Track: Atholton Wins Regional Championship As Howard County Heavyweights Gear Up For States

Atholton Raiders head coach Wendell Thomas had a simple edict for his team: “Run fast.”

In the rough conditions at the 5th Regiment Armory in Baltimore it is impossible for anyone to put up a personal best, but the Atholton men’s team had the depth needed from top to bottom to come away with a commanding victory.

Andrew King won the boys' 300-meter individually and helped Atholton’s 4-x-200 meter team take first place.

“After winning the counties, winning regionals is a great feeling,” King said.

Thomas, who has not personally coached a team to an indoor track regional title since the late '80s (Atholton itself has won more recently), thinks his team has the depth needed to have a real shot at the state title if everyone can stay healthy.

“We’ve just got a solid group, from top to bottom," the coach said. "They work well together. They’ve done some bonding. They’re really hard workers.”

On the boys' side, Howard County will have 31 entries in individual events or relays in the 3A state meet, and the Howard County women have 29. To qualify, the competitor must finish in the top four in the regional meet or make it by running faster than a designated qualifying time.

With the Atholton men accounting for 15 of those entries, they can certainly feel good about their chances at the state championship.

But many athletes from other schools shined as well Tuesday night.

Karli Buescher, seeded second in the 1600 meter run, just wanted to qualify for states, so she lurked behind the leader until her last lap and then took advantage of a slow pace to take first place.  

"I kind of hung back until my kick the last lap," she said. "I really wanted to make sure I qualified to go to states."

Other runners, like Mount Hebron’s Kevin Mertz and Rachel Yep, who each won the 3200, were more confident.

"I kind of went into the race thinking that I wanted to come out winning," Mertz said. "So I decided to just take on the lead and not let anyone get in front with me and it worked out."

He had to fight his way past Atholton’s Andrew Parlette and Rylan King, who finished second and third, in order to take first place. He credited coaching for his and Yep’s success.  

"He trains us hard. More importantly he trains us smart," Mertz said. "He really knows what he’s doing, so I think he can put the team in a good position to keep winning in the future."

Yep had an easy nine-second win in the women’s 3200 but was coy about her chances of a state title. “Maybe!” she exclaimed, before saying more calmly: “I mean … maybe.”

The men’s 1600 race had River Hill’s Scott Heydrick, Reservoir’s Eric Schuler and Atholton’s Connor Belson finish, in that order, within a second of each other. The slower pace brought about by the conditions at the armory – Schuler said they would be "about 20 seconds faster" at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex – helped keep each runner fresh.

"The pace was pretty slow, so we all had a little bit at the end," Schuler said. "We were just kind of kicking for first pace. We were the top three, so we all knew we had qualified for states. We were just pretty much going for first.”

Heydrick, who prevailed among the threesome, had not wanted to run the mile after not running it most of the short season. But his coach had thought it was a good opportunity. He did not pass the chance up and went for the win.

Like Schuler, Heydrick said he “kind of just sat back a bit. Instead of going out hard, I just stayed until 300 to go, 250 to go. I usually wait till the last lap. But I felt really good, I just wanted to go it – do or die.”

The armory is an old facility, and Howard County usually does not have meets there during the regular season. But all regional qualifiers this season are at the armory. The floor is not a track surface and spikes cannot be worn.

Few lanes are marked, and during the competition several runners fell. There’s little light and not much space. Field events have to be halted at times for running events.

Kevin Mertz was the rare voice sticking up for the armory. "It’s not as bad as people say it is," he said. "And it's pretty cool."

 But Atholton’s Kenny Thomas panned the facility: "I wouldn’t want to come back," he said.

Boys' Scores

Atholton 104.50

Reservior 56.50

Westlake 31

Stephen Decatur 30

Thomas Stone 28

Mount Hebron 26.5

Wilde Lake 23

Henry E Lackey 21.5

River Hill 20

La Plata 20

Centennial 14

Northern-Calvert 13

Howard 11

Huntingtown 9

Boys' Howard County State Qualifiers

Atholton:  Andrew King (55, 300), Kenneth Thomas (55), Brandon Hairston (300, 500), Connor Belson (800, 1600), Andrew Parlette (3200), Rylan King (3200),  4-x-200 team,  4-x-400, 4-x-800, William Goodspeed (HJ), Edward Robinson (55 hurdles SP)

River Hill: Scott Heydrick (800, 1600)

Reservoir: Josh Campbell (800) Eric Shuler (800, 1600) Kyle Mitchell (55 Hurdles), 4-x-200, 4-x-800,

Mount Hebron Kevin Mertz (3200) Paul Haley (55 hurdles, HJ), 4-x-800

Wilde Lake Duncan Enerson (3200), Russel Rollow (PV), Tim Virostek (1600) and Jerris Harris (500)

Howard Jordan Carr (HJ)

Centennial Jaime Leroy (SP)

Women’s Scores

Huntington 73.33

River Hill 67.67

Mount Hebron 57

Reservoir 46

Thomas Stone 32

Stephen Decatur 24

Atholton 24

Wilde Lake 18

La Plata 15

Westlake 14

Howard 10

Henry E Lackey 8

Centennial 7

James M Bennet 4

Northern-Calvert 3

Women Howard County State Qualifiers

Reservoir Alexis Harris (55) Alyse Gibson (1600), 4-x-200, 4-x-800, Kayla Servance (SP), Sofia  Wardcantori (SP)

Mount Hebron Michaela Wilkins (500), Liz Tawa (800), Karli Buescher (1600), Rachel Yep (3200), 4-x-800

Atholton Alyssa Kaiser (800), Katie Pelikan (HJ), Natalie Alper (HJ)

Wilde Lake Maria Pascale (800) MacKenzie Burnett (PV)

River Hill Anna Demaree (800, 1600) Meghan Heneghan (1600, 3200) Leanne Young (3200) Jennifer Evans (55 hurdles), 4-x-200, 4-x-400, 4-x-800, Kelly Davis (PV), Caitlin Davis (PV)  

Howard Christine London (55 hurdles)

Centennial Chioma Ichoku (HJ)

This article has been updated to complete the list of state qualifiers from Howard County.