by Shannon McCarthy, staff writer
For the first time in nine years, the River Hill girls indoor track team took home the County championship title. They improved tremendously from last season’s fourth-place finish in the county. Entering the season, River Hill were the underdogs, but they exceeded the county’s expectations.
The Hawks have worked extremely hard this season to reach this level of success. “We each did our part, every runner coming out to practice every day getting stronger and faster,” says sophomore, Amina El-Ashry.
The Howard County Championships were on Monday, January 29. River Hill’s major opponent at the meet was the Atholton Raiders. It was not an easy win; the Hawks faced many obstacles as the end of the meet approached. They finished last in the second heat and sixth overall all in the final event. At this point, the team had lost any hope of coming home with the County Championship.
Tiamfook, tells The Baltimore Sun,
“I thought we didn’t have it, that was scary.”
Some extreme factors to the teams win was Tiamfook winning the 800-meter run. Senior Olivia Island finished first in the pole vaulting event, beating runner-up sophomore Madison Garrigus from Atholton. Freshman Faith Meininger won the 1,600-meter race and the 3,200-meter race, beating the expected winner, senior Emily Beyer from Mt. Hebron. This left the Hawks having a 10 point lead prior to the last event of the night.
Along with gaining many high scoring ranks, their team chemistry and dedication increased their level of success. “We had to work hard for each other which is pushing each other in and outside of practice, especially on race days we love to stay pumped and encourage each other during our races,” states Baker.
The team also has had some changes that have helped them thrive this season. Tiamfook says, “we had a lot of new additions to the team like Faith Meininger and Sydney Robinson as well as some big improvements from others like
Olivia Island, Ada Beams, and Chelsea Baker”
River Hill finished the night with a total of 111 points. Their runner-up was Atholton with 107.33 points and in third place Mt. Hebron with 96 points.
The Hawks have gained two tremendous checkpoints in the season, County Championship and Regional Championship. They are now striving for an even bigger goal, State Champions. Baker says, “our final goal at this point is definitely winning states by the biggest point margin possible and seeing all of our hard work pay off. We just want to be the strongest team we can possibly be and challenge the other strong teams in our final meet of the season.” The State Champion meet this year is taking place Monday, February 19, at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex.
This year’s Indoor Track team has continued River Hill’s dominance from the fall into the winter and have their minds set on bringing home a State Championship.