The Indoor track season got underway on Saturday Dec. 3 at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Atoms indoor track team competed against Chantilly, Mount Vernon, and West Potomac. The meet was very success for both girls and boys.

The girls placed second and the Boys placed first in the competition.

“It was one of the best meets we have ever had,”girls varsity track coach Phil Harris said.

Many of the runners ran really well, and some of them ran the fastest they ever have.

“The meet went great a lot of people got personal records in their events,” senior Ariana Ward said.

Ward competed in the 4 by 200 meters, 4 by 4,300  meters. The Atoms have a lot of returning runners from last year including Junior Janice Milian.

Milian competed in 1600 meter race, also know as the mile.

It looks to be a very good season for indoor track, led by the boys cross country team that made it to regionals this fall.

But even with early success there is always room for improvement.

“The team really needs to work on their speed, we have plenty of distance runners,” Coach Harris said.

The runners think we need to improve on some other things, like starts, closing speed, endurance, and other important techniques to run faster than they ever have in a meet.

“Overall just dropping our times, even though we have really strong runners who run really good times in their events,” Milian said. “”I need to improve on my start and pacing myself through the race.”

“The team overall is working hard and doing a fantastic job I wouldn’t change anything,” Ward said.

The girls distance team was successful in the fall during cross country. Many of the girls have been together on the same team for their whole high school track experience.

Most of the sprinters play other sports in the fall because there is no sprinting. Playing other sports help them develop other aspects of running  and athletic skills needed to sprint.

Over the weekend on Saturday, our Indoor track team will be participating in the PR holiday invitation.