The Edison boys easily defended their team title and the girls team victory became a co-championship affair as Yorktown and Edison tied at the National District finals concluded at Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington this past Friday.
Edison's boys squad put up 153 points to easily outdistance the rest of the opposition. Junior Dada Titcombe was the leading scorer for the Eagles as he won three events, the 55 hurdles (8.26); long jump (18-9.5) and triple jump (38-2.5) as well as finishing second in three other events, the high jump (5-8); 55 dash (6.93) and 300 dash (38.42) to personally account for 54 points.
Edison's other victories were by senior Chaz Martin in the 55 dash (6.87); the 4x200 relay in 1:41.28 with Chaz Martin along with juniors Calvin Clessas, Daniel Dehza and Branden Suggs and the 4x400 relay, which included sophomores Tihut Degfae and Leoule Degfae along with juniors Taylor Miller and Joe Jackson in 3:41.55.
Washington-Lee placed second with 85 points, scoring most of their points in the distance events as they were led by Chris Tyson.
The W-L senior anchored the 4x800 relay team, which included fellow seniors John McGrail, Mackenzie Baker and Peter Gurney, to a new meet record time of 8:21.54 with his split of 1:58.3 in the first day's activities at Episcopal.
Tyson then came back to win the 1,000 run in a very fast time for TJCC's track at 2:35.18 for a new district meet record, as he was pushed for most of the way by runnerup Leoule Degfae of Edison (2:37.66).
Tyson then came back about an hour later to almost lap the entire field in winning the 3,200 run in 9:57.30.
The other Washington-Lee victories were posted by junior Joe Pricone in the shot put (42-7.5) and senior John McGrail in the 1,600 run (4:42.09).
Yorktown was third with 71 points and had one winner with senior Nick Hagelin in the high jump (5-8). Hagelin also posted a second place finish in the 55 hurdles (8.42) and was third in the triple jump, fourth in the long jump and fifth in the shot put.
Mount Vernon was fourth with 65 points and had an upset winner in the 300 dash as freshman Cameron Clive was victorious at 37.99 while Stuart placed fifth with a 42 point total and had the other individual winner with senior Tom Rudwick in the 500 dash (1:10.86).
On the girls side, Edison held an 11 point lead after the first day and actually upped it to 31 points on the second day after the 4x200 relay, but Yorktown never gave in, although they trailed the Eagles all the way until the last event.
Edison big scorer was junior Keosha Simonson, who accounted for 49 points for the Eagles. Simonson was the winner of the triple jump (35-7.5); had a trio of outright second place finishes in the long jump (15-7.5), 55 hurdles (9.66) and 55 dash (7.55); tied for second in the high jump (4-8); was third in the 300 dash (43.95) and fifth in the shot put (27-7).
The Eagles other victory besides Simonson's win in the 300 dash occurred in the 4x200 relay with the team of sophomore Shekyira, junior Amanda Ou and seniors Lauren Kaiser and Emily Webber in 1:56.64.
Yorktown's top point producer was Andrea Oaxaca. The Patriots sophomore anchored the 4x800 relay team of junior Lyndsey Wilcox along with sophomores Amber Haling and Colleen Cain to a new meet record of 10:09.54 with her 2:21 split.
Oaxaca also finished second in the 500 dash in 1:23.20 and came back 40 minutes later to easily capture the 1,000 run in 3:09.71.
Yorktown closed the gap to its smallest amount in the entire meet going into the final event, the 4x400 relay, at two points. For most of the race, Yorktown and Edison stayed very close and Yorktown's anchor was just able to hold off Edison's anchor on the final straightaway despite a final, desperate, sprawling lunge by Edison at the finish with Yorktown holding onto third place at 4:30.70 and Edison just a tick behind at 4:30.80 for the additional two points Yorktown needed to create the tie for first place.
Mount Vernon was third with 59 points and had a double winner in senior Assiatu Williams with the high jump (4-10) and 55 hurdles (9.44).
The Majors also received victories from sophomore Elizabeth Ball in the shot put (32-9.25) and from sophomore Kierra Terry in the 500 dash (1:23.05) with Terry also placing second in the 300 dash (43.67).
Washington-Lee finished fourth with 30 points as senior Sarah Weber had a superior meet in breaking her own meet record in the 1,600 run with a seasonal best time of 5:13.00 and also taking down the meet record in the 3,200 run with her time of 11:24.56.
Stuart was fifth with 48 points and had sophomore Danielle Williams put up very impressive numbers on TJ's somewhat slick surface as she zipped to an easy win in the 55 dash at a seasonal best time 7.39 and was even more impressive in capturing the 300 dash in a new district meet record time of 41.88.
Falls Church finished sixth at 35 points with an exciting win over Stuart in the 4x400 relay with their quartet of seniors Casey Davenport and Audrey May, freshman Riley Louden and sophomore Valerie Thiebeault in 4:26.29 and Wakefield was seventh with 22 points as sophomore Sarah Sneed played a part in all of the Warriors points with a win in the long jump at 15-8; fourth in the 300 dash (44.12); fifth in the 55 dash (7.87) and anchor of their third place 4x200 relay.