Pretty much from the first several events, it was clear the Crofton boys were taking home the top team hardware at the Anne Arundel indoor track county championships at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex on Thursday night. The Cardinals beat Severna Park by 90 points, 164-74, after frustratingly falling three points short of Old Mill last year.
The Crofton girls team gold was not so certain. The Cardinals, as a team, did not even make the podium in 2024. This year, they edged out Severna Park, 122-101. Defending girls team champion Broadneck placed third with 93 points.
Crofton coach Stacy Severtson held her breath alongside her team, watching the final few events roll in. Then, they screamed so much their voices went hoarse.
“It definitely came down to those last few events and it came down to every single point,” the coach said. “When we’re sitting there at the last event, the triple jump and pole vault – and I just happen to have the best triple jumper and pole vaulter – that all sure added up at the end.”
Now, the Cardinals turn their sights on regions, to be held Feb. 3-8 at the PGSLC.
“The sprints become more competitive, the distances are better. Our region is tough,” Severtson said. “It’s gonna be a different dynamic of how to put the roster together. And we lose long jump and triple jump, where we do very well.”
On Thursday, the Cardinals garnered eight individual victories.
In the boys 300-meters, sophomore Dorian Johnson needed to run a personal best (36.26 seconds) to beat Severn Run’s Adam Sexton by two-tenths of a second. Despite that silver, Sexton would end up making history as the Wolves’ first indoor track county champion, taking the 55-meter dash in 6.6 seconds.
Crofton senior Bryan Schaeffer followed his teammate with a three-hundredth of a second win in the boys 500 (1:08.04) while Chikesandu Ogwo sprinted to a win with his personal record in the boys 55 hurdles (7.94). Adetoye Onkeaba slipped past his teammate Micah Hewick to be named boys shot put champion (47 feet, 4 inches). Logan Zakour did the same to his teammate Thomas Polk to win the boys pole vault (13-6).
Senior Laila Carpenter defended her title in the girls 300 (41.09), placed second in the 55 and sixth in the high jump while also anchoring the triumphant girls 4×200 relay (1:46.74). North County’s Arianna Easley won the 55 (7:28).
Crofton’s Charlotte DeForest, who jumped her season best to become the girls long jump champ (17-1/2) and claimed the triple jump as well (35-3.75) – an improvement from fourth last year. She finished second in the pole vault.
“We have our biggest senior class yet — 38 boys and girls. We’ve been watching them ticking away every year. Tonight, they popped off,” Severtson said. “We saw a lot of surprises, a lot of school records.
Not every one of Crofton’s assets were colored gold. But with the Falcons in the Crofton girls’ rearview all night, every point mattered.
A second-place win in the boys 4×200 (1:33.00) and 4×800 (8:33.10) boosted the Cardinals’ chances . Kendall Hall secured third in the 55 behind Carpenter and Olivia Boehemer fifth (she also finished third behind Carpenter in the 300). Amanda Druid placed second in the 55 hurdles (8.96). The 4×800 relay finished second, too.
Monsio Davies added a fourth in the shot put, worth five points. Denise Hanna and Eliana Manville contributed two points each from seventh place in the 1,600 and 3,200; Katelyn Waters and Julia Hudson contributed a point from the eighth spot in the 800 and 3,200. The sixth-place relay chipped in three points.
So many of last year’s champions graduated, opening the field to fresh blood. Crofton was happy to take every chance it could get.
There were titans that remained, though. Two of the county’s most-decorated runners shone again.
Old Mill Tsedeke Jakovics, defended his county titles in the the 800 (1:56.09) and 1,600 (4:13.81) with good distance between himself and the pack. He defeated Southern’s Eric Penkala, the recent cross-country Class 2A state champion and defending 2A state champion in the indoor 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
Penkala avenged himself by capturing the boys 3,200 by almost a full four seconds (9:42.54), where he’d placed second in 2024.
Southern also took the top hardware in the girls 4x400m relay (4:13.14) as well as the girls 500 thanks to senior Rebecca Burgee, who ran a 1:19.36. She beat Severna Park’s Ava Zimmerman, who then flipped her fortune against Burgee in the 800 – who was the defending champion– going 1-2 with 2:21.08 and 2:21.56, respectively.
Severna Park sophomore Josie Kamas joined her Falcons teammate in victory in the 1,600 (5:21.01), as did Lexi Fitzsimmons in the 3,200 (11:49.89). The two ran first and second alongside Valeria Saenz and Ellie Ballard to take the 4×800 relay, too (10:13.76).
Severna Park won the boys 4×200 (1:32.18) and 4×400 (3:31.15) while Chesapeake took the boys 4×800 (8:30.16).
Broadneck prevailed in the girls’ field events. Grace Purdum outthrew her own teammate, Breanna Brown, to earn gold in shot put (31-6 1/2). She finished eighth the year before. Bruins sophomore Dana Doubek vaulted to victory in the girls pole vault (11-3) as well.
Nkechi Streete hit a personal record in the high jump (4-10) and placed third in the long jump.
Arundel’s Chege Kaba leapt to gold in the boys high jump (6-2 1/2) and finished second in the 55. His teammate Kofi Duro won the boys triple jump (45-1 1/2) and long jump (21-5 1/4).
Meade junior Jaslyn Bangoura had Crofton’s Druid hot on her heels in the 55 hurdles finals, but outraced the Cardinal to secure victory in a season-best 8.74 seconds, defending her county title.
Since the county championships were held in Landover, Meade’s indoor track teams were the only sport permitted to compete today following a stabbing at the high school earlier on Thursday. County cheerleading, which was to be held at Meade, was postponed.
“Jaslyn has been very dedicated the three years she’s been with us,” Mustangs coach Marlynn Harrison said. “She comes to our practices every day and works out outside of them. She’s a natural track athlete and she’s intellectually smart when it comes to her hurdles.”
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