Both the Oakton and Madison High girls’ swim teams put together impressive showings at the Northern Region Championships postseason event held on Thursday, Feb. 4 at the Oak Marr Recreation Center in Oakton.
The meet was shortened due to the snow storm that hit the Northern Virginia and surrounding areas over last weekend. Thursday’s preliminary events ended up counting as finals scores. Originally, the region meet was scheduled to conclude on Saturday, Feb. 6.
The region boys’ meet, other than diving, never got started. The make-up date for the boys’ competition is set for this Friday, Feb. 12 at Washington-Lee High’s pool in Arlington. The meet will be shortened to one night with all of the races counting as finals. Girls’ dive competition, meanwhile, is also scheduled to take place on Friday.
At the girls’ region swim championships, Oakton’s Kaitlin Pawlowicz, a junior, captured first place in the 200-yard individual medley race. She finished ahead of Laura Schwartz of Falls Church. Also placing in that event for the Cougars was senior Brooke Ream, who finished fifth.
Pawlowicz was also region champion in the 100-buttefly event, finishing ahead of Yorktown senior Kaitlin Wolla.
The Oakton girls had two relay teams that placed at regionals. The 200-free relay team of Leanne Hyer, Quinn Wilkinson, Erin Reynolds and Pawlowicz finished third; and the Cougars’ 400-free foursome of Dylan Staniszewski, Wilkinson, Stephanie Hallock and Pawlowicz was fourth.
Staniszewski, a freshman, finished third in the 200-free race and was fifth in the 500-free. Also placing for the Cougars was Wilkinson, a senior who was eighth in the 50-free.
Madison High’s Laura Kellan, a freshman, was sixth in the 100-freestyle race and sophomore Sami Fletcher was eighth in the 100-breaststroke. The Warhawks’ 200-medley relay team of junior Lindsay Mottola, Fletcher, junior Liz Bertolett and senior Katarina O’Reilly finished fifth.
<b>THE OAKTON HIGH GIRLS’ TRACK</b> and field team captured first place at the recent Concorde District Championship meet. The two-day postseason event, held at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Center in Landover, Md., began on Jan. 28 with preliminary events. The second and final day of action took place a week later on Feb. 4 with event finals. The Cougars won the title with 109 points, besting second place Robinson (104) and third place Herndon (86).
Oakton senior Alex Straton captured titles in both the girls’ long jump and triple jump events. In both of those field events, freshman teammate Meghan Jean-Baptiste took second place honors.
Straton was also a second place finisher in both the 300 and the 55 races. Jean-Baptiste was second in the high jump and third in the 55-hurdles.
Other place finishers for Oakton were: junior Erin Degutis (5th in shotput); junior Jennifer Markin (4th in pole vault); sophomore Danielle Fitzgerald (4th in 55 dash); senior Lanie Smith (3rd in both the 3200 and 1600); and freshman Brianna Stewart (6th in 1000).
The Oakton girls were second place in the 4x200 relay, and third in both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.
The fifth place Oakton boys received place finishes from the following: senior Faris Patterson Khan (3rd in long jump, 4th in triple); senior Brandon Henton (5th in triple jump); senior Allan Meyer (5th in high jump, 6th in 300); senior Trevor Yarnall (6th in shotput); senior Ryan Mazon (3rd in pole vault); junior Stephen Michaelis (5th in 55); senior Patrick Fulghum (5th in 1600); junior Matt Henton (2nd in 500, 4th in 300); junior Mike McNamee (6th in 500); senior Andrew McCullum (4th in 3200); and senior Matt Woodhouse (6th in 3200).
The Oakton boys 4x400 relay team finished second, and the 4x200 team was third.
THE MARSHALL HIGH GIRLS finished fourth overall at the seven-team Liberty District track and field championships in Landover last Thursday. Jefferson was the team champion, followed by second place McLean and third place Langley.
Marshall senior Brittany Johnson won three events. She captured a district title in girls’ high jump, besting second place Tania Ermark of Jefferson. She took the 300 event, ahead of McLean’s Ayom Izegbu. And she won the 55 dash, ahead of Fairfax’s Elizabeth Nguyen. On top of all that, Johnson finished third in both the triple jump and high jump events.
Marshall’s Meara Goss, a senior, took home the girls’ shot put title, finishing ahead of McLean’s Logan Tapscott.
Marshall freshman Alexandra Sandlin finished second in the 55-hurdles, behind champion Dominique Graham of McLean.
Other place finishers for the Statesmen girls were freshman Madeleine Lewsen (6th in 55 hurdles) and junior Courtney Herbolsheimer (5th in 1600, 6th in the 3200).
The Marshall boys’ place finishers were senior Steven Savage (4th in shotput) and senior Andrew Dickson (5th in the 1000).
The Marshall boys’ 4x800 relay team finished third.
<b>MADISON’S</b> BOYS finished fifth in the team standings. Senior Duncan Hartt placed in four events. He took third place in the high jump, fourth in the long jump, fourth in 55-hurdles, and sixth in pole vault. Senior Jesse Evans was a second place finisher in shotput. Other place finishers for the Warhawks were junior Travis Johnson (5th in shot) and senior Stephen Swartz (4th in 500). Madison’s 4x400 relay team was third.
For the Madison girls, senior Laura Wolff was a third place finisher in the long jump. She also finished sixth in both the triple jump and 55 dash events. Also for the Warhawks, sophomore Liz Ale was fourth in shotput.