The outdoor track and field district competition took place on 5/27.
Districts is an event that the track and field athletes have been working for the whole season for.
The goal of the runners at districts is to finish their races with the best placements and times possible in order to qualify for regionals.
The meet took place at Mount Vernon High school, where Annandale has already raced several times this season. A few of the main short distance events that took place during the competition were the 4×100, the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, and long jump.
“Districts was a good experience. It was slightly different because of COVID-19, but I had fun,” sophomore Miles Lanham said.
Lanham qualified for districts in the 400 meter dash, long jump, and triple jump. He placed 2nd in the 400 meter dash, 4th place in long jump, and 5th place in triple jump.
“Regionals was a great experience to see a lot of great teams and compete against them,” junior Gabe Thayer said.
Thayer placed 4th in the 100 meter dash and placed 2nd in the 200 meter dash.
The next competition that track and field athletes will train and prepare for is regionals.
Athletes who participate in this event will have an opportunity to qualify for states if they are able to overcome the incredible pressure of doing well in regionals.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing the great opponents that we have to compete against. Regionals is a whole different level of competition,” Thayer said.
Many athletes who have qualified for regionals are on a mission and are motivated to prove everybody wrong.
“I’m looking forward to making a statement and humbling the people who called us trash,” junior Daniel Diaz said.
Diaz placed 2nd place in the 4×100 meter relay and 5th in the pole vault event.
Although the long distance runners felt somewhat disappointed by their performances, two individuals stood out and ran quite well. Senior Moussa Ayoub placed fifth place for both the one and two mile races and senior Alex Burita placed second in the 800 meter race, becoming the only long distance runner to qualify for regionals.
Track and field can take a huge toll on someone’s body. All the athletes who are competing at regionals are going to use the two weeks they have before the event to make sure they are in the best possible shape for running.
“We have two weeks to prepare. I will try to build up my endurance a little bit and work on my jump phases,” Lanham said. Lanham, who will be competing in his first ever outdoor track regional event, will be taking part in multiple events at the meet, and will try to be as prepared as possible on race day.
Rest is also a key part in recovering and getting ready for another meet.
“I will rest my back and make sure I am 100 percent ready so that I can leave it all out on the track,” Diaz said.