On Dec. 14, the Highlander winter track team traveled to Liberty University to compete in the annual Christmas High School Invitational. The meet brought 137 teams from all over the Eastern Seaboard. McLean sent around 50 runners to compete in 23 different events, with numerous runners placing in the top 25.
“The meet had lots of schools at it and was held in a nice facility,” junior distance runner Carter Lineweaver said. “I would say it’s pretty competitive.”
On the girls side, senior Caitlin Farley placed 5th in the first heat of the 500 meter and juniors Kathryn Thomas and Sophie Hinton placed 22nd in heats 6 and 8. In the 1000 meter dash, sophomore Sydney Walker placed 19th in heat 5, and Farley and Thomas placed 19th and 25th in heat 2, respectively. Junior Dani Diaz placed 14th in heat 1, Walker placed 24th in heat 4 and sophomore Ella Wright placed 25th in heat 3 in the mile. In the 2 mile, junior Catherine Thomas and sophomore Mila Adams placed 9th and 15th in heat 1. In the pole vault, sophomore Sophie Knudson placed 12th in heat 2 and sophomore Avery Diaz placed 17th in heat 1.
For the boys, senior Ndalo Ndebele ran the 500 meter and placed 3rd in heat 3 with senior Landon Moore who placed 11th, Andrew Conly in heat 7 who placed 12th and David Sheng in heat 4 who placed 25th. Junior Akay Onat ran in heat 2 of the 2 mile and placed 14th, along with Lineweaver in heat 1 placing third. Lineweaver’s time broke the previous school record by over 12 seconds. Senior Mikhael Cristo-Ezewoko placed 13th in heat 1 of the long jump and 16th in heat 1 in the Triple Jump. Junior Noam Gottesman placed 22nd in heat 1 of the pole vault and junior Hank Tabor placed 25th in heat 5 of shot put.
“The team did very well,” Lineweaver said. “Many people got district, regional and even state qualifying marks in various events.”
The team continues to practice daily despite changing weather conditions. In preparation for multiple meets over the break, the team has to make sure they are staying warm and in shape to compete.
“The team continues to practice every day in preparation for our upcoming meets,” Lineweaver said. “We practice in rain or shine no matter what and that’s how we continue to succeed.”
