Blazers finish 2nd at County Championships

JAN. 24, PRINCE GEORGE'S SPORTSPLEX-

The Blair girls' Indoor Track team placed 2nd today in the Montgomery County Championships. The team scored 63 points, second only to Damascus, which scored 81, and will now advance to the Regional Championships on Feb. 14.

The girls' team placed in almost every event today, finishing in the top five in six events. The highlight of the day was the 1st and 2nd place finishes by sophomores Halsey and Ashlyn Sinclair in the 1600m. The sisters finished with times of 5:17 and 5:21 respectively, scoring 18 points.

The Sinclair's competed in several other events as well, with Halsey finishing 1st overall in the 3200m at 11:28, while Ashlyn was 5th in the 500m with a time of 1:22. Ashlyn and Halsey Sinclair also placed 2nd and 3rd in the 800m respectively. They finished with times of 2:22 and 2:27, scoring another 14 points. The girls' team also placed 2nd overall in the 4x800m relay with a time of 9:58. There time was only six seconds off of 1st place.

The large amount of relays as well as individual events forced several athletes to conserve their energy throughout the day, leading to slower times than usual. Coach Carl Lewin said, "The team went out and raced to win, but each person wasn't racing to compete." Lewin thought that it was this strategy that helped Blair to place well in so many events, but few individuals reached personal records today because of it.

Ashlyn thought that the overlap in races dramatically affected the teams overall times. "If you go into a race and you have already run three events, but your opponent has only run one, you're going to be much more tired," said Ashlyn.

The only events that the team needed to work on were the mid-distance sprinting and sprinting relay events. The team did not place in 300m, 4x200m or 4x400m. "If we can improve the sprinting relays and our field events than we should be good to go," continued Lewin.

Senior Narique Dixon agreed. "Our distance runners did really well today, but we need to work on our sprinting." Dixon continued on specific ways to improve, "We need to work on our handoffs as well as getting our times down."

Ashlyn also felt that the sprinting and relays were areas needing the most improvement. "We definitely need to practice our relays and our pacing, but other than that we are okay," said Ashlyn.

Overall though, the team performed at its highest level of the season. Blair not only succeeded in its distance races, but Tyaishia Jackson finished 4th in the 55m dash and Reine Momo finished 5th in the shot put.

"If we address our needs, we should have all the bases covered, and we'll be ready for Regionals," said Lewin