The South Lakes boys and Marshall girls squads hold a slight edge in the team scoring after the first day of the Liberty District championships held at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, MD on Thursday, January 29.
South Lakes has had the oustanding performer of the four districts within the Northern Region thus far in Vince Brown.
The Seahawks senior was a triple winner in the space of about an hour and a half as he posted personal bests and region leading marks with state meet qualifying victories in the long jump (22-1.5) the 55 meter hurdles (7.46) and the 55 dash (6.42); with the hurdle and dash performances also establishing new meet records.
Brown's exploits propelled South Lakes to the first day lead by the slimmest of margins as the Seahawks compiled 58 points.
Jefferson is right there with South Lakes at 57 points as they posted a field event win from senior Dan Markwalter in the pole vault (12-6) and received a 1-2 finish on the track from seniors Timmy Galvin (4:33.73) and Colin Maloney (4:35.72) in the 1,600 run.
The other wins on the boys side came from Marshall senior Lex Saures in the shot put (44-3.75) and McLean's 4x800 relay squad with their victory in 8:26.79.
The Marshall girls hold the lead at 53 points with more than half their points provided by senior Brittany Johnson as she won both the long jump (16-8.5) and high jump (5-2) as well as finishing second in the 55 dash at 7.65, with South Lakes senior Lachelle Wallace winning the event easily in a state auto qualifier of 7.39.
Woodson holds a firm second place spot with 50 points and had victories from sophomore Tiffany Reed in the 55 hurdles (9.24) and junior Erica Howes with a strong second half surge in the 1,600 run (5:13.14).
Marshall picked up another first place after junior Meara Goss claimed the shot put (35-4.5) and the same Langley quartet of Carolyn Shaw, Jill Canning, Amanda Steffy and Lauren Shaw won the 4x800 relay for the second year in a row; this time at 9:45.44.
The Liberty District Championship finishes up on Thursday February 5th at the P.G. Complex and will be held in conjunction with the final day of the Concorde District Championships with field events at 4:00 p.m. and running events starting at 5:00 p.m.