Track and field athletes work out kinks in season opener
La Plata, North Point athletes open season with quad meet at North Point
For many of the competitors at Wednesday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference outdoor track and field season opener at North Point High School, it was all about working out the kinks and the little things that they haven’t quite gotten down yet, including striving for a personal record time.
Through it all there were several top boys and girls finishers in the quad meet that also included Calvert, Northern and La Plata.
Official results of the meet were not available by press time and will be posted online at www.somdnews.com once received.
“We had a lot of people out that never ran track before and we made everyone run and contribute in different events today,” North Point head coach Debra Hall said. “Our sprinters and mid-distance are legit and with our freshmen we have on the team make us even more strong. So I’m very excited we had a good meet today.”
North Point senior Mallorie Smith cruised to first-place finishes in the 200-and 400-meter dashes.
“My favorite has to be the 200 just because I can showcase the strength of the 400-meter dash, but also the speed of a 200-meter runner,” said Smith. “Right now I’m working on my times and trying to build up for the postseason meets.”
Last season as a junior, Smith had a strong postseason in the 400, claiming a SMAC title, placing second at the Class 4A East Region championships and capped the outdoor season off with her first-ever state crown with a time of 56.42 seconds, something she wants to accomplish again as her final outdoor season is underway.
“Definitely one of my main goals is to win another state championship not just in the 400, but I want to win the 200 and the long jump if I have the chance to,” Smith said.
Hall added: “She’s a returning state champion and she’s been
working real hard. She has a very good chance of finishing strong in the postseason once again.”
Northern had several individual winners as sophomore Jasmine Holland collected wins in the triple jump (36 feet 10 1/2 inches) and the long jump (17-1 1/4).
“Well today I was a couple inches off in the long jump which is 17-4, so hopefully I will be able to break that later in the season,” said Holland, who placed second in the triple jump at Saturday’s Seahawk Invitational at Annapolis high School with a leap of 37-4 3/4. “In the long jump, I want to work on being more consistent on the board and in the triple I want my third phase to be as good as my long jump phase.”
Junior Abby Sweeney (1,600), Claudia Dolan (3,200) and Sarah Deresky (800) were all victorious.
In boys, Northern senior Charlie Sweeney won first place in the 3,200 and junior Greg Oldham took the top spot in the 800, outlasting Calvert junior Jack Dodsworth, who finished runner-up.
“I felt pretty good and my strength is there I haven’t worked on much speed stuff,” said Sweeney. “We do a lot of long distance work in practice, running upward on the track for 25 or 30 minutes at a fast pace. We have a very strong group of distance runners on our boys and girls team.”
Dodsworth picked up a win in the meet, finishing first in the 1,600 ahead of Oldham, who came in the second spot.
Northern head coach Josh Dawson was pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“It really feels good to see the younger kids to know that all their hard is paying off,” Dawson said. “A lot of kids were happy with their times and so was I. We ran very good races today.”