“Northern Virginia is on the rise with competitiveness, which is fairly neat to see,” Westfield Coach Keith Sholders mentioned. “It’s getting extra aggressive than ever.”
A few of these Virginia faculties don’t have to attend till the brand new yr for an additional main meet. Fifty-nine faculties are headed to Battle of the Bridge on Wednesday and Thursday at Woodbridge; that meet additionally will characteristic groups from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
In Anne Arundel County, Chesapeake and South River, two of final yr’s high groups, confronted off in a twin meet at Glen Burnie final week. The Cougars edged the Seahawks, 35-34, in a call that got here right down to the fourth tiebreaker: Chesapeake’s eight match wins to South River’s six.
For West Springfield’s Aidan MacGrath, indoor season presents a selected psychological problem — however one she feels outfitted to deal with as a junior.
Typical indoor tracks are 200 meters lengthy — half the size of out of doors tracks. For 1,600-meter runners equivalent to MacGrath, meaning indoor races characteristic twice as many laps, a element that may trigger main pacing points for brand new runners.
“I feel a variety of it’s simply expertise, particularly with it being on an indoor monitor,” MacGrath mentioned. “Simply understanding that you’ve got double the quantity of laps is one thing that may be intimidating.”
Many native runners don’t get the possibility to coach frequently on an indoor monitor, so transitioning from the outside season can pose issues, together with the change in floor. MacGrath ran her first indoor meet throughout her sophomore yr. She’s targeted on utilizing that have to construct psychological power that may translate to private information within the 1,600 and the 4×800 relay.
“My coach and I talked rather a lot about how I’ve been in form for some issues, and I simply haven’t fairly been capable of attain it as a result of I had this huge psychological block,” MacGrath mentioned. “However then I bought over it my sophomore yr … and it’s made it rather a lot simpler to carry out.”
Calvert’s boys are at a aggressive drawback for twin meets earlier than the Cavaliers even hop within the water. Fielding solely 10 swimmers, Calvert yields about 24 factors per meet due to its absence of athletes in some particular person races, Coach Brian Dryer mentioned.
“It’s actually, actually tough,” Dryer mentioned. “However fortunately we’ve some wonderful children that additionally swim membership which can be simply phenomenal and really versatile.”
The group, which has been down two of its 10 swimmers due to diseases early this season, consists of 4 freshmen, 4 seniors, a sophomore and a junior. Dryer cited the pandemic as a trigger for the shortage of swimmers: Just one freshman joined the group in 2021, when there have been no meets.
Regardless of the Cavaliers’ depleted lineup, the group has held its personal by means of 4 meets. Dryer’s technique — unfold out the swimmers to attempt to have a minimum of two in every race — has resulted in a 1-3 report in twin meets, however Calvert’s greatest loss was by simply 16 factors.
Dryer can see the expertise he has on the group regardless of its lack of depth. Junior Drew Lynch holds 4 particular person group information, and senior Riley Pressure has dedicated to Stevenson College. Dryer is happy for the championship season forward, when his swimmers can be free to swim their finest races with out having to maximise factors for the group.
“After we get to championships [such as the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference], areas and states, we’ll be a lot better off than what our report reveals,” Dryer mentioned.
Final week, Woodson welcomed gamers outdated and new to the St. James in Springfield for its annual alumni sport. This yr, the membership was additionally celebrating its 20-year anniversary.
The occasion is on alumni calendars as a “must-do” yearly, mentioned Woodson guardian Royce Edington, whose son Carson is the assistant captain of the group. After the sport resulted in a 4-4 tie, alumni and present gamers met within the rink’s atrium and chatted over slices of pizza, sharing tales about their time on the ice.
This season, Woodson is working as a co-op with Robinson and competes within the Capital Scholastic Hockey League’s North Division. The group entered the vacations 1-5-1.