Bruised and broken, Blazers stay strong

Even with three key runners unable to compete, track's third seasonal meet against Rockville High School ended successfully with final winning scores of 96-41 for the boys' team and 94-37 for the girls.

The bulk of the boys' points came from sweeps in the 3200-meter distance run, 300-meter hurdles, and high hurdles. Junior Esey Kidane led the highlighting distance event, the 3200-meter race, with a time of 11:49 minutes.

The girls' success was mostly a result of Blair's performance in the 100, 800, and 3200-meter events. Senior Colby Chapman led the 100-meter race, with a time of 12.87 seconds. The 800-meter event was led by senior Trevalyn Sinclair, with a time of 3:18 minutes.

Coach Carl Lewin attributes the girls' team's success partially to the "lack of competition. There is almost no real distance team at Rockville," he explained.

Coach James Short agreed but also emphasized the growth of the team. "We started out really young," he said, "but now we're doing well. We're right there."

Despite a lack of formal practice during spring break, the team seemed prepared. "[The team] is doing really well coming off break. Most other teams didn't start competing this early right after it," said Short.

According to Short, seniors Laurel Jefferson and Ariel Beck, the girls' team's "two best distance runners" were out of town and could not compete. Junior Matt Sheldon, dubbed with a similar title, had sprained his ankle and did not participate, he said.

The lack of runners was evident today as many of the events were completed by underclassmen. "It's like a JV team," said sophomore Justin Kovac.

Although Blair ran against Rockville only in today's meet, teams from B-CC competed as well. According to Lewin, the Blair/Rockville meet was originally planned for Apr 9 but was postponed due to inclement weather. Today was also the date of a planned Rockville/B-CC meet. The two meets were therefore combined, he said, giving Blair a chance to observe the B-CC team before the upcoming meet between the two schools. "They're good," said Short confidently, "but we're better."

The upcoming competition is the final meet remaining before county competitions begin. Blazers will run in a "duo meet" against both B-CC and Kennedy on Apr 29.