The Oscar Smith girls' track team may have just made history.
At the Class 6 Region A Championships held May 30-31, the Lady Tigers pulled off a remarkable feat in the 100-meter hurdles: placing five athletes in the top seven and racking up 30 points from a single event. Leading the charge was Shakayla Lavender with a blazing time of 14.15 seconds, followed closely by teammates who finished 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th with times ranging from 14.71 to 16.09.
To put this dominance in perspective: even powerhouse Western Branch, known for its deep roster of hurdlers like Terrell, Ballard, and Ross, never placed more than three athletes in the top seven at Regionals during their peak years (2016-2018).
And Oscar Smith wasn't done.
In the 300-meter hurdles, Lavender and Tiara Jenkins were joined by Tatiana Burns to go 1-2-4, scoring another 23 points with times of 41.67, 43.27, and 45.63, respectively. In total, the Tigers' six-hurdler unit contributed over a third of the team's total score-helping Oscar Smith post an emphatic 150.5 points to win the regional title. Runner-up Grassfield trailed with 138.
While individual stars occasionally rack up big point totals by winning multiple events, it's rare for such a large share to come from one specific event group. Even more impressive? Only one of the six Oscar Smith hurdlers is graduating, setting the stage for an even stronger return next season.
Next up: the Class 6 State Championship Meet, June 6-7 at Todd Stadium in Newport News. There, Oscar Smith will face off against elite hurdlers like Ava Rice (Battlefield), Aubree Harris (Osbourn Park), Mia Mason (South County), Elizabeth Yeboah-Kodie (Colgan), and Amelia Cole (Lake Braddock)-a loaded field sure to deliver fireworks in both the short and long hurdle events.
One thing's for sure: the Lady Tigers have arrived-and they're not going anywhere.