The Northern Region Track and Field Championships will once again be a one day only affair and will be held at the GMU Fieldhouse this Saturday, February 25 beginning at 8:30 a.m. with Lake Braddock looking to fend off Centreville and Westfield in the chase for the girls team title while the boys team title hopes has a handful of schools capable of capturing the crown with Centreville appearing to be among the favorites with West Potomac, Edison, Westfield and Robinson also in the hunt.
The field event activity to begin at 8:30 a.m. includes the girls long jump and shot put along with the boys high jump while the boys pole vault is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. start.
The boys long jump will follow the girls long jump, as well as the boys shot put immmediately after the girls shot. The girls high jump and pole vault will follow the boys in those events while the girls triple jump will begin after the boys long jump and the boys triple jump will begin following the conclusion of the girls triple jump due to the one runway aspect for the horizontal jumps at GMU.
Running event trials begin at 12:00 noon for both the girls and boys 55 meter hurdles and 55 dash events. With a six lane track but scoring in the Northern Region through eight places on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis; the preliminary contestants in the 55 hurdles and 55 dash will advance to a two section final totaling 12 competitors.
Finals in the running events will begin with the 3,200 meter relay at 1:00 p.m. with the meet scheduled to be completed at 5:00 p.m.
On the girls side, Patriot District champion Lake Braddock once again looks like the team to beat. The Bruins could be capable of piling up close to 50 points in the field events led by sophomore Melanie Akwule and senior Allison Jones in the long jump and triple jump; senior Teressa McCoy in the shot put and with a quartet of girls in the pole vault led by senior Anna Noguchi.
Lake Braddock should also not have a problem picking up additional points on the track with the main roles played by senior Erin Klein and junior Shelley Presley. Klein is among the favorites in both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs and Presley should be even more points in both the 1,600 and 1,000 runs. The Bruins are also looking for additional points in the 55 hurdles and in both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.
One of the wild card factors though, with this being a one day meet, will be the fact that with the 4x800 not being run on the first day of what many meets consist of as two day meets, such as the district and state championships, leaves some of the schools having to figure out whether it is to their best advantage to stack some of their relay squads or concentrate more on individual events for optimum scoring.
The same can be said somewhat for some of the top athletes who compete in numerous field events and also sprinting and the hurdles as a long, one day meet stretches some of the top performers.
Concorde District champ Westfield and Concorde runnerup Centreville appear to pose the largest challenge to the Lake Braddock girls. Westfield cannot come close to matching Lake Braddock in field event points and may just score in the shot put, but they do have the top seed in that event in senior Aimee Kodat at 39 feet, 6 inches.
On the track, however, Westfield has plenty of firepower and it would not be a surprise to see them score points in nine of the ten running events led by sophomores Kerry Hartman and Tasia Potasinski in both the 1,600 and 1,000 runs and with help in the long sprints and relays with senior Christin Zink, junior Kathryn Lynn and sophomore Brittany Sevachco.
Centreville\'s high point scorer is sophomore Brittni Finch. Besides coming into the meet as the top seed in the long jump, Finch is also looking for points in the triple jump and high jump as well as being the solid favorite in the 55 meter dash with a best this season of 7.27 seconds.
The Wildcats are also very strong in the 500 dash with junior Cate Tisinger coming in as the top seed and with Jordan Grant in the 300 dash and in either the 4x200 or 4x400 relay.
There are always plenty of ups and downs at the regional meet, but the three teams of Lake Braddock, Westfield and Centreville have a chance to score close to 40% of the total points awarded in the 15 events contested indoors.
Others to watch include Hayfield, with senior Nakeisha Wineglass not being a surprise to anyone if she places well in four different events; the long jump, triple jump, 500 dash and 300 dash, with the Hawks also strong in the 55 hurdles with the duo of senior Asia Odum and sophomore Jasmine Jones.
West Potomac has sophomore Kat Lee looking to place in both horizontal jumps and also the 55 dash and 300 dash as well as anchoring one relay. Others in the field events of note include Madison junior Veronica Day in the long and triple jumps; seniors Madeleine Clark of Langley and McLean\'s Megan Ney in the high jump and seniors Nicole Kazuba of Chantilly along with Centreville\'s Dana Comber in the pole vault.
On the boys side, Concorde District team champ Centreville appears to have a slight edge over the rest of the field because of their potential to score the most points and they may also have the most balance in both the field and track events.
The Wildcats have senior Jamal Crowelle as the top seed in the 55 hurdles and Crowell also has a chance to place in all three jumps as well as being a part of the the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Centreville is also looking for additional field events points in the high jump with senior Alex Grant and from junior Brandon Davis in the long jump and from juniors Brandon Williams in the 55 dash; Brandon Snead in both the 500 dash and 300 dash and from Mark Hogan in the 1,000 run.
Patrtiot District champ West Potomac looks to once again rely on a bevy of points in the field events coupled with points in the sprints to formulate a good finish. The Wolverines have the top seed in both the long jump and triple jump with senior Antwane Minter and Minter will also be expected for points in the 55 dash and 300 dash as well as anchoring the 4x200 relay.
West Potomac will be looking for extra field event point help from senior Joshua Rodriguez in the long, triple and high jumps and from senior A.J. Fabrizio, in his first year competing in the shot but steadily improving all season long and coming in as the third seed in that event.
National District winner Edison also looks capable of pushing past the 40 point mark along with Centreville and West Potomac, with that trio of teams probably having much of the their outcome determined by the fact that most of their strengths are in the same events; so a couple of inches here or there could produce a few four point swings, or more .
The Eagles have the favorite in the shot put with senior Devan Clark the top seed by over four feet at 54-10. Edison also will be looking for points in the horizontal jumps from Ed Baldwin and Justin Smith and will also be banking on a lot of points in all three running relays to have a shot at the top spot.
Westfield has the number two seed in the shot with junior Andrew Pittman and should score well in the pole vault with seniors David Newkirk and Chad Cochran as well as grabbing points in the long sprints and sprint relays.
Robinson has senior Tommy Barrineau as one of the top seeds in both the high jump and 500 dash and seniors Mark Hussa along with Chris Clark for points in the distance events as well as usually being a factor in all the relays.
Field eventers to watch include South County junior Chris Bartholemew along with W.T. Woodson junior Buzz Moorman in the high jump and senior Dominic Lauchengco of Chantilly along with junior Ian Prohaska of Lake Braddock in the pole vault.
On the track, the runner to beat in the 500 dash should be Hayfield senior Chris Richardson with Richardson certainly capable of moving up from where he is seeded in the 300 dash as well.
Langley junior Jordan Calderwood looks to continue his season long improvement in the 55 hurdles as well as eyeing points in the high jump and Hayfield senior Mike Westbrook looked very strong in both the 55 hurdles and 55 dash at his district championships.
R.E. Lee senior Sean Holston was very impressive in winning the Patriot District title in the 55 dash with a new meet record of 6.45 and also easily captured the district 300 dash crown and is top seeded in both events.
West Springfield junior Mike Spooner and Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa will contrast their different running styles in what could be a very good matchup in the 1,600 run and the boys 1,000 run could be one of the better and closest races of the day with juniors Jeff Miller of South County, Taylor Bostick of Jefferson and Herndon\'s Abe Daganchew ready to hook up.