‘Rines track has outdone themselves this year with having not one, not two but six track team members who have qualified for states.

Going to the state meet today are freshman Nana Tutu, junior Rhoda Miller, senior Schezarone Carter, senior Sahil Shrestha, senior Alyssa Rishell, and junior Samantha Whipp.

The girls did really well in the MCPS 3A West Regional Meet. In the preliminary 55-meter dash, Miller placed fourth out of 22 runners with a time of 7:56 but ended up finishing sixth out of eight in the finals. Miller also placed fourth out of 20 in the 300 meter dash with a time of 43:30.  “I think we have to be serious and have a good chemistry,” Miller said. “If that’s set and we go and run hard not focusing too much on winning and competition, I think we can do well.”

Rishell placed second out of 21 in the 500 meter run with a time of 1:21.29, and she also placed second out of 22 in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:28.14.  “We’ve just got to focus on that one event at a time, not all at once,” Rishell said.  She added that if one track member thinks too much about the distance, it can get too overwhelming. “You don’t want to do a lot of distance work, but focus more on your speed and the technical assets rather than just the running.”

The girls also placed second as a team in the 4×200 meter relay, finishing with a time 1:48.54, and they earned first place in the 4×400 meter relay finishing with a time of 4:09.95.

The boys didn’t do as well as the girls did in regionals, but still did well. In the 55 meter dash, Carter finished fifth out of 24 with a time of 6.77 in the preliminaries but ended up finishing fifth out of 8 in the finals.

Shrestha was extremely impressed with all the hard work and dedication coming from the team during their last meet. “We’re practicing pretty much everyday and we’re giving it our all,” Shrestha said.

Shrestha added that “it feels great” and is proud to say the team has surely given it their all, considering the fact that 10 of their track members qualified for states. He feels like they worked harder this year than last year and he’s seen so much improvement as a two year track member.

The whole track team are very excited to see what’s in store for the rest of their season as they finish up onward to states. Orange Nation wishes all six runners good luck.