The Connection

The T.C. Williams boys' track and field team won the 2012 Patriot District championship, beating defending champion Annandale by 17 points last week at Episcopal High School.

Jonathan Anderson won the shot put title with a throw of 51 feet, 1 inch and was part of a 1-2-4 finish for the Titans in the event. Mohammed Sesay took second (48-5) and Jose Urrutia finished fourth (43-1), each qualifying for regionals.

Kahron Lee won the high jump for the Titans with a personal-best-tying mark of 6 feet, 4 inches, part of a 1-4-5 team finish in the event. Devon Cooper (6-0) placed fourth and Za’Quan Summers (5-10) was fifth.

Anderson and Lee each qualified for states in their respective events in late February.

On the track, Percy Haskins won the 55-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.1 seconds. Summers took second in the 55-meter dash with a state-qualifying time of 6.57 seconds. He also finished third in the 300 with a personal-best 37.14.

In girls’ action, T.C. Williams took third with 70.5 points, finishing behind South County (165) and Lake Braddock (89). Ayzha Ward won the shot put title with a throw of 37-10, more than nine feet better than the nearest competitor. Jennifer Zhu placed second in the high jump (4-8) and Sydney Schaedel took second in the pole vault with a state-qualifying mark of 9 feet, 6 inches.

The 4x400 relay team of Schaedel, Shannon Smythe, Kathryn Hendley and Morgan Lataillade won a district title with a team best 4 minutes, 7.8 seconds. The 4x200 relay team of Jada Toote, Hendley, Indya Weaver and Lataillade finished third with a time of 1:52.24.

The top-six finishers in each event and the top-three relays earned a trip to regionals, which will be held Feb. 18 at George Mason University. The Titans finished with 28 individual entries and three relays qualifying for regionals.

TC’S Girard Qualifies For Regionals

Grace Girard, T.C. Williams’ lone competitor, qualified for regionals on floor, bars and beam during the Patriot District gymnastics meet on Feb. 3 at Lake Braddock Secondary School.

Girard, a freshman at Minnie Howard, placed fifth on floor (9.1, tie), sixth on bars (8.65), seventh on beam (8.325) and ninth on vault (8.8, tie). A top-eight finish earns a trip to regionals.

Girard finished sixth in the all-around competition with a total of 34.875. Lake Braddock’s Caitlin Liberatore won the all-around with a 36.6, followed by Lee’s Leah Michetti (36.15) and Katie Stewart

(36.025) and West Potomac’s Monica Thompson (35.8). The top four in the all-around earn a regional berth.

Regionals will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10 at Lake Braddock.

MidAtlantic Erg Sprints Held Feb. 4

The world’s third largest indoor rowing competition took place in Alexandria this past Saturday, with the holding of the MidAtlantic Erg Sprints at T.C. Williams High School on Feb. 4.

This is the 27th year Alexandria has hosted the competition, which featured the largest turnout in its history. In total, 1,572 athletes from 56 high schools, 38 rowing clubs, 10 colleges, and six fitness clubs competed in this year's event, rowing 3,719,076 meters — or 2,310.9 miles — along the way. The event was organized and staffed by 210 volunteers — 160 adults and 50 students.

In addition to rowers from the T.C. Williams Crew Team, high schools represented in this year's competition included Bishop Ireton, West Potomac, Thomas Jefferson, McLean, Yorktown, Washington & Lee, Bishop O’Connell, Lake Braddock, James Madison, St. Albans, Gonzaga, Georgetown Visitation, National Cathedral, Walt Whitman, Wilson, and Bethesda-Chevy Chase.

Collegiate athletes competing in this year's event came from George Mason, the University of Virginia, Georgetown, George Washington University, the Naval Academy and Duke.

Also competing were members of the Alexandria Community Rowing club — which, like the T.C. Williams Crew Team, rows out of the Dee Campbell Boathouse in Old Town — as well as clubs such as the Potomac Boat Club, Occoquan Boat Club, Oakton Masters Rowing, Prince William Rowing Club, Capital Rowing Club, Rock Creek Rowing, Baltimore Rowing Club, Annapolis Rowing Club, and the Atlanta Rowing Club.

The event also featured Wounded Warriors and other adaptive rowers from Athletes Without Limits, the U.S. Paralympics Military Program, and the Capital Rowing Club. The MidAtlantic Erg Sprints was one of the first indoor rowing competitions in the United States to feature adaptive rowing events, which are designed for individuals with disabilities.

As a result of their times at the MidAtlantic Erg Sprints, six athletes have qualified for and will now compete in the World Indoor Rowing Championship — also known as the CRASH-B Sprints — which will be held in Boston on Feb. 19. The six qualifiers are: Matt Miller with the Potomac Boat Club, who qualified with a time of 05:51.7 in the Open Men’s 2000 meter race; Cynthia Cole with the Washington Rowing School, who qualified with a time of 08:04.0 in the Veteran Women’s (age 55-59) 2000 meter race; Jill Gardner with the Potomac Boat Club, who qualified with a time of 08:05.2 in the Veteran Women’s (age 60-64) 2000 meter race; Bob Spousta with the Occoquan Boat Club, who qualified with a time of 06:35.1 in the Veteran Men’s (age 60-64) 2000 meter race; Kenneth Boyle with the Railhouse Brewery Rowing Club, who qualified with a time of 07:35.1 in the Veteran Men’s (age 70-74) 2000 meter race; and, Katherine Toothman with St. Andrew's School in Delaware, who qualified with a time of 07:04.4 in the Junior Women’s (age 18-19) 2000 meter race.

And, in a one-of-a-kind competition, John Ryan of Crownsville, Md. not only rowed a complete marathon — 42,195 meters, or 26.2 miles — but did so with the fastest time posted so far in the U.S. this year: 2:45:56.5. For complete results of the 27th MidAtlantic Erg Sprints, visit http://www.ergsprints.com/results/.

The MidAtlantic Erg Sprints were first held in Alexandria in January 1986. The event is sponsored by the Alexandria Crew Boosters.