This year has been one for the record books! With so many great races, events, and of course performances, we had to take our time compiling this list. Check out all the moments here and let us know what you think about it both in our poll (to be listed when #1 is released) and via #MileStatTop25
#21: 6A Boys Team Title Comes Down To 4x400!
The 4x400 at states is always exciting, it is the last event for a reason. Many years it is filled with not only some of the fastest teams but also some of the most drama. This year indoors brought it to a new level thanks in no small part to Anteneh Girma of T.C. Williams in the 3200.
This year we had four teams vying for the team title on the boys side. Going into the meet the huge favorites were T.C. Williams, Lake Braddock, Western Branch, and Chantilly. With Kevin Monogue sitting out of the races that opened the door a lot for some shakeups to those pre-meet predictions.
In the boys 3200 there was a huge shakeup with Anteneh Girma of T.C. Williams. Throughout most of the race he was sitting steady in the top pack despite being the 5th seed entering the race. He eventually had one of the best kicks to finish in second beating third place by .10 seconds! That finish had all the fans, coaches, and especially the timers very excited for what that all meant.
Girma moving up that much in the standings moved T.C. Williams into the lead in team points by just two points. That then meant that if Western Branch upset T.C. Williams in the 4x400 we would have a dead-tie for the team title! We could not have asked for a better race.
What all of this means is that the 6A Boys Team Title came down to the 4x400 between the #1 and #2 seeds in the event. If T.C. Williams beat WB then they won but if WB won the worst they could do is tie and still win the team title.
The race itself was also very exciting with T.C. Williams running both Lyles brothers and Western Branch dropping the baton on third leg. All of those things combined created one of the greatest indoor meets in our state history and the #21 moment of the year.
Eventually these teams would go on to bigger and better things during both indoor and outdoor track. Western Branch won the national titles in the 4x200 (I), 4x100, Swedish Relay, and SHR. T.C. Williams won gold watches at the Penn Relays in both the 4x100 and 4x400 to go along with the Lyles sweeping the 100-200-400 at Nationals.