional performers from last year\'s indoor season in seniors Veronica Day of Madison and Marshall\'s Jacqueline Hargrove and junior Kat Lee of West Potomac along with Maryland 1A outdoor state runnerup Camilla Nichols of Pikesville in the long jump and Lake Braddock\'s Melanie Akwule in the triple jump.
Nichols of Pikesville and Marshall\'s Hargrove also come in among the top marks in the high jump along with Osbourn Park senior Katie Trizna, Leila Drici of South Lakes and newcomer Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams.
The girls vault has West Potomac\'s Kat Lee, a relative newcomer to the event who managed a fifth place finish at last year\'s outdoor regional meet and all state placer Betsy Alter of Westfield as the top seeds.
The shot put features senior Samella Koroma of T.C. Williams, the regional runnerup outdoors last year in both the shot and discus who has already exceeded 42 feet plus in three different meets this season, with her main competitor looking to be Patriot District rival Allison Jones of Lake Braddock.
Running Events: The girls 55 meter hurdles has Eleanor Roosevelt senior Takecia Jameson, the Maryland 4A state runnerup outdoors in the 300 hurdles as the favorite, with Lake Braddock\'s Melanie Akwule, the region indoor 55 hurdle runnerup last year and all region hurdlers Hana Tran of Centreville, Kat Lee of West Potomac and Hayfield\'s Jasmine Jones also in the mix.
The sprint event seeds can be somewhat sketchy early in the season but the 55 dash will have among the various sections, defending region 55 indoor and 100 meter outdoor champ Brittni Finch of Centreville, Tynita Butts of T.C. Williams, Marshall senior Shannon McVey, Westfield\'s Martina Green and Seton sophomore Dionna Hayes.
Takecia Jameson of Roosevelt comes in with the top entry mark in the 300 dash and among her main challengers should be defending No. Region 500 dash champ Cate Tisinger of Centreville, Marshall\'s Jacqueline Hargrove and AAA all state 300 hurdler Brittany Hyter of Osbourn Park.
Takecia\'s twin sister Tameka Jameson of Roosevelt looms as the large favorite in the 500 dash. Tameka provided numerous highlights in last year\'s high school girls section of the Penn Relays and is the defending 4A-3A state indoor champion at 500 meters (1:14.53) and also the defending state 4A titleist outdoors in the 400 dash (54.80) with Eleanor Roosevelt sophomore Doris Anyanwu and Osbourn Park junior Bethany Hyter also looking for quick early season times.
The Lady Raiders of Roosevelt also claim the top seeded spot in the 1,000 run with junior Tasha Stanley, the defending state champ both indoors and outdoors at 800 meters and giving chase to Stanley and looking for either a region or state automatic qualifying time should be Erika Weidman of T.C. Williams and the Westfield duo of Kerry Hartman and Brittany Sevachko.
The individual distance races have Westfield junior Tasia Potasinski, last year\'s indoor regional champ at 1,600 meters as the top seed in that event with Washington-Lee senior Sarah Weber also expected to be among the top finishers in that race.
Weber will also be attempting to double back in the 3,200 run against defending outdoor 1,600 winner Shelley Presley of Lake Braddock, as Presley makes a rare foray into 3,200 meter track territory. Also entered is all state sophomore Lia DiValentin of Chantilly, who is coming back from a leg injury which shelved the end of this past season\'s cross country campaign.
In the relays, Eleanor Roosevelt\'s seed time in the 4x200 would lead you to believe they are stacking that event while the 4x400 relay has the outdoor state third place finishing Osbourn Park quartet all returning this year. The 4x800 has T.C.Williams with the top seeded time, which should mean that sophomore Erika Weidman will handle the baton in that race and the DMR has Roosevelt looking to begin their four month push towards Penn.
BOYS:
Field Events: The boys long jump shows Centreville at the top with their strong senior duo of Brandon Davis and Brandon Williams and Centreville also has one of the top seeds in the triple jump in senior Daryl Hamilton with Robinson\'s Asare Kwarteng, DaDa Titcombe of Edison and Woodlawn\'s Darereis Montgomery also among the potential medalists.
The high jump contenders include outdoor region runnerup Phil Allison of Centreville and Md. state 1A outdoor second place finisher Jabari Hawkins from Pikesville while the boys shot put features four tossers with all region credentials from last year in seniors Andrew Pittman of Westfield and Thomas Jefferson\'s Frank Nothaft along with juniors Yaky Ibia of South Lakes and Edison\'s Bernard Butler.
The clear favorite in the pole vault is Lake Braddock\'s Ian Prohaska. The Bruins senior is the defending Northern Region champion both indoors and outdoors from last year. Outdoor runnerup Alvin Siv of Annandale also returns for his senior season with one of the top entry marks as well as T.C. Williams junior Tommy Clark.
Running Events: Ian Prohaska of Lake Braddock will also be among the favorites in the 55 hurdles along with Centreville\'s Daryl Hamilton and West Potomac junior Christopher Newkirk.
The 55 dash finds Robert E. Lee senior Sean Holston, who ran his seasonal best of 6.38 to win the region title last year and then finished third in the state, already in very good early season form after zipping to a time of 6.43 earlier this month at the George Mason University Invitational.
Holston will be lined up against state 2A-1A second place finisher Darryl Bell of Pikesville, who had a best last season of 6.59 along with Michael Cooper, Jr. of DeMatha and Centreville\'s Brandon Williams.
The 300 dash looks to be anybody\'s race and has DeMatha\'s Rodney McLeod, Sean Randall of Woodlawn and Oakton\'s Nyema Wolo penciled in with the top seeded times.
Lee\'s Sean Holston will also be featured in the 500 dash; something new for him this year but something he is certainly capable of running well after seeing him win the regional outdoor 400 dash title last spring.
Capable contenders lining up against Holston include 4A indoor and outdoor state 800 run medalist Daniel Edmunds of Eleanor Roosevelt, Westfield sophomore Matt Anderson, Lake Braddock junior Chris Letson and DeMatha senior Sean Suber.
In the 1,000 run, Woodlawn senior Dwight Parker, last year\'s 4A runnerup in the 3,200 run indoors and also the 1,600 run outdoors, will drop down to a relatively speedier event for him as will Washington-Lee distance specialist Chris Tyson, in what would be his second race of the day. Other top entries include Mark Hogan of Centreville, Edison\'s Leoule Degfae and WCAC outdoor 800 champ Aaron Taylor of Gonzaga.
Doing pretty much the opposite of Parker and Tyson will be Kelli Thibou of Roosevelt. Thibou was last year\'s 4A champ in the 800 run outdoors and finished second indoors in the 4A-3A 500 dash but is entered in the 1,600 run at this years meet and will be up against, among others, Tyson of W-L, Brad Kenimer of T.C. Williams and Herndon\'s always dangerous Ermin Mujezinovic.
Kenimer of T.C. will attempt to double back in the 3,200 run and will look to challenge Richard Prevost of Jefferson and Oakton junior Joe Lorusso, both of whom should be relatively fresh for the 16 lapper.
The relays appear to have, almost all the way across the board, what would have to be considered very optimistic seed times for the top entries with the fastest times sent in by Eleanor Roosevelt and DeMatha in the 4x200 relay; Woodlawn and Roosevelt in the 4x4 and George C. Marshall and E. Roosevelt in the 4x800 relay.
The meet management of the Friends of Indoor Track also wishes to thank in advance all of the officials, volunteers, athletes, viewing public and especially, all of those involved with the Prince George\'s Sports and Learning Complex for continually making this meet an annual success.
The middle of the winter holiday season in this area will once again have a potential competition and spectator gap in track and field more than ably filled with the 12th Annual Friends of Indoor Track Invitational this Friday, January 27 at the Prince George\'s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland.
Approximatley 1,000 athletes representing close to fifty schools from the metropolitan area are expected for the proceedings. Field events are slated for a 9:00 a.m. start with the girls and boys long jump, girls high jump and boys shot put, while the boys pole vault will begin at 9:45 a.m.
Early arriving spectators may still be in the middle of their morning cup of coffee with the start of the first running event, the distance medley relay at 8:15 a.m. Following the DMR\'s will be the 4x800 meter relays at 9:00 a.m. as the meet then follows the regular VHSL order of events for the indoor season.