On May 12, the McLean track team competed in the Liberty District Championship where the boys 4×800 relay team victoriously took second place, breaking McLean’s all time record.
Senior Omar Massoud, Sophomore Landon Moore and Juniors Luca Hinton and Liam Riley all broke their personal records for the event, bringing the relay to a final time of 7:59.88 and coming in less than a second behind Marshall.
Their extraordinary time has qualified the boys to compete in both the Virginia State Championships and at New Balance Nationals at the University of Pennsylvania on June 15. Qualifying for nationals is a respected accomplishment and has been a major goal for the relay team throughout the track season.
“It meant a lot to run that time in front of the old 4×800 relay team, most of whom were back from college,” Hinton said. “There was a lot of encouragement there and it helped us run a fast race.”
However, the season has had challenges of its own. The major one being Hinton’s broken hand, his recent injury adding an additional obstacle for the team to work around in the coming meets.
According to Hinton, his doctor has advised him to discontinue running, meaning an alternate will take his place for the postseason.
“I was pretty disappointed, but at least we made it to nationals and that’s what matters,” Hinton said.
Junior Alexandre Stephant plans to fill in Hinton’s place in the next two races.
“I was sad for Luca, and I don’t want to be the reason that we don’t progress further,” said Stephant. “I think I can definitely run faster than I would in an individual race.”
One thing that never fails to keep the team motivated is receiving the New Balance Nationals backpack, a prized possession that is given to only the top high school runners in the nation.
“We’ll get the bag next year,” Hinton said. “Individually and with the relay.”
The relay team has been training since the fall throughout the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track seasons, working hard to drop time in order to place well during the postseason.
“Coming to practice consistently and working together as a team has helped us a lot,” Riley said.
The team has made tremendous progress this season, dropping over 30 seconds in their relay.
“We started at 8:37, and now we just broke the school record,” Massoud said. “I didn’t believe it at the beginning, but I am so proud of it.”
At practice, the team pushes each other to try their hardest which has been essential to their improvement. The team also makes sure to hold group workouts and easy runs together to continue their strong team bond and hold each other accountable.
“Liam [Riley] has helped me a lot through workouts,” Massoud said. “He is the most competitive and running with him makes me better.”
As the relay team gears up for the state competition on June 2nd and 3rd, they are hoping to drop a couple more seconds off of their time to break their own record again.
“I’m hyped to get out on the track this weekend and compete with the best in the state,” Stephant said. “We’re all looking to run some personal records this postseason.”
