Lackey girls track and field sweeps home meet
Northern boys, Lackey girls sweep track meet
When he woke up on Saturday morning, Dylan Weamert was just another distance runner on the Northern Patriots track and field team. Little did he know that the events that would take place in that day’s steeplechase at the Woodward Relays would make him famous by weekend’s end.
Racing in the event at the Georgetown Prep-hosted meet, Weamert tumbled over a hurdle, launching himself headfirst into the water pit on the other side.
Videos of the occurrence went viral, turning Weamert’s accident — which he took in good stride — into a nationally viewed fail.
Weamert and his Northern teammates were back at it on the safety of Lackey’s track in Tuesday afternoon’s quad-meet where Northern’s boys (4-1 SMAC/overall) swept Leonardtown 71.50-65.50, McDonough 110.5021.50 and Lackey 106-30. The Raiders (4-1) picked up two wins, defeating McDonough 105-27 and Lackey 114-22. The Rams (1-5) topped the Chargers (0-6), 60-41.
The Lackey girls (6-0) rolled to a sweep, defeating Northern 72-65, Leonardtown 81-56 and McDonough 103-7. Northern (4-1) earned two wins with scores of 8552 over Leonardtown and 128-9 over McDonough. The Raiders (3-2) picked up a 115-17 win over the Rams (0-6).
“I went out and stayed with the pack for most of the race and planned on kicking it in the last lap, but I slipped on the steeple and fell into the water. Next thing I’m underwater headfirst and people are passing me, so I got up and sprinted,” Weamert said. “Ever since that race, I’m the steeplechase guy now. That will be my most memorable in sports. I know after it all happened people have been coming up to me and I just laugh it off. A lot of people would be embarrassed, but it happens.”
After a busy weekend with the team and Weamert’s epic event at Georgetown Prep, Northern head coach Josh Dawson was pleased that his boys team was able to bounce back Tuesday, winning seven of the 17 events in the boys competition with senior Matt Bennett winning the 800- and the 3,200-meter runs to lead the pack.
“We’ve been pretty busy and the kids have been running well off cold temperatures and tired legs,” Dawson said. “This just gets me excited for the end of the year. It is just good to see the kids happy with the times they run, or what they throw or jump.”
Juniors Kevin Creek (200), Shaheer Ahmad (400) and Charlie Sweeney (1,600), senior Mike Williams (high jump) all won their respective events for Northern, which also won the 3,200 relay led by the quartet of Bennett, Michael Metler, Sweeney and Weamert.
“This was actually my first high school win because I’m always running against Matt,” said Sweeney, who finished runner-up in the 3,200 behind Bennett. “The win helps and I know what it is like to be out front alone. Today I was just mainly running for PR.”
Leonardtown won six events on the day as junior Ethan Aus (shot put, discus) was a double winner and senior sprinter Shaquan Dyson (100) and junior Chris Braganca (long jump) added wins. The Raiders also won in the 800 and 1,600 relay events.
Lackey was led by junior William Chambers, who won the 110 and 300 hurdles. Also, junior Tre Gulley added a win in the triple jump for Lackey and McDonough won the 400 relay.
Over in girls, Lackey won 10 of the 17 events. Junior Nikiya Mitchell (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles), sophomore Courtney Hawkins (shot put, discus) and senior Amber Conyers (long jump, triple jump) each won two events. Sophomore Dominique Jeffery (100) and freshman Taylor Williams (200) also picked up wins. Lackey also won the 400 and 800 relays.
“I just wanted to get the practice and prepare myself for the meet at Largo,” said junior Sydney Williams, who placed fifth in the 200, referring to meet on Wednesday that the team competed in. I wanted to put a good time in for the open 200. The dual meets are used for training pretty much.”
Northern won five events. Sophomores Kataryna Strayer (400), Adrianna Wilder (3,200) and Sarah Deresky (high jump) were individual winners, while the Patriots also won the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.
Leonardtown’s Lorina Clemence and Raquel Drexel collected wins in the 800 and 1,600, respectively.
“Winning the [800] was very exhilarating and run,” Clemence said. “I thought I had something left in the last 150 meters of the race and gave it all I got.”
Drexel, who also finished second behind Clemence in the 800, added, “I was real happy with the win today in the mile. In the 800, I was trying to push at the end I just ran out of gas.”