Mids sweep Star meet
Men’s, women’s squads take 11 events vs. Army
Nathan Kent and Jia Anderson led the way as Navy outdoor track and field swept the Star meet with archrival Army on Saturday at Shea Stadium on the West Point campus.
Navy’s men won 11 of 19 events and beat Army, 114-89. On the women’s side, Navy won 11 of 19 events and posted the maximum points in six on the way to a 111-92 victory.
This marked the ninth straight spring season the Midshipmen have swept the outdoor track and field Star meet. Navy track and field has now won 20 straight Star competitions against Army including indoor meets.
“I’m very proud of the whole group and especially our seniors who continue to push the philosophy to compete hard in everything that you do. It’s really impressive to see what this senior class has done in four years,” Navy director of track and field Jamie Cook said. “We know how important these Stars are in helping the athletic department achieve its goal of winning the Star Series year after year.”
Kent, a sophomore sprinter, scored 10 points individually by winning the 200- and 400-meter dashes. He captured the 200 title in 20.84 seconds, which would have been the third-fastest time in program history if not wind aided.
Kent was also a member of Navy’s runner-up 4×100 relay, which included Brahmir Vick, Nico Gonzalez-Reed and Jay Evans. Vick was another individual standout, continuing his dominance in the 110-meter hurdles by winning in time of 13.96 seconds. The senior captain also placed fourth in the 100.
Evans accounted for six points by placing second in both the 100 and 200 as the Mids scored well in the sprints and hurdles.
Navy scored the maximum eight points in the 5,000-meter run as Justin Mumford and Murphy Smith placed first and second. Sam Keeny, a senior from South River High, won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:57.19 despite competing in the event for just the second time in his career.
Senior Cam Albury, front, emerged from the shadow of his brother, Jaylin, background, to become Northeast’s career scoring leader and bring the program its first state championship.
On a Friday afternoon in late March, Cam Albury holds his trophy and jokes to his older brother that his state championship trophy is larger. Jaylin Albury, gripping his state semifinal hardware, rolls his eyes, but smiles back.
Cam Albury is the first to say how much he adores his older brother, how there couldn’t be a more supportive one. Albury warmed up for the Class 3A state championship in his brother’s jersey. He wore No. 0, like Jaylin did.
But from even before Albury dressed in his first Northeast uniform in late 2021, all he thought about was the shadow his popular, successful brother left behind and the way it enveloped him.
“The crazy part is, I remember my first game in the newspaper said ‘Jaylin’s little brother scored seven points,’“Albury said. “And I was like, ‘Dang. I’m actually going to have to do something big.’”
He made sure he didn’t leave
Northeast without following through. He leaves as a state champion and Capital Gazette 2023-24 boys basketball Player of the Year.
Four years after his brother’s team captured the program’s first county championship and journeyed to the state semifinals, Cam Albury’s Eagles not only went to the state title for the first time in program history, but won it, 69-66 over St. Charles.
St. Charles led by 12 points to start the fourth quarter. Assistant coach Chris Albury faced his son and said, “Be legendary.”
Albury blazed from backcourt to net, burning away competitors if they tried to touch him like paper against fire. He delivered 13 points, including the game-winning shot.
“So yeah. My dad said ‘be legendary,’ and that’s what I did,” Albury said.
A banner with a hundred wellwishes to him and his teammates still drapes the gym hallway over all the school’s previous trophies. Next to it, a child’s illustration of Albury as a hooping eagle. Near it will soon stand two gleaming silver basketball trophies with Albury’s name etched in them: total points leader and single-season scoring leader.
It’ll likely stand near his brother’s, the school’s career assists leader.
He imagined his eighth grade self, nursing insecurities about shooting air-balls, and grinned.
“I can’t believe I used to think I couldn’t shoot,” Albury said.
Despite his goals, Albury hid in the shadows when he began his varsity career. He worked mentally; the fear of failure drifted away as his sophomore year went on and he hit his junior year with confidence. The Eagles flowed through an eight-game win streak, and won most of their games thereafter.
But come late January, Albury backslid.
“Teams really started to gameplan for me and I didn’t know what to do,” Albury said. “I was trying to force myself to score.”
Albury started to glance to his peripheries. There was Jadyss Fifer, Shamar Johnson and come
Broadneck’s Jordan Brown averaged over 20 points a game this season.
Ben Countiss took third in the event.
Matt Newell led the way with a winning time of 3:53.14 as Navy also placed first and third in the 1,500. Luke Nestor picked up two points for his podium performance.
As usual, senior thrower Joshua Boamah was the big scorer for the Mids in the field events — winning both the shot put and discus, while placing second in the hammer. Boamah’s winning shot put distance of 60-feet, 6 ¾-inches ranks sixth in program history.
Braden Presser was the javelin champion for the third straight season, winning with a throw of 214 feet, 1 inch. George Kalkanis gave Navy a one-two finish in that event.
Walker Rudisaile easily won the pole vault clearing 16-11. Joe Hurt led a Navy sweep of the triple jump with a winning distance of 48-½ as Jordan Payne placed second.
On the women’s side, Anderson amassed nine points in her three individual races — winning the 100-meter hurdles while placing third in both the 100 and 200. Anderson’s time of 13.7 seconds in the 100 hurdles would have ranked third in program history in a legal wind.
Sprinter Taylor Woodworth was another individual standout, winning the 400 and placing second in the 200 to score eight points. Woodworth also ran the leadoff leg of Navy’s victorious 4×100 relay, which also included Mayu Gayton, Isabella Romasko and Anderson.
Annie Lemelin won with a time of 1:01.48 and Annie Taylor took second as Navy scored the max eight points in the 400 hurdles. Ellie Abraham and Olivia Lutkevich duplicated that feat by finishing one-two in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Navy swept the top two placements in the 5,000 run as well with Sophie Compton making a strong surge to move from fifth to first and win with a time of 17:10.54 — less than four-tenths of a second ahead of teammate Emily Boutin.
Kayla McGuire blazed to victory in the 800 run with a time of 2:13.91 while teammate Alex Wercinski took third.
Team captain Alayna Schloeder continued her impressive senior campaign by topping the pole vault at a height of 12-5 ½. Mimi McHugh placed second as the Mids earned eight points in the event. The Mids matched that performance in the triple jump with Sami Bollinger making her outdoor season debut with a victorious jump of 12-5 ½ and Guilia Mesa as the runner-up.
Hannah Lowenstein won the high jump and Renny Murphy took first in the javelin to complete a strong performance in the field events by the Mids.
Navy now leads the Star Series, presented by USAA, 12-9-1, and needs one more victory to clinch the 202324 competition. Men’s and women’s lacrosse will play their Star games this Saturday, while men’s tennis (April 20) and baseball (April 26-28) are the remaining sports.
“I have an immeasurable appreciation for an extraordinary performance once again by our men’s and women’s track and field teams,” Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said. “Huge congratulations to coach Cook and his staff on 20 straight N-Star victories. His teams have always delivered in dramatic fashion and with the highest level of determination.”
Navy’s overall performance in track and field, especially on the women’s side, has dramatically improved since Gladchuk hired Cook to oversee both programs.
“Each year we count on coach Cook and his athletes to come through and deliver the Star. They’ve never let us down. Men’s and women’s track and field is the beacon for our ambition amongst all 36 varsity sports.”