Statesmen 4x400 Relay Team Tops McLean for District Championship

Almost everyone at the Prince George’s Sportplex on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 would agree the premier event in high school track and field is the 4x400m relay. It’s a true combination of speed and strength, requires prefect teamwork, it’s the last event of the meet and the winner is declared champion until next year. The winner of the 4x400m relay is the last champion to be announced and the lasting memory of someone’s heart getting torn apart or over filled with joy.

Last year, the Marshall girl’s 4x400m team was the ones having their freshman hearts ripped out after leading for 1500 meters of the 1600 meter race. One year older, this all sophomore team was not about to let it slip away again. Defending title holder, McLean probably felt confident because they had recorded a faster time during the season however; the Statesmen never got their chance to show their true skills during to season due to weather and injuries. Unlike 2004, when the Lady Statesmen were the hunted, this year they went hunting for Highlanders.

Regional 300m qualifier Shannon McVey lead off the team after hard day of running in the 300m finals and as the member of the bronze medal 4x200m relay team and she put the team in second position behind defending champion McLean. Gina Cappiello, a member of the runner-up relay team from last year and a member of the bronze medal 4x200 team with McVey, got the baton in second and charged out after their rivals, she could not make up the lead but closed the gap. Jamie Schiller, another returnee and member of the 4x200 team who had to endure the loss from last year, got the baton and took off after the competition. She closed to 40 meters before handing off the baton to five-time District Champion Jacqueline Hargrove, who had a score to settle. Just as for the Statesman last year, 1500m spelled the end for the Highlanders. With a powerful run to close the gap, Hargrove dropped the hammer and rolled to a new school record and a very enjoyable end to the 2005 Liberty District Championship.

Coincidently, Hargrove opened up the District competition by winning the first event, the women’s long jump.

Another fuel for the fire within the members of the 4x400 team was the heartbreak lost by the 4x200m team earlier in the meet. The team of McVey, Cappiello, and Schiller joined with fellow sophomore Kelly Wiencek and lead the race from the start. However, we expected the rush to come and it did with 100m to go in the race when the Langley and Madison lead a late charge to deny Marshall a double victory in the sprint races. The team will get another shot for a victory at the regional championships. McVey will also get another chance at improving on her 300m dash by placing sixth and joined Hargrove and Junior Lauren Byrne to qualify in an individual event for regional.

Junior Theo Robinson was expecting this season to be a breakout one and so far its has not been disappointing, he was ranked number two in the District and number six in the regional. The next step for Robinson was to add a District crown to his resume however; he had defending champion and McLean Senior Doug Zimmer in his path. Robinson had to feel very confident he had cleared six feet in the two meets leading up to the championship. The battle would come down to him and Zimmer as expected. They were the only two jumpers to clear six ft., and it would take Zimmer a new District record to pull out the victory over Robinson. The battle continued into the triple jump competition and although it’s not Robinson specialty, he gabbed fourth place to go along with his sixth place finish in the long jump.

Senior Andrew Coatsworth did not get his chances to do battle in the high jump, but he did join them in the long jump a week earlier and came out with a bronze medal. Coatsworth did have work to do in the 300m dash and it required a lot of work especially because he was running from lane six. He led for most of the race and it took a late charge from the field in a very close finish for him to take fourth in the event. Coatsworth competing in the triple jump for the second time this season earned a regional qualifying spot with his sixth place finish.

The running of sophomore Jason Pennington has got to be making his coaches grow old fast. Last spring he missed making the regional championship by one spot in the 1600m and two spots in the 800m, this winter he was determined to reverse those results. But, he wasn’t going make it easy on himself, after cruising through the first 1450 meters, Pennington decided it was time make his move, and with a crazy finishing kick, he passed two people and held off another to punch his ticket to the regional. Two races later, Pennington would try the same tactic, however even though he improved his results from the spring; he lost by 0.01 of a second to miss the spot by a photo finish in the 1000m.

Junior Joel Ryan and freshmen William “Alex” Haugh, Oscar Olazo and the boy’s 4x400m relay team also suffer the unfortunate achievement of been the last guys not to make it. Ryan and Olazo finished seventh and eight respectively in the 500m dash with the top six going to regional. Haugh had to wait a whole week to find out that he would be going to regional by less than two seconds. He finished seventh because by winning the slow section a week earlier. The 4x400m relay team of Ryan, Robinson, Olazo and Coatsworth dropped five seconds off their seasonal best but finished fourth and one out of the final spot.

The team will next compete in two weeks at the Northern Virginia Regional set for Feb. 26, 2005 at 9 a.m. on the George Mason University campus.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com