On a VERY HOT day at Handley High School both the boys and girls track teams experienced some success. The day started out well with Anna Sullivan placing 3rd in the Region to advance to the state meet in the high jump.  The next person to advance was Julie Strange who ran a 5:15.21 to place 3rd in the 1600 to advance. Tommy Curtin  took to the track in the boys 1600 and ran an outstanding 4:22.74 to place 2nd and also set a  new school record.  The 4x100 team of Adam Yesuf, Dionte Fitts, Dejuan McConnell, and Teddy Murphy tied their best time of the year to place 8th. Erica Butkiewicz just missed advancing by one place when she finished 7th in the 300 Hurdles. The last races of the day for LCHS were the 3200's. Julie Strange survived the heat to place 2nd in this race and Tommy Curtin held on in the heat to place 3rd. The one girl who beat Julie and the two guys to beat Tommy had not participated earlier in the 1600 which was a huge advantage to them.

Next up for Tommy, Julie and Anna is the VHSL AA State Meet to be held next Friday and Saturday.

The Dulles District Track Meet concluded today with some good individual results despite the team results not being as good as hoped. Meghan Tracy placed in the 100 meters to advance to regionals. Sammy Clark placed in the 400 meters to advance as did Erica Butkiewicz in the 300 Hurdles. Two runners advanced from the 1600 meters as Julie Strange became a double district champion after her win last night in the 3200 she won the 1600 meters tonight. Kathryn Eder took 5th place in the race to also advance.

On the guys side: Dejuan McConnell placed in the 200 meters. Steven Graham advanced in the 400 meters. Tommy Curtin ran a state qualifying time in the 1600 but was only able to place second despite running 4:25.58.

These runners will advance to the regional meet along with those who qualified yesterday. The regional meet is at Handley High School in two weeks on May 27th.

Day 1 is over for the Dullest District Meet and a number of athletes are advancing to the Regional Meet. Anna Sullivan started the day off strong with a 2nd place finish with a jump of 5' 2" which in addition to placing 2nd also earned her an automatic berth at the state meet. The girls throwers did well as Ellen Northrup placed in the shot put and Kelsey Phoebus advanced in the discus.

Also scoring for the girls was the 4x800 team of Julie Strange, Becca Hinch, Kathryn Eder and Emily Seifert. This group placed 4th today. The last girls race of the day also produced two more regional qualifiers and one of our district champions for the day. Julie Strange is the Dulles District 3200 meter champion and Kathryn Eder also placed to advance in the 3200.

The boys team advanced in a few events as well. The 4x800 team of Tommy Curtin, Kyle Frazier, Tanner Tibbits, and Devin Schechter placed 3rd to qualify for the regional meet. Tommy Curtin had another outstanding day as he not only won the 3200, but he also established a new Dulles District record. James Spence placed 6th to also advance to regionals.

The team returns tomorrow to Freedom to complete the district meet.

On Friday, both the girls and boys track teams competed at the County Championships and there were numerous highlights. Possibly the biggest highlight was the performance of the 4x100 team comprised of Antonio Rutherford, Adam Yesuf, Dejuan McConnell, and Dionte Fitts. They ran a season PR by about 2 seconds and qualified for the regional meet and placed 2nd in the County. James Spence became the 7th person at LCHS to go under 10:00 for the 3200 as he qualified for Regionals with a 9:58.77.

The girls 4x800 team of Allee White, Emily Seifert, Kathryn Eder, and Devin Bowers placed 3rd to earn medals and Kathryn Eder and Anna Nordseth earned medals by placing 4th and 5th in the 3200. Anna Sullivan also medaled in the high jump.

Lastly, Tommy Curtin ran in the Southern Track Classic in Richmond where he shattered the school record for 3200. At the start of the season the record was 9:37. Tommy broke it for the first time 2 weeks ago when he ran 9:32. At Richmond he ran 9:23.49 to break the old record by almost 14 seconds.

The track team had a busy week-end with a meet on Friday in Warrenton and a meet in Reston on Saturday. Things went fairly well both nights. On Friday night, Teddy Murphy ran a new PR to place in the 200. Kyle Frazier scored in the 800 with a new PR. We had two athletes earn state qualifying times. Julie Strange ran a strong 1600 with a time of 5:18.2 to qualify for states and placing 2nd in the meet. The highlight of the night was the 1600 where a strong field pushed each other to a fast time. Tommy Curtin pushed the pace on the 3rd lap but was passed at the start of lap 4 and stayed in 2nd place until 100 meters to go when he passed and outsprinted the Fauquier runner. This sprint earned him a meet win, a meet record and a state qualifying time of 4:27.8.

On Saturday, the Raiders were at South Lakes High School. Both high jumpers, Anna Sullivan and Colin Gibson, scored points for the Raiders. Steven Graham ran an outstanding time in the 400. Erica Butkiewicz had a breakthrough race in the 300 Hurdles with her first sub 50 clocking. Julie Strange improved on her state qualifying time from last week by knocking another 13 seconds off her time. Tommy Curtin had another big night as he led from start to finish in a brisk 9:32.05. He ran a very even race with the first mile 4:45.??? and the second mile 4:46.??. This time broke the school record that was held by David Bolton.

Both the boys and girls track teams traveled to James Wood High School to compete in the Apple Blossom Invitational with 17 other teams. There were numerous highlights for the day.  Dionte Fitts started off the day with a big PR in the long jump to place 5th overall. Both the boys and girls 4x800 teams finished with points as the girls team of Julie Strange, Anna Nordseth, Emily Seifert, and Devin Bowers placed 6th and the boys team of James Spence, Logan Smith, Kyle Frazier, and Devin Schechter placed 5th. Tommy Curtin ran a personal best in the 1600 to place 3rd overall. His race was heartbreaking because despite an outstanding time of 4:29.28, he missed the automatic state qualifer of 4:29.21. Julie Strange was the lone winner of the day as she won the 3200 and picked up a state qualifier in that event. Finally, in the last race of the day, the girls 4x400 team of Erica Butkiewicz, Kaitlyn Fillmore, Amanda Armstrong, and Sammy Clark placed 6th overall.

At the meet last week, Tommy Curtin won the 3200 at the Handley Invitational and just missed the school record by .7 seconds. Fortunately, that time qualifed him for the state meet by 10 seconds.