Marshall Track Kicks Off Indoor Season

Last year’s girls team was considered very young with 16 freshmen, however the team got even younger as 22 freshmen joined this year. The 2003-2004 girls team, made up of mainly freshmen, qualified for the regional championship in two relays. This year’s team looked to better that team and they took a great step toward accomplishing that goal last Friday.

They ended the meeting in commanding fashion by winning the 4x400m relay by six seconds. The team of sophomore returnees Jacqueline Hargrove, Gina Cappiello and Jamie Schiller was joined by fellow sophomore Shannon McVey, as they ran the ninth fastest time in the Region of 4:27.74. The three returnees joined another sophomore returnee Elizabeth “Blair” Monroe placing second in the 4x200m relay with the Northern Va. Regional’s seventh fastest time of 1:57.44.

Triple-District Champion Hargrove showed no signs of a sophomore jinx by winning the 500m dash with a District Qualifier and personal best time of 1:23.54. Cappiello showed major improvement in the 55m hurdles by placing second in a personal best time of 10.54. Sophomores Kelly Wiencek (11.24 & 49.44) and Liza Mencarini (11.24 & 50.34) grabbed two top six finishes in the 55m hurdles and 300m dash. Other top six finishes were sophomores Gabriela Rangel-Lafuente (Third in the 55m hurdles with a time of 11.14), Monroe (Fourth place in the 55m, 8.44) Lauren Byrne (Fourth in the shot put with a throw of 26-ft., 2.5 in.) and Jamie Schiller (sixth in the 500m, 1:32.44). Junior Melissa MacNabb has a personal best in placing sixth in the 1600m run with a time of 6:28.24.

The boys team lost a big piece of last season’s success to graduation, but last year’s Most Valuable Player junior Theo Robinson showed why he was honored by grabbing an automatic District qualifier in the high jump with a fourth-place mark of 5-ft., 6-in. Junior Brandon White placed an impressive second in the shot put with a personal best mark of 36-ft., 8.5-in. The 4x400m team of District 500m runner senior Andrew Coatsworth, 300m Regional qualifier junior Joel Ryan and newcomers sophomore Storm Rhode and freshman Oscar Olazo looked impressive with a second-place finishing time of 3:53.64. Coatsworth (1:16.54), Ryan (1:18.44) and Olazo (1:18.54) grabbed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively in the 500m dash.

The same feat was accomplished in the 1000m run lead by 2004 Freshman of the Year and Cross-country Regional Qualifier sophomore Jason Pennington (3:03.34), converted sprinter Kevin Gollogley (3:03.54) and senior Alex Finnell (3:03.64), all personal best. In other finishes, sophomore Alex Cvrk placed fourth in the 1600m run with a personal best of 5:21.14. The next meet for Marshall is Saturday, Dec. 18 at Episcopal High School in Alexandria starting at 7:15 a.m.