Nine schools gathered at Thomas Jefferson Community Center (T.J.) to compete in three different track meets on Friday, December 21.

The school participated in the first meet against Oakton High School and Yorktown High School, with Oakton being the home team. The second meet  consisted of South Lakes High School, Marshall High School and Westfield High School, with South Lakes being the home team. The third meet consisted of Woodson High School, Centreville High School and West Potomac High School, with Woodson being the home team.

“Interacting with other schools is one of the things I love about track, everyone is usually very nice,” said senior Phillip Ray, who competed in multiple events, including the 55 meter hurdles and 4×200 relay. A 4×200 is where two teams each with four runners compete, and each runner runs 200 meters.

All indoor track meets are at T.J, because it is the only facility with an indoor track in close proximity. The doors opened at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, with the first event being the girls and boys high jump and the 4×800 meter relay, which is when two  teams of four runners compete, and each runner runs 800 meters.

The first field event was the girls and boys high jump. Girls high jump started at height 4’0” (raise 2”), which was followed by the boys high jump, which started at height 5’0” (raise 2”).   Senior runner, Aidan Augustin, who is participating in indoor track for the first time this season, won for the boys varsity high jump with his jump height being 5 feet 4 inches.

“I had a goal of beating my personal record for high jump and I beat it,” Augustin said.

Next was the running events with girls and boys 4×800 meter relay, with only two teams per school. In both events Yorktown came in first, and W-L in second.

“Running relays are my favorite part about track because, the feeling of you and your friends pulling up on these other teams is so much fun,” Ray said.

There were many other events at the meet, including girls and boys 55 meter hurdles, 55 meter dash for JV and varsity boys and girls, 4×200 meter relay, 1600 meter run, 500 meter dash, 1000 meter run, 300 meter dash, 3200 meter run and the 4×400 meter relay.

“The toughest part is dealing with the large number of students on the team.  It is great that so many students want to be involved, but it is also hard to organize workouts with over 100 people on the track at one time,” head coach of indoor track, Mr. Bill Drake said.

Of those events the school won the varsity boys 1000 meter run finals, varsity girls 55 meter dash finals, varsity girls 500 meter dash finals, varsity girls 1000 meter run finals, varsity girls 1600 meter run finals, varsity girls 3200 meter run finals and varsity girls 55 meter hurdles finals.

While students are waiting to compete they stand  in the middle of the track where most teams wait and stretch while talking  with friends and cheering on teammates.

“I visualized what I am about to do before I even get up to the line, but once I get there I clear my head as much as I can…thinking is for practice, thinking will only mess you up when you compete,” Ray said about what he does before a race.

As regular season indoor track comes to an end many students continue onto outdoor track in the spring.

“I look forward to watching our current athletes continue their improvement all the way through the end of the school year,” Coach Drake said.