district finals meet at Falls Church High School on 5/18 and 5/19.
All teams in the National District competed at the meet, which gave the Atoms a chance to race against some of the fastest runners in the district and earn personal records.
In addition, those who competed at districts had the opportunity to qualify for regionals if their placements were high enough.
Those who qualified for regionals include the boys 4x100m relay, junior Miles Lanham in triple jump, long jump, the 200m dash, and the 400m dash, senior Jonathan Milian in long jump, junior Maximo Krause in the 300m hurdles, and junior Piero Vernazza-Cortez in the 110m hurdles. “Districts went well,” junior sprinter Rakan Alqadi said. “[There were] a bunch of great PR’s for me and my teammates and most of us were able to advance to regionals.”
With districts now wrapped up, the runners are looking to focus on preparing for the regional meet through the continuation of practices.
“We are practicing as usual for regionals and we will try to push into states this week,” Alqadi said.
The regional finals meet will be held at West Springfield High School on 5/26 and 5/27.
The Atoms are looking forward to competing against some of the fastest runners in the state, which will push them to run faster as well.
Although junior sprinter Miles Lanham qualified for regionals in several events, his season may be cut short due to a foot injury.
“I have had an injury to my foot that could potentially be season ending and I will not be able to compete at regionals,” Lanham said. “But I have faith in my team that they will do well [at regionals].”
The regional finals meet will be the final meet of an amazing season for most of the Atoms.
Only those who place well enough will advance to the state championship meet later on. However, the runners have seen tremendous improvement throughout the year and have earned many medals and personal bests.
After the season comes to a finish, the runners who are returning next year plan on recovering and then training hard in order to perform well next season.
“I plan to let my injury heal, train super hard over the summer, and come back better than ever,” Lanham said.