The Howard County Championship was hosted at the PG County's indoor track facility this past weekend January 21st, 2023. The Oakland Mills boys and Mount Hebron girls walked away with the team championship title while other athletes displayed impressive individual performances.

PHOTOS | VIDEOS | RESULTS

Boys

The Oakland Mills boys once again dominated the sprinting events. Notably, they set a new meet record in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:30.19. The scorpions also managed to win while consistently holding the lead for all four legs of the race. Seniors Trevin McHargh (6.39) and Shane King (34.91) won the 55m and 300m, both scoring an additional 20 points total for Oakland Mills. In the 4x400, the Oakland Mills boys swept the competition with an incredible time gap of 7.84 seconds between first and second place.

In the distance events, however, there was a shift in dominance. The Centennial duo consisting of seniors Antonio Camacho-Bucks (4:31.22) and Sebastian Martinez (2:00.45) were crowned county champions in the 1600m and 800m.  Coming through halfway point, the 1600m was moving slowly at 2:27.095 for 800m. Eventually, the pack began averaging 31-second lap splits before Camacho-Bucks outkicked the entire field in a winning time of 4:31.22. However, Long Reach senior Christian Brower was right behind in both events, finishing second in the 1600m (4:31.46) and third in the 800m (2:03.13). Oakland Mills senior Ethan Aidam took the win for the 3200m in a time of 9:56.35 and also finished second in the 800m respectively, with a time of 2:00.992, right behind Martinez.

In the field events, Oakland Mills dominated the jumps, with a total of 24 points being scored by Bliden Elung, Solomon Small, and Abdur Hassan in the triple and long jump. In the shot put throw, Oakland Mills had another individual champion, Kaiden Lee, who threw a winning distance of 44-09.00 beating Centennial senior Scott Patterson who threw 41-11.00 for second place.

Girls

The Mount Hebron girls proved to be a powerhouse this season with a stunning number of points scored from just the distance and sprint events. Mount Hebron junior Arayana Ladson won three individual county titles in the 55m dash (7.16), the 55m hurdles (8.37), and the 300m (41.01). In the middle-distance events, the Vikings scored a stunning 32 points total. Sameena Mathew won the individual title for the 500m in a winning time of 1:20.51. Caroline McCaffery also won an individual county title for the 800m in a time of 2:27.76. Michelle Antwi finished closely behind McCaffrey and Mathew in third for both the 500m (1:22.51) and 800m (2:30.29). 

The River Hill freshman twins, Marella and Lauren Virmani stirred the crowd with another impressive performance in the distance events. The twins led the majority of the 1600m race before an unfortunate trip and fall caused Marella Virmani to drop behind to third place during the bell lap before finishing in 5:23.66. Lauren Virmani won in a time of 5:19.37 before later winning another individual title in the 3200m (11:29.57). The Virmani twins also went 2-4 in the 800m with Marella running 2:30.27 and Lauren right behind in 2:30.99.

Oakland Mills represented a strong field team with two wins in the jumps events. Valerie Ashamu took first place with a winning height of 5-04.00 in the high jump. Her teammate Alicia Hall also scored 4 more points after jumping a height of 4-10.00 in fifth place. Hall, later on, won the triple jump with a distance of 35-03.00. Senior Rosalie Rosenburg scored another 10 points in the pole vault with a height of 9-06.00. The Scorpions also scored 20 points in the 4x200 (1:45.94) and 4x400 (4:13.35) relays, winning both events.