Liberty District Wrapup

Thomas Jefferson High School was able to show that their switch to the Liberty District this season was certainly successful from an indoor track and field standpoint as they easily outdistanced the opposition in winning both the boys and girls team titles in their meet which concluded Thursday, February 9 at the Prince George\'s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, MD.

The Colonials piled up 161 points on the boys side for the win with South Lakes second at 97 points and Langley finishing third with 73 points while the Jefferson girls almost duplicated the boys point total in amassing 156 points with Langley scoring 75 points for second and George C.Marshall getting 64 points to just edge W.T. Woodson\'s 61 point total for third place.

The Jefferson boys won six events with junior Taylor Bostick leading the way as their outstanding performer. Bostick set a new meet record in the 1,600 run with his time of 4:28.70 and also won the 1,000 run in 2:37.67 with what is becoming a fairly natural last lap kick. Bostick also split 1:58 on his 4x800 relay carry as he teamed with seniors Sean Colyer and Mike Bradshaw along with junior James Komen to take that event in 8:16.74.

The Colonials also received wins from senior Ryan Kruba in the pole vault (12-0); senior Hersh Singh led a 1-2-3-5-6 finish in the 3,200 run with his victory at 10:03.81 and the Jefferson 4x400 relay team of Mike Bradshaw, sophomores Bryan Bleda and Robert Stephens and anchor Brian Luu claimed the other first place with their time of 3:37.80.

Boys runnerup South Lakes had junior Gabe Itoka also match Bostick\'s double individual and single relay title. Itoka easily took the 55 dash in 6.63 and then had a very good first 200 meters enroute to taking the 300 dash in 36.90 in addition to teaming up with junior Max Joslyn and seniors Johnny Markey and Tony Konate to win the 4x200 meter relay by 25 meters in 1:34.61.

South Lakes grabbed an additional two individual titles as senior Mike Greene won the 500 dash in 1:09.75 and junior Yaky Ibia\'s seasonal best of 46-7.25 netted him the shot put title.

Third place Langley was led by junior Jordan Calderwood, who scored almost half the Saxon\'s points. Calderwood collected a win in the 55 hurdles (8.00); was second in the pole vault (11-6) and high jump (5-10) and had a pair of fourth place finishes in the long jump (20-2) and triple jump (39-2.5).

The other winners were Madison senior Justin Duncan, who collected wins in both the long jump (20-9) and triple jump (42-1.75) and Woodson senior Buzz Moorman with a personal best and state auto qualifier of 6-3 in the high jump.

The Jefferson girls domination of the middle and long distance races, in particular, greatly aided their victory. The Colonials nabbed victories in seven of the 15 events with senior Stephanie Reaves matching Jefferson\'s Bostick from the boys side.

Reaves led from start to finish to win the 1,600 run by over 15 seconds in 5:14.27 and was never seriously challenged in the 1,000 run where she won in 3:09.85. Reaves also teamed with senior Katie Gambale and sophomores Alison Underwood and Connor Fleming to establish a new meet record in the 4x800 relay at 9:43.57 as they won that event by almost 15 seconds.

Jefferson\'s other wins were posted by freshman Kayley Sullivan in the 500 dash (1:19.90); seniors Megan Debettencourt in the pole vault (8-6) and Kristin Sourbreer in the shot put (33-2) and by senior Anastasia Crihfield in the 3,200 run (11:44.66) as her four years of hard work paid off with a narrow win over Woodson freshman Aaren Paster (11:45.69) in a race which saw the two of them battle it out for the entire 16 laps.

Runnerup Langley had senior Madeline Clark as their leader in being involved in 37 of her team\'s points. Clark won the 55 hurdles in 9.22; finished second in the high jump at 5-2; claimed third in the 300 dash (43.39) and scored in both the long jump and triple jump as well as teaming with freshman Amanda Steffy, junior Courtney Sample and senior Angela Li in winning the 4x400 relay in a meet record of 4:11.18.

Junior Jacqueline Hargrove was third place finisher Marshall\'s main weapon. Hargrove won the 55 meter dash in her seasonal best time of 7.58; set a new meet record in the 300 dash of 42.19; had a strong surge down the final straight to give Marshall third place and a regional qualifying slot in the 4x400 relay and also finished second in both the long jump (16-7.75) and triple jump (35-4).

Madison junior Veronica Day was a double victor as she won the triple jump with a new meet record leap of 37-1.5 as well as also winning the long jump at 17-2.5. McLean\'s Megan Ney also performed well in winning the high jump in a jump-off over Clark of Langley at 5-2 as well as staying plenty busy with third place finishes in five different events; the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, 55 dash and 300 dash.

The other victory was posted by W.T. Woodson as they paired up sophomores Melanie Letalic and Rachel Tullia along with freshmen Lindsey Octtavio and Carrie Pritchard to set a new meet record in the 4x200 relay at 1:49.93.