Crofton indoor track and field’s bag of medals weighed so heavily only midway through the county championships, Anne Arundel County officials needed to pull out another one just to hold them all. Even so, the paper envelopes swelled with clinking prizes, so many that head coach Stacy Severtson needed to make two trips to bring them all to her team.
She truthfully hadn’t expected so much success. After sweeping the boys and girls county championships last winter, the Cardinals graduated 38 seniors.
“They felt like they had to step up to fill the shoes of those that came before – a huge void that was left on their shoulders, that they had to continue it,” Severtson said, “and they’ve really done that.”
The Crofton boys dominated the rest of the county so early and so overwhelmingly that they knew they defended their title hours before the end of the meet. Crofton collected 179.5 points while Broadneck took silver with 82 points and Severna Park finished third with 56.
It wasn’t just that the Cardinals won — they did, eight times. Crofton placed in all 10 track events and all five field events, stacking the podium in several. The Cardinals peaked in the 500-meter run, claiming all three top medals.
Christian Doss starred at the center of the swift rebuild, Severtson said, and that showed on Tuesday. Doss won two gold medals individually in the 300-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles, while also running in the winning 4×200 and third-place 4×400 relays.
“We put the work in in practice,” said junior Kaleb Russ, who placed third in the 500 and anchored the winning 4×800 relay. “Six days a week, constant work – field events, all our running events. It’s a lot of work and it finally paid off.”
The Broadneck girls had similar goals but had a longer way to climb. The Bruins didn’t perform the way they wanted to last year, watching as the Cardinals girls celebrated the title that Broadneck, as a program, was quite accustomed to taking home.
When it looked early on that it’d be Crofton and Severna Park grappling for the girls crown, the Bruins did not fret. They knew the field events would be calculated after track and head coach Josh Webster, a math teacher, ran the probable numbers long before he and his squad set foot on the blue track floor on Tuesday.
The Bruins, winning with 119 points, were boosted by three wins in the field events among a myriad other high scorers to earn the team’s ninth title – county, region or state – in nine years.
“Honestly, I think the 55-meter was the only event we didn’t score points in,” Webster said. “I asked my entire team to step up and fill out the ranks. We’ve had plenty of girls dealing injuries and they came out like troopers today.”
Broadneck junior Nkechi Streete’s already eclipsed 18 feet in the long jump. But when the team needed her to spread her energy across more events in an effort to earn more points, Streete happily sacrificed.
And still, she made history. With a distance of 17 feet, 3.5 inches, Streete snapped the previous county long jump record, set by Old Mill’s Breanna Mealer in 2017, by two inches.
Streete also captured gold in the triple jump, leaping 37-11, and silver in the high jump (5 feet.
Yes, Streete said, she does like to hit personal records where she can. But she views counties, regions and even states as a chance to boost her teammates.
“She’s selfless. She could’ve gone for big times today, but she didn’t because this is the one meet that’s completely about her teammates,” Webster said.
That said, Streete knows there’s more to claim ahead of her.
“I know I have a lot in me. I know I can accomplish more,” Streete said. “That’s my focus for the next couple weeks, outdoor, and going into my senior year. I’m really excited to see how far I can go.”
Junior Dana Doubek tied for third in high jump and finished eighth in long jump – her first long jump performance of the season after struggling with injuries. It was pole vault though, where Doubek shined brightest, setting a new county record of 11-11 – five inches more than the previous mark.
It wasn’t a particularly old record. Doubek admittedly felt shock and even sadness seeping through her joy. The old mark belonged to one of her best friend Carson Boteler’s, set in 2024.
“Everything we’ve been building up in practice finally started to click,” Doubek said. “It felt really good. It’s good to put all that [injuries] aside.”
Team Scores
Boys: 1. Crofton (179.5); 2. Broadneck (82); 3. Severna Park (56); 4. Arundel (48.5); 5. Severn Run (48); 6. Chesapeake (38); T7. Glen Burnie (23); T7. North County (23); 9. Meade (22); 10. Northeast (20); 11. Old Mill (18); T12. South River (9); T12. Chesapeake Science Point; 14. Annapolis (8)
Girls: 1. Broadneck (119); 2. Crofton (108.5); 3. Severna Park (102); 4. Southern (52); 5. Severn Run (44); 6. Meade (35); 7. Aundel (31); 8. North County (25); 9. Annapolis (21); 10. Chesapeake (13.5); 11. Northeast (11); 12. Old Mill (10); 13. South River (8); 14. Glen Burnie (5)
Track results
Girls 4x800m relay: 1. Severna Park (9:58.66); 2. Crofton (10:07.03); 3. Chesapeake (10:23.83)
Boys 4x800m relay: 1. Crofton (8:33.98); 2. Chesapeake (8:36.18); 3. South River (8:48.62)
Girls 300m: 1. Keyira Nelson, Severn Run (41.55); 2. Calise White, Arundel (41.69); 3. Shelcie Kelly, Annapolis (41.78)
Boys 300m: 1. Christian Doss, Crofton (35.74); 2. Adam Sexton, Severn Run (35.81); 3. Allan Aminu, Arundel (35.85)
Girls 1600m: 1. Josie Kamas, Severna Park (5:08.54); 2. Siena Pegues, Severna Park (5:08.90); 3. Katelyn Wiseman, Severna Park (5:14.82)
Boys 1600m: 1. Cole Cosgrove, North County (4:26.05); 2. Brenden Woods, Severna Park (4:27.96); 3. Scott Cunningham, Crofton (4:28.58)
Girls 500m: 1. Katherine DiPietro, Southern (1:19.29); 2. Katelyn Waters, Crofton (1:20.86); 3. Katie VonBerg, North County (1:20.98)
Boys 500m: 1. Julian Treleaven, Crofton (1:07.50); 2. Dorian Johnson, Crofton (1:07.80); 3. Kaleb Russ, Crofton (1:08.96)
Girls 55m hurdles: 1. Jaslyn Bangoura, Meade (8.31); 2. Xianna Day, Meade (8.72); 3. Marley Shaw, Southern (8.89)
Boys 55m hurdles: 1. Christian Doss, Crofton (7.67); 2. Aaron Farrar, Crofton (7.84); 3. Gabe AkoArrey, Old Mill (7.88)
Girls 55m: 1. Jaslyn Bangoura, Meade (7.25); 2. Calise White, Arundel (7.28); 3. Shelcie Kelly, Annapolis (7.33)
Boys 55m: 1. Lamar Sanders, Crofton (6.57); 2. Edward Smith II, Arundel (6.60); 3. Adam Sexton, Severn Run (6.62)
Girls 3200m: 1. Grace Redmond, Severna Park (11:36.48); 2. Lexi Fitzsimmons, Severna Park (11:43.03); 3. Adriana Vastag, Severn Run (11:47.58)
Boys 3200m: 1. Scott Cunningham, Crofton (9:46.37), 2. Tre Kelly, Severn Run (9:50.04); 3. Max Marinello, Broadneck (10:04.88)
Girls 4x200m relay: 1. Crofton (1:44.91 MEET RECORD); 2. Broadneck (1:50.48); 3. Severn Run (1:51.30)
Boys 4x200m relay: 1. Crofton (1:31.05 MR); 2. Arundel (1:31.81); 3. Severn Run (1:34.67)
Girls 800m: 1. Siena Pegues, Severna Park (2:19.50); 2. Harper Wallace, Severna Park (2:24.44); 3. Katelyn Waters, Crofton (2:25.64)
Boys 800m: 1. Damola Olawode, Crofton (1:58.56); 2. Brenden Woods, Severna Park (2:02.172); 3. Ryad Mechai, Northeast (2:02.178)
Girls 4x400m relay: 1. Southern (4:08.64 MR); 2. Broadneck (4:12.80); 3. Crofton (4:15.70)
Boys 400x400m relay: 1. Severna Park (3:34.30); 2. Broadneck (3:35.64); 3. Crofton (3:36.62)
Field results
Girls shotput: 1. Janaeyah McGirt, Severn Run (31-06.00); 2. Rhylee McDowell, Crofton (29-11.50); 3. Olivia Saylor, Northeast (29-02.00)
Boys shotput: 1. Anthony Mason, Crofton (50-5.00); 2. Lucas Davis, Broadneck (42-2.00); 3. Maison Bryan, Broadneck (42-0.00)
Girls triple jump: 1. Nkechi Streete, Broadneck (37-11.00); 2. Annika Reves, Broadneck (34-3.00); 3. Maya Zaveri, Crofton (33-11.50)
Boys triple jump: 1. Matthew Williams, Severna Park (42-7.00); 2. Myles Bryan, Broadneck (42-5.00); 3. Khalil Vernon, Meade (42-4.00)
Girls long jump: 1. Nkechi Streete, Broadneck (17-3.50 MR); 2. Olivia Boehmer, Crofton (17-1.00); 3. Remuna Kamanda, North County (16-5.00)
Boys long jump: 1. Myles Bryan, Broadneck (21-3.00); 2. Kaden Schurr, Arundel (20-9.00); 3. Isaiah Queen, Crofton (20-8.25)
Girls high jump: 1. Maya Voorhees, Southern (5-0.200); 2. Nkechi Streete, Broadneck (5-0.00); 3. Dana Doubek, Broadneck (4-10.00)
Boys high jump: 1. Noah Pellot, Northeast (6-4.00); 2. Matthew Williams, Severna Park (6-2.00); 3. Lamar Sanders, Crofton (6-0.00)
Girls pole vault: 1. Dana Doubek, Broadneck (11-11.00 MR); 2. Alexa Holt, Severna Park (11-0.00); 3. Briele Butitt, Broadneck (9-6.00)
Boys pole vault: 1. Chase Cage, Chesapeake (13-6.00); 2. Logan Zakour, Crofton (13-0.00); 3. Davin Inglis, Chesapeake (12-0.600)