Athletes for the Wakefield Warriors boys and Washington-Liberty girls track-and-field teams endured cold and wind during an early-season outdoor meet to win the Arlington County championships.
The high-school meet took place March 28 at Bishop O’Connell in weather conditions more suitable for the winter’s indoor season.
The Wakefield boys, who also won the indoor county title for the wintertime, finished first with 77.25 points, with Washington-Liberty second with 63.24. The Yorktown Patriots were third with 60.5 and O’Connell fourth with 32.
The W-L girls scored 93 points to easily win the prize, with Wakefield second with 47, O’Connell third with 42 and Yorktown just behind in fourth with 41. Yorktown had won the girls wintertime indoor county crown.
Given the weather conditions, some of the teams’ top athletes either didn’t participate or did not compete in all of their usual events. Others, however, pushed through.
“It’s a colder day to run, for sure, but we are used to this, so we’re going at it anyhow,” said Washington-Liberty boys senior runner Nick West, who finished fourth in the boys 400-meter race.
Leading the Wakefield boys was double event-winner Chris Gilpin. Two others from Wakefield finished first and second in events, while the team won the 4×100 (46.27) and 4×400 (4:05.1) relays. The Wakefield boys scored points in every event but one.
“We had a lot of good performances overall, and a lot of good showings from our younger kids who got the chances to perform,” Wakefield coach Jordan Wright told ARLnow.
Gilpin won the 100-meter dash in 11.53 and the long jump at 20-5 1/2 and was third in the 200. Wakefield’s Derrick Rich won the triple jump (39-7 1/4) and was second in the high jump, and Eduard Vitols was first in the 400 (53.0), second in the 200 and fourth in the 100.
Others placing first for Wakefield were Andrew Coe in the 3,200 (10:47.78) and Daniel Herring in the 1,600 (4:48.51). Coe also anchored the winning 4×400 relay less than five minutes after winning the 3,200. Coe outkicked a runner to win that relay.
Also for the Wakefield boys, Kai Simkiss was second in the 800, Ethan Calam was third in the 400, Graham Dodd was fifth in the 400, Miles Robbins was sixth in the 100 and 200, Rafael Paradiso was seventh in the 400 and Andrew Mason was seventh in the 100.
Leading the champion Washington-Liberty girls was triple winner Genevieve Holt, a freshman, and double winner Gabriela Netwall, a senior.
Holt won the 100 hurdles (17.81), the 300 hurdles (50.56) and long jump (16-2 1/2) and was second in the 100 dash. Netwall won the high jump (4-8) and 200 (26.78) and ran on a winning relay.
Washington-Liberty won the 4×400 (4:48.28) and 4×800 (10:32.88) relays and was third in the 4×100.
Senior thrower and jumper Eve Jungman also had a standout meet for the W-L girls. She won the triple jump (32-1/2), was second in the shot put and discus and fourth in the long jump.
The Generals’ Caroline Kaplan was second in the 800 and triple jump, Maeve Gomes was second in the 100, Mina Dowler was second in the 3,200, Keena Dorney was second in the 400, Georgia DeFilippi was third in the 1,600 and Hayden Lee was fourth in the 100.
“We had a small amount of girls competing, but it was a good experience for them in a Saturday meet,” Washington-Liberty coach Randy Lott said.
Leading the second-place Wakefield girls were winners Roxanne Carnahan in the 400 (1:02.51) and Aila Simkiss in the 1,600 (5:33.59) to go with a third in the 800.
Wakefield’s Rebecca Lee was third in the high jump and fifth in the 100, and Kayleigh Williams was third in the shot and fourth in the discus.
For the third-place O’Connell girls, Sophia Lianos was second in the 300 hurdles, Ciara Bliven was third in the discus and fourth in the shot, Moira Kinsella was third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 200, and the 4×100 relay won (57.18).
For the fourth-place Yorktown girls, Kaiya Ovando won the shot (33-7 1/2) and discus (115-2), Aria Hedderly won the 3,200 (12:34.24), Kierstyn Bastuscheck won the 800 (2:30.25) and Jordyn Gooden won the 100 (13.81) and was second in the 200.
Back to the boys meet, leading the runner-up Washington-Liberty boys was Lando Reed with a win in the 200 (23.12) and a second in the 100. Peter Roberti was second in the 400.
For the third-place Yorktown boys, Benny Vandall won the shot (39-2), Theo Wargo was second in the 1,600 and the 4×800 relay won (10:11.3).
Leading the O’Connell boys was Kellen Colevas with a first in the 110 hurdles (17.85) and 300 hurdles (45.45), a second in the triple jump and a third in the long jump.
Peter Fleenor won the 800 (2:06.8), James Jackson won the high jump (6-1), Logan Rudolph won the discus (103) and Alex Clarke was second in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 200.
