McGorty Takes First Regional Crown; Five Chargers Take Silver

A week after taking the boys Concorde District team title in dramatic fashion, the Charger Track team continued their post-season campaign in quest of more glory.  With the taste of victory still in their mouths, the Chargers entered the Northern Region Championships, held on May 26^th & 27^th, at Lake Braddock SS with several objectives: continue improving upon their individual performances, qualify as many athletes as possible for the upcoming state championships, and  to score as highly as possible as a team.  As has been their modus operandi, Chantilly has continued to raise their game when the stakes are highest, and after an indoor regional meet which saw both the boys and girls finish amongst the top 5 teams in the region, the team looked prepared to meet their objectives.

The boys entered the meet seeded to finish third on paper, but realistically one of several teams fighting for a top five spot, after the highly ranked Annandale and South Lakes teams.  As they have done all year, the Chargers placed high emphasis on several key individuals, each with the potential to score highly in the events, and rake in many valuable team points. Despite missing individual 110m district champion, Miles Ransom, due to an injury suffered at districts, Chantilly looked to their big three of senior Mohamed Labor-Koroma, junior Arthur McDuffy and sophomore Sean McGorty, all of whom had won individual titles at districts.

Despite his comparative youth, McGorty ended up shining the brightest of all his teammates.  McGorty has come a long way this year, and has earned his reputation as one of the best distance runners in the state, despite his age.  After winning individual titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track at the district level, he has remained undefeated in Concorde District competition in 2010-11.  At the regional level, he has also found success, with runner-up finishes in cross country and winter track.  This season, McGorty ran the fastest regular season times in the 1600m and 3200m, and entered the meet with high hopes for his first regional title.  In the 1600m, McGorty found frustration.  After leading through the first two laps, he was passed by Annandale’s Ahmed Bile, the cross country regional and state champion, and indoor regional champion, leaving McGorty to deal with yet another runner-up finish, his 3^rd of the year in regionals.  At the end of the night, though, he ran perhaps his best race yet in his young career.  Running smartly through a field of distance runners, all of whom were gunning for him, he stayed smartly near the front, but shared the work through the first 2800m.  Taking the lead going into the last 400m, he whittled the field down to three challengers.  Despite threats during the last lap, McGorty ran a strong, 62 second final 400m, to run away to a 9:24.36 3200m, and secured his first regional title.

The 2010-11 year has also been a good one for junior Arthur McDuffy, who has come into his own as the best horizontal jumper in the Concorde District, and one of the top ranked jumpers in the Northern Region.  McDuffy has successfully won district titles in both the long jump and triple jump in the indoor and outdoor championships, and also earned his first trips to states in both events in the winter season.  Going into the regional meet, McDuffy sought to compete for his first regional crown,  and to stake his claim as a legitimate state-caliber jumper, amongst the best in CHS history.  At the end of the two day meet, McDuffy finished up with his best career result.  In the long jump, McDuffy jumped 21’ 5.75”, his second best mark, for a 2^nd place finish.  The next day, in the triple jump, McDuffy equaled his silver medal with a personal best distance of 45’ 8.5”.  This mark was an improvement of 9.5”, and more importantly, he tied the school record set in 1990 by Chris Teal.

Senior Mohamed Labor-Koroma, Jr has been the backbone of team success for the past three years, and has always put the team on his shoulders, competing for points across to raise up the CHS score.  He came into the meet with the best seed in the 400m dash, but decided against the potential regional title to compete in the 300m hurdles and 200m dashes, two events in which he still saw the potential for improvement and possible school records.  On the first day of the meet, Labor-Koroma shone during the preliminaries, setting personal bests of 40.09 and 22.29 for each, earning berths in the finals of each.  On Friday, though, fought through advanced fatigue in both events, taking two fourth place finishes, in 39.77 (personal best) and 22.59.  Even though his placings were lower than he was accustomed, he still had to consider his final regional meet a success.

The boys team ultimately finished in 4^th place, with 50 points, two points behind 3^rd place Oakton.  McGorty (18), McDuffy (16) and Labor-Koroma (10) represented the bulk of the scoring, perhaps the most surprising finish of the night came from sophomore Logan Miller.  Miller has come alive this post-season, and has transformed himself this year from a promising freshman, to a legitimate regional competitor and state qualifier.  Chantilly has been proud of the fact that they are the only school in the region to have two distance runners to be both under 4:25 (1600m) and 9:45 (3200m), and the promising aspect is that they are both sophomores.  In this meet, Miller entered fresh off a district meet when he took a 5^th place (4:24) in the 1600m, and 3^rd in the 3200m.  With a goal of making his first state meet, Miller ran solidly with the main field, staying the in 5^th-7^th range for most of the first three laps, never wasting energy, and never straying far from the qualifying range.  While some of the other challengers fought for the win, Miller remained patient, and in the last 200m, he burst from behind the pack, ultimately passing three runners in the last 150m, to earn a personal best time of 4:22.84, and a 3^rd place finish, just behind teammate McGorty.  The Chargers clearly have an additional weapon in their arsenal for future postseason battles.

The girls team fought hard for their ultimate 8^th place, earning 26 points.  While they did not have as many All-Region finishes as the boys, they still nevertheless could consider their championships meet a success. At the end of the meet, they saw success in the field, sprints and distance events, while qualifying five girls for state meet competition.

Senior Nina Ullom has enjoyed one of the better careers of any Charger female in recent history, and came into her final regional meet still seeking for her first gold medal, and a possible career best in the pole vault.  Unfortunately, she came up just a hair short, taking the silver medal, matching her indoor finish, with a jump of 10’ 6” in the pole vault, which equals her best height.  Just as in the winter season, the event came down to misses, as Ullom finished up her career with two regional runner-up finishes, to go with her five district titles.

Ullom scored 8 points in the pole vault, but was also instrumental in the girls 4x100m relay.  The girls have won this relay at the district level for the last four years running, and was the regional runner-up last year.  The team, consisting of Ullom, senior Tiffany Mitchell, and sophomores Samantha Lull and Rachel Reinhardt, have maintained a goal of vying for the regional title, as well as qualifying for states.  The punched their ticket to Richmond with a 2^nd place finish, in a time of 50.69, just off their 50.34 mark which won the district meet. Mitchell also earned individual glory, with a personal best mark of 35’ 6.25” in the triple jump, which took gave her a 6^th place finish, and qualified her for the state meet.

Sophomore Kendall Cowne has been the team’s best distance runner this year, having won three district titles indoors, and placing 2^nd and 4^th in the district 800m and 1600m races respectively.  She struggled somewhat this spring, however, as she dealt with injury and heightened expectations.  Nevertheless, she came to the regional meet continuing to seek glory, and a trip to states.  With no automatic qualifiers to her name this season, she knew that she had to place in the top 6 in both of her races to return to states.  Running with confidence, she did just that.  In the 1600m run, she ran patiently, staying in the pack of qualifiers through 3 laps, before lengthening her stride  in the last 300m, and ending up in 5^th place, with a personal best time of 5:10.89, one of the top 5 marks in CHS history.  After a 2 hour rain delay, she returned in the 800m, and despite the fatigue from her earlier race, ran a stellar half-mile to finish in 2:18.69, good enough for 6^th place and her second All-Region medal of the night.

The Chargers will be represented by nine athletes on Friday-Saturday, June 3^rd-4^th, 2011 at the Virginia AAA State Outdoor Track Championships in Richmond, VA.

Full results of the regional meet can be found at:  www.chargercctrack.com/stresults.html.

Thank you to Ed Lull for his photography, found out Facebook on the CHS and Nothern Region XC and Track page.

ALL-REGION HONORS

• Sean McGorty-REGIONAL CHAMPION- 3200m Run (9:24.39); 2nd Place- 1600m Run (4:21.11)
• Arthur McDuffy- 2nd Place- Triple Jump (45′ 8.5″- TIES CHS RECORD); 2nd Place- Long Jump (21′ 5.75″)
• Nina Ullom- 2nd Place- Pole Vault (10′ 6″)
• Logan Miller- 3rd Place- 1600m Run (4:22.84)
• Mohamed Labor-Koroma, Jr.- 4th place- 300m Hurdles (39.77); 4th place- 200m Dash (22.29p/22.59)
• Kendall Cowne- 5th Place- 1600m Run (5:10.74); 6th Place- 800m Run (2:18.69)
• Girls 4x100m Run- 2nd Place (50.69)- Tiffany Mitchell, Samantha Lull, Nina Ullom, Rachel Reinhardt

 

 

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