Robert E. Lee senior Sean Holston made a splashing debut in the 500 meter dash in Friday\'s F.I.T. Invitational held at Prince George Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. The defending 300 meter state champion posted the fastest time in the country this season and 17th fastest 500 meter time in U.S. prep history with a 1:03.93 clocking. Time has to rank fairly highly among top all-time unbanked 500 meter times. Holston blitzed the new event from the start with a 36 second first 300 meters and dipping under 50 seconds at 400 meters. Holston also won the 55 meter dash earlier in the day in a state best clocking of 6.41.
The Osbourn Park girls became the first 4x400 meter relay team in the state to break four minutes as they did it virtually in a solo effort with their 3:58.69 as they finished a whooping 16 seconds ahead of the next relay squad. The team returns all four members from last year\'s All-American squad from Nike Indoor Nationals. Osbourn Park also clocked a 1:47 4x200 time on Friday without their full \"A\" team to finish third overall in the event.
W.T. Woodson senior and defending 3200 meter indoor state champion Sarrah Hadiji used her strength to pull away from Westfield\'s Tasia Potasinski in the final 400 meters of the 1600 meter run to keep the race from coming down to a final kick as she won with the state\'s second fastest time of the season in 5:07.07.
Not her best day in relation to her personal best marks, but wins are wins as Centreville junior Brittni Finch swept both horizontal jumping events with a leap of 17\'10\" in the long jump and 36\'10\" in the triple jump in Landover.
Chantilly\'s Lia Divalentin had an impressive run in the 3200 meter race as the Chantilly sophomore looks to be coming back into top form after suffering a season ending injury in cross country to miss the regional and state meet. Divalentin won the 3200 at F.I.T. in 11:28.
The shot put featured two of the Northern Region as well as state bests in Samella Koroma of T.C. Williams and Allison Jones of Lake Braddock. It turned out to be a very competitive and close event between the two throwers with Koroma (41\'4.25\") besting fellow senior Jones (41\'3.75\") by half of an inch in her top throw.
Lake Braddock teammate of Jones in Melanie Akwule had a solid double on the day with two runner-up finishes in the 55 meter hurdles (8.83) and triple jump (35\'10\").
Westfield senior Betsy Alter looks ready to go for the Northern Regiont title in the pole vault this winter after clearing 10 feet in a win at F.I.T.
George Marshall senior Jacqueline Hargrove won over two fellow competitors who cleared 5\'2\" in the high jump, while also finishing second in the 300 meter dash with a 42.05 clocking.
Chris Tyson of Washington-Lee had a very similar race in the boys\' 1600 meter run to girls\' winner Hadiji. Just as Hadiji faced a speedster in Potasinski, Tyson also had to hold off a runner with superior leg speed in Ermin Mujezinovic of Herndon. Mujezinovic actually made an aggressive move to try and take the lead for good with 500 meters left, but Tyson was able to counter him by making a pass heading into the bell lap. Mujezinovic tried to make one last surge on the final straightaway, but Tyson was able to hold him off for 4:23.30 win. Mujezinovic took second in 4:24.53.
The 3200 meter run saw an exciting battle as well with several late race lead changes and state qualifying times come out of the eight lap event. Oakton junior Joe Lorusso had led for the majority of the race, but T.C. Williams junior Bradshaw Kenimer seized the lead in the final lap until to see Lorusso to battle back to pull out the narrow win 9:39.35. Kenimer settled for a close second in 9:39.98, while Richard Prevost of Thomas Jefferson took third in 9:43.32.
Paul VI senior Greg Cooper was the lone private school winner of the meet as he crossed the line in first in the 55 meter hurdles with a 8.22 clocking.
The Westfield boys should have a strong 4x400 meter relay this year as shown with their second place showing in the event on Friday to Eleanor Roosevelt in a time of 3:30.45 as well as having individual runner-up finishes from Kevin Dillard in the 300 meter dash (36.51) and Matthew Anderson in the 500 meter dash (1:06.42).
Centreville senior Phil Allison matched his personal best clearance in the high jump at the F.I.T. Invite as he cleared 6\'6\" to win to match an equal height from the Conn Madden Relays last March.
Lake Braddock senior Ian Prohaska has to be considered as an early favorite for the AAA state crown in the pole vault as he cleared 14 feet once again at Prince George. Prohaska is the top returnee in the event from last year\'s state meet after finishing third at George Mason last March.
Centreville swept the top two places in the long jump with senior Brandon Davis having the top mark in the field at 21\'7.75\" and teammate Brandon Williams in second at 20\'11.50\". Centreville should pick up considerable points at the Northern Region Meet with those two as well as Allison in the high jump and Daryl Hamilton in the triple jump. Hamilton finished second in the triple jump Friday with a leap of 43\'7.50\".
Thomas Jefferson boys are always producing solid distance runners, but this year also have a thrower to compliment the track team with Frank Nothaft as the senior won the shot put with a toss of 48\'.0.50\".