At the beginning of this indoor track and field season, W.T. Woodson coach Mike Fronckel felt that his girls team had the depth necessary to compete for a Liberty District championship.
That’s why when the Cavaliers accomplished that goal last Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Md., Fronckel wasn’t all that surprised.
“It was something that we were definitely looking forward to all season,” said Fronckel, whose girls held off second-place Jefferson, 127-100. “That was our goal at the beginning of the season. On the girls side, we felt we had the depth to compete for a championship.”
Fronckel also felt the boys team, though lacking some of the girls’ depth at certain spots, should finish third or fourth. The coach was correct again, as the boys team took third-place honors, finishing with 67 points to trail only Jefferson (102) and South Lakes (137.5).
Both squads will now look ahead to the Northern Region champion meet, on Saturday, Feb. 21 at George Mason University’s Field House.
<b>JUNIOR ERICA HOWES</b> won two events for the girls team, claiming the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3 minutes, 5.87 seconds and the 1,600 with a mark of 5:13.14. Sophomore Tiffany Reed (55 hurdles, 9.24) and senior Jaime Pritchard (500, 1:19.61) were also single-event winners.
The girls 4x200 (Samantha Park, Carrie Pritchard, Olivia Green, Lindsey Ottavio) took first, clocking in at 1:50.46, and the girls 4x400 relay team (Carrie Pritchard, Liz Gaski, Tiffany Walters, Jaime Pritchard) was victorious as well, running a 4:09.66.
According to Fronckel, senior Kirk Lewis stepped up for the boys team with a third place finish in the 55 dash (6.83), and he also kick-started W.T. Woodson’s first-place 4x400 relay squad (3:35.01), which consisted of Lewis, Jon Steenberg, Charles Basil and Sean Strang.
“We’re still hungry,” Fronckel said. “It’s kind of like in football, where you have 24 hours of celebration and then it’s back to the grind. Now we’re going to try and work toward the rest of our goals this season.”
<b>IN OTHER MEET ACTION,</b> both the Jefferson boys and girls team earned second-place finishes. Timmy Galvin won the 1,000 (2:39.03) and 1,600 runs (4:33.73), while Sheila Bushman (8 feet) and Dan Markwalter (12-06) posted pole vault wins. In the girls 3,200, Sarah Stites clocked a 11:14.65 — a Liberty District record.