Charger Boys earn Thrilling Concorde District Title; Eight Champions Crowned
The 2011 Spring Track season began in late February, with high expectations for the Chargers. Coming off of a winter season which saw the boys team take it’s first team title since 1996, an individual state champion, and no fewer than seven all-state finishers, both the boys and girls fought through the regular season determined to uphold their reputation as one of the best teams in the Northern Region. The early season came with difficulties, as the Chargers battled injuries to key team members, poor weather, and struggling to regain it’s swagger in the regular season. Through it all, however, Chantilly maintained it’s poise, and held firm in their collective belief that the postseason would allow them to show what they were truly made of.
The Concorde District Championships, held on Thursday and Friday, May 19th & 20th at Westfield, provided the Chargers with just the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess and their hunger for continued belief. The boys enter the meet as one of four team capable of taking the title, while the girls team looked for individual successes to lead the to a higher team finish. When the meet concluded at 10 pm on Friday, the boys eked out a one point victory over Oakton, 108-107, in a dramatic meet which saw it’s fair share of ups and downs, proving that in track and field, truly every single person did matter. The girls surpassed expectations to finish a solid 4th place, with 58 points.
The boys won their first team outdoor track title since 1996 in a similar fashion to their indoor track victory. They put a high level of burden upon the shoulders of several athletes, looking to win or place highly in several events, while also demanding strong performances by additional athletes looking to steal additional points. The Charger boys did not disappoint, with four boys combining to win six events, with four other boys earning All-District honors as well. It was a night where many boys providing heroic efforts, coming up strong when the team needed it, as they strove for collective greatness.
Senior Mohamed Labor-Koroma, Jr, the indoor track state champion in the 300m dash, and seven-time school record holder, has been the lynchpin of several strong teams throughout his career, and proved once again that he was up to the task of leading his team. Even competing in the championships, though, was an accomplishment for Labor-Koroma. Earlier in the season, the Hampton-University mid-distance runner was diagnosed with mutiple stress fractures, effectively ending his season before it started, and seemingly taking the team’s title hopes with it. He did not return to competition until the last week of April, but since then, he has not looked back. He demonstrated his fitness last week with a school record 400m dash time of 48.65, and showed that he could handle another district meet with multiple races on two days. This may have been his toughest championship, with some of the state’s best mid-distance runners coming from the Concorde District. In the field events, he stood tall, taking a career-best third place finish in the long jump, and followed it up with a second place in the high jump. On Thursday night, he was dominant, running solid times in the 400m, 300m hurdles and 200m dash, qualifying for the finals in all three events. On Friday, he fought to a slim victory in the 400m, over his closest rival, Matt Henton from Oakton. He experienced some difficulty in the 300m hurdles, finishing last in the hurdles, despite having the fastest qualifying time. With the team’s title hopes hanging in the balance, he shook off an injury sustained in the 300m hurdles to take a very strong 2nd place in the 200m dash, being nipped at the line by Henton. This finish kept the Chargers within range (11 points) of Oakton, going into the final two events. In all, Labor-Koroma lived up to his reputation as Mr. Do it All, contributing no less than 34 points to the team’s 108 total.
If Labor-Koroma was perhaps the district’s best sprinter, sophomore Sean McGorty has demonstrated this year that he is clearly the top distance runner in the Concorde District. After winning the cross country district title, and three individual events in the winter season, McGorty has elevated his game in the spring season, and came into the championships with the top times in the Northern Region in the 1600m and 3200m runs. With a district team title on the line, McGorty ran perhaps his best meet of his career, with the traditionally deep distance fields gunning right for him. Despite challenges in both races, McGorty displayed confidence and fitness and withstanding all punches thrown at him, and earning victories in both races. His 1600m time of 4:18.85 was a personal best, while he also was forced to run 9:36, a state caliber time, for the win in the latter event. The 20 points he contributed in both of these events (as well as the 1 point contributed in Thursday night’s 4x800m relay) were key in keeping the Charger’s in range of victory, especially in the 3200m run, when the Chargers found themselves down 11 points.
Junior Arthur McDuffy has also enjoyed a career season, establishing himself as one of the region’s best in the long jump and triple jump. He has set peronal bests this season which have lifted himself amongst the elite in CHS history, and earned district championships in both events in the winter season, en route to his first trip to the state meet. Also coming in the meet with a bullseye on his back, McDuffy lived up to his reputation and pulled out wins in both meets. As with McGorty, he also contributed 20 points, demonstrating that CHS boasted the best jumper, as well as best sprinter and best distance runner.
The last cog in the Charger arsenal was having the best hurdler. In the winter season, this was junior Miles Ransom, who won the 55m dash. In the spring season, he also showed that he was the best in the district in the 110 m high hurdles, and amongst the best in the 300m hurdles. In the earlier event, Ransom was dominant, winning the prelimaries by almost a full second. On Friday, he blitzed to the title in a personal best time of 15.74, one of the best in the region. The Chargers also took a solid 3rd place in this event with sophomore Eric Nguyen, who ran 16.84.
In the preliminaries of the 300m hurdles, Miles also set a personal best of 41.40, which was second only to Labor-Koroma. Going into the finals, the Chargers looked to sweep the top two spots, taking the 18 points, and taking a strong hold on the points lead going into the last four events. Early in the event, Labor-Koroma suffered a strain in his hip, taking himself out of the running for the win. Undeterred by his teammate’s struggles, Ransom fought ahead, looking to match the victory from earlier in the afternoon. Going into the last 50 meters, battling for the lead, distaster struck, as Ransom clipped his lead foot on the hurdle, crashing hard to the ground. As the rest of the field sped by, Ransom lay still, as teammates and meet personnel rushed to his aid. He was later diagnosed with a broken collarbone, which has effectively ended his long-term seasonal dreams. In the immediate terms, though, his fall seemingly ended the hopes of the Charger boys, who supposedly saw their title hopes crash to the track, four events to soon. The loss of 16 points in the event seemed too large to overcome, and left the boys searching for help.
Knowing that the Chargers would probably not score in the 800m run, and would likely not beat the highly seeded Oakton 4x400m relay, the boys were in search of a hero. Going into the 3200m run, down 12 points, they knew they could count on the ten points from McGorty, and did not expect any high placings from Oakton. They knew they would need someone to step up and reverse their deficit in this race, going into the final event (4x400m). Sophomore Logan Miller represented, essentially, the last hopes for the Chargers. He had placed fifth in the 1600m run in a personal best time of 4:24.39, but had also acknowledged to being under the weather earlier in the day. Realistically, it was expected that Miller could probably do no better than to take 6th place or so, and leave CHS in a tie going into the last event. Nothing in the earlier part of the event suggested that Miller was in any condition to contend for any points. He went through the first mile in 9th place, albeit in a fast pace. While McGorty ran up front, answering the challenges of various Robinson and Herndon runners, Miller ran consistantly behind, staying close enough to remain in the hunt, but not particularly close to the lead pack either. Going into the last 250 meters, Miller remained in seventh place, 5-6 seconds off the pace of the leaders. In the last 200m, though, Logan found a gear that the Charger’s needed, and sped to a personal best finish of 9:44.31. More importantly, in the final straight, he burst past the struggling leaders, and ended the race in 3rd place. The six points he earned, along with McGorty’s 10, helped turn an eleven point deficit into a four point lead going into the last event.
The end results show that the Chargers let defended their lead in the 4x400m relay, finishing two spots and 3 point behind Oakton, and held on for a 1 pt victory. While Labor-Koroma, McDuffy, McGorty, Ransom and Miller earned most of the glory, they were not the only Chargers to contribute to the total. Sophomore Brandon Galindo earned a fifth place finish in the shot put (40′ 4.5″), while junior Sean Mazloum also took his first All-District honor with a 4th place finish in the long jump, in a personal best of 19′ 7.5″. In addition to his 3rd place in the 110m hurdles, sophomore Eric Nguyen also pole vaulted to a personal best height of 11′ 0″, good enough for a single point for his 6th place finish. What this showed was that while several Chargers may have handled the heavy lifting, it took efforts from everyone to help bring the title home.
While the girls team did not mirror the success of the boys, they certainly had plenty to celebrate. Their fourth place finish was based upon several high finishes, all of which will be highly competitive at the regional level. Leading the way was the efforts of the girls 4x100m relay team, consisting of seniors Nina Ullom and Tiffany Mitchell, and sophomores Samantha Lull and Rachel Reinhardt. Victory in this event has become a tradition for the girls, with this year’s win being the fourth one in succession. The girls ran a perfect race, with crisp handoffs and perfect speed, blitizing to a seasonal best time of 50.34. Last year, the girl’s relay were the regional runners-up, and earned a trip to the state meet. Despite the graduation of their leader, Geneveieve Manley, the girls are currently ranked 3rd in the region, and are looking towards a repeat trip to Richmond.
Just as the girls have made a habit of winning the relay title, senior Nina Ullom has made a habit of winning the girls pole vault title. She won her third outdoor crown (to go with two indoor titles) this season, in a personal best height of 10′ 6″. This is the second best height in CHS history, and with the regional and state meets ahead in the next two weeks, Ullom maintains her focus on the 11′ 0″ school record, set by 2006 state champion Nicole Kazuba.
Fellow senior, Tiffany Mitchell, also had a strong championship meet. She earned three individual medals, taking fourth place in three events: the 100m dash (13.10), long jump (15′ 2.75:) and triple jump (34′ 8″). Junior Lyzan Rashid celebrated her first All-District finish with another 4th place finish, throwing 81′ 0″ in the discus.
The final points came from the distance runners, lead by sophomore Kendall Cowne. Despite dealing with some early season injuries, Cowne has returned to form in time for the championships, trying to repeat her indoor success where she earned three district championships. Her early season struggles probably affected her some, although she ran very strongly to take three more medals. On Thursday night, the girls 4x800m relay team ran the fast time of any CHS team in the last 12 years, blitzing to a close 2nd place in 9:37.77 with senior Hannah Strub, freshmen Ally Sieder and Megan Toole, and Cowne on anchor. On Friday, Kendall earned two additional medals with her 4th place finish in the 1600m run, in a personal best time of 5:12.39 and her runner-up finish in the 800m run (2:21.46).
The Chargers return to action on Thursday and Friday, May 26th and 27th, at Lake Braddock, in the Northern Regional Championships. The coaching staff would like to thank all of the parents, staff and students for their support this season, and wishes to acknowledge that their success would not be possible with out their supporters.
Complete seasonal results can be found at: www.chargercctrack.com/stresults.html.
A performance list for the season can be found at : www.chargercctrack.com/stperflists.html.
Thank you to Ed Lull for his wonderful photos, found on Facebook.
- Mohamed Labor-Koroma, Jr- DISTRICT CHAMPION- 400m Dash (49.00); 2nd Place- 200m Dash (22.63f/22.48p); 2nd Place- High Jump (6′ 2″); 3rd Place- Long Jump (19′ 11.5″); 5th Place- 300m Hurdles (40.70p/57.03f)
- Arthur McDuffy- DISTRICT CHAMPION- Long Jump (20′ 11.25″); DISTRICT CHAMPION- Triple Jump (44′ 7″)
- Sean McGorty- DISTRICT CHAMPION- 1600m Run (4:18.85); DISTRICT CHAMPION- 3200m Run (9:36.42)
- Miles Ransom- DISTRICT CHAMPION- 110m Hurdles (15.74)
- Nina Ullom- DISTRICT CHAMPION-Pole Vault (10′ 6″)
- Kendall Cowne- 2nd Place- 800m Run (2:21.46); 4th Place- 1600m Run (5:12.38)
- Logan Miller- 3rd Place- 3200m Run (9:44.31); 5th Place- 1600m Run (4:24.39)
- Eric Nguyen- 3rd Place- 110m Hurdles (16.84p/16.91f); 6th Place- Pole Vault (11′ 0″)
- Tiffany Mitchell- 4th Place- 100m Dash (13.10); 4th Place- Long Jump (15′ 2.75″); 4th Place- Triple Jump (34′ 8″)
- Sean Mazloum-4th Place- Long Jump (19′ 7.75″)
- Lyzan Rashid- 4th Place- Discus (81′ 0″)
- Brandon Galindo- 5th Place- Shot Put (40′ 4.5″)
- Girls 4x100m Relay- DISTRICT CHAMPIONS- (50.34) (Tiffany Mitchell, Samantha Lull, Nina Ullom, Rachel Reinhardt)
- Girls 4x800m Relay- 3rd Place (9:37.77) (Hannah Strub, Alexandra Sieder, Megan Toole, Kendall Cowne)
- Boys- 1st Place- DISTRICT CHAMPIONS (108 pts) (Chantilly- 108 pts; Oakton- 107 pts; Westfield- 100 pts; Robinson-93 pts; Herndon- 82 pts; Centreville- 35 pts)
- Girls- 4th Place- (58 pts) (Oakton- 176 pts; Robinson- 127 pts; Herndon- 72 pts; Chantilly- 58 pts; Centreville- 56 pts; Westfield- 36 pts)
