Led by school record performances by Jay Randall in the high jump and the boys 4x800 relay team of Patrick Lowry, Henry Birge, Carlos Garcia, and James Fillmore, Patriot leads day one of the region track & field championships with 53.5 points. Colonial Forge is second with 36 and Woodbridge has 30.50 points. 

Randall cleared 6 feet 6 inches in the high jump to take second place. The 4x800 relay broke their school record set last week by five seconds to run 7:52.40 to claim second. Shadrack Nvodjo claimed third in the high jump (6-2) and fourth in the long jump (22-1). Lyndon Amoateng claimed third place in the triple jump with a new personal best of 45 feet and a half inch. The top four placers advance to the state championships at Todd Stadium in Newport News.

School records have been broken in six events this season. The boys 4x800, boys 4x100 (Aaron Glover, Jackson McCarter, Eddie Henry, Shadrack Nvodjo), high jump (Randall), 1600 (Patrick Lowry), 3200 (Patrick Lowry) and girls shot put (twice- Mide Akinkugbe and Chim Okafor) this season! 4x100 could go down again on day two of regions. 

The girls 4x800 relay team of Anna Rigby, Rena Johnson, Camila Weber, and Sidney Nolan placed second in the 4x800 relay in 9:35.0. In the shot put, Chim Okafor placed second with a throw of 38 feet 11 inches. Mide Akinkugbe placed 5th but will also advance to state by achieving the state automatic standard in a previous meet. The Patriot girls are currently in 6th place with 20 points.

Patriot scorers:

Boys

4x800 - 2nd (7:52.40) Patrick Lowry, Henry Birge, Carlos Garcia, James Fillmore)

High Jump - Jay Randall (2nd, 6'6"), Shadrack Nvodjo (3rd, 6'2"), Kendall Robin (6th, 6'0)

Pole Vault - Jameson Grant (5th, 11'6"), Carter Warren (6th, 11'6"), Kevin Miner (7th, 11'6")

Long Jump - Shadrack Nvodjo (4th, 22'1"), Lyndon Amoateng (5th, 21-10.50)

Triple Jump - Lyndon Amoateng (3rd, 45'0.50"), Jay Randall (6th, 42'7")

Shot put - Kevin Miner (6th, 44'1.25")

Girls

4x800 relay - 2nd (9:35) Anna Rigby, Rena Johnson, Camila Weber, Sidney Nolan

Shot put - Chim Okafor (2nd, 38' 11"), Mide Akinkugbe (5th, 35'5")

We had a terrific district championship meet. The boys won big and the girls almost pulled off a huge upset win to nab second, just six points out of first. We also broke two more school records. The boys' 4x800 relay team (Carlos Garcia, James Fillmore, Henry Birge, Patrick Lowry) ran 7:57 to break the 8 min barrier and are ranked #3 in the state. They broke the school record by three-tenths of a second. They can go faster too so will be an exciting regional and state race for those guys. The girls shot put record was destroyed by Mide Akinkugbe last Saturday, and then at the district championship meet, Chim Okafor broke Mide's record by one inch. Mide obviously didn't want her record broken but she was the first to congratulate her teammate with a hug. Patriot has the best throwing duo in the state. They are ranked #3 and #4 in the state and keep pushing each other to new heights. Congratulations! 

 Female Team Scores

 Place School Points

 ===================================================================

 1 Osbourn Park OP 151

 2 Patriot High School PAT 145

 3 Battlefield BTFL 110

 4 Freedom (South Riding) FRDO 38

 5 John Champe High School CHAM 36

 6 Gainesville High School GAIN 33

 7 Unity Reed UNR 8

 8 Osbourn OSB 3

 Male Team Scores

 Place School Points

 ===================================================================

 1 Patriot High School PAT 229

 2 Battlefield BTFL 110

 3 Freedom (South Riding) FRDO 72

 4 Osbourn Park OP 54

 5 Gainesville High School GAIN 36

 6 John Champe High School CHAM 21

 7 Osbourn OSB 8

 8 Unity Reed UNR 2

Congratulations to our district champions:

Girls:

Ashley Bowman - 300-meter hurdles (state auto also!)

Sidney Nolan - 400-meter dash

Rena Johnson - 1600 and 3200-meter runs (pulled off the double)

Chim Okafor - Shot Put

Boys:

Shadrack Nvodjo - 200-meter dash

Malik Dark - 400-meter dash

Patrick Lowry - 800-meter run

James Fillmore - 3200-meter run

Jay Randall - High Jump

Lyndon Amoateng - Triple Jump

4x800 relay - Carlos Garcia, James Fillmore, Henry Birge, Patrick Lowry

We had three events where Patriot went 1-2-3. Girls shot put with Chim, Mide and Lauren Katz making shot put our best event on the girls' side. Boys high jump didn't just go 1-2 with Jay Randall and Kendall Robin, but we also tied for third with Shadrack Nvodjo and Chase James. That event brought in 28 points! The boys' 3200-meter run also went 1-2-3 with James Fillmore, Carlos Garcia and Kaiden Brewer bringing in 24 points to Patriot. 

At districts the top six score points and earn All - District Honors. There are eight schools in the district. Patriot had four of the six scorers in the boys 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 1600 meter run, 110 meter hurdles, and long jump.

The top six at districts qualify for regionals PLUS those with regional qualifying marks. At regionals we will enter kids in events that will give them the best chance to qualify for the state championship meet at Newport News next week at Todd Stadium. If someone has qualified for an event and are ranked 14^th but they have a later event where they have a much better chance at qualifying, we will not compete in the earlier event to give our athlete the best chance to advance. 

The Tuesday portion of the regional championships will be at Woodbridge High School - this is a change from earlier when it was supposed to be at Colgan. Tuesday is the field events and the 4x800 relay. Wednesday is at Freedom Woodbridge High School which will be the running events. Please note that Woodbridge High School and Freedom Woodbridge High School are different high schools. The top four individual and top four relay teams advance to the state meet and also those with a state meet auto mark. 

Conference Results for Patriot:

Thank you so much for the help on Wednesday with the meet. It takes a lot of people to run a track meet and our team of parents and athletes did a great job. We also got to recognize our seniors and their number-one supporters at the end of the meet.

The boys won the meet and the girls finished strong to get second to Osbourn Park. Meet results are here: https://va.milesplit.com/meets/526266-the-running-store-city-county-championships-2023/results#.ZFSRJXbMK70

Patriot boys won nine of the 17 events.

• Shadrack swept the 100, 200
• Patriot went 1-4 in the boys 800 (Patrick Lowry, Henry Birge, Nick Daly!, James Fillmore)
• Carlos Garcia won the 1600
• Nick Daly won the 110 Hurdles
• Patriot swept all three relays including setting a school record in the 4x100 relay! Malik Dark, Jackson McCarter, Eddie Henry, Shadrack Nvodjo
• 4x400 winners Chase James, Henry Birge, Malik Dark, Nick Daly
• 4x800 winners Joseph Maday, Alex Eye, Daniel Ansah, Brady Widlake
• 1-2 in the high jump with Jay Randall and Kendall Robin
• Other highlights: We went 2-6 on the triple jump, 2-3 in the polevault, and freshman Payton Holmes led the boys in the discus.

The girls had three event winners

• Sidney Nolan won the 400

• Mide Akinkugbe set a new PR and moved to #2 All–Time in the Shot Put. Chim Okafor finished second for a 1-2 finish for Patriot
• The 4x400 (Sidnee Smith, Sidney Nolan, Ashley Bowman, Rena Johnson) ran a blazing 4:07 to win by 18 seconds.

2023 Patriot Track & Field

Important Dates:

March 18^th – Mulch Date – need everyone to help deliver mulch – Booster fundraiser

March 21st – Team picture day and individual shots

March 24^th – Raleigh Relays – NC State University (3200 hs only event) – parent would drive

March 25^th – Battlefield Relays – Battlefield H.S. – bus

March 28th (Tuesday) – District Meet at Freedom South Riding (Gainesville, Osbourn Park, Freedom) – 3 buses

March 31^st – Colgan Distance Meet – limited

April 1^st-10^th – Spring Break. Practices 10am – noon.

April 11th (Tuesday) – District Meet at Patriot (Battlefield, Osbourn Park, Unity Reed)

April 15^th – South County Invite

April 22^nd – Colgan Invite

April 25^th (Tuesday) – District Meet at Unity Reed (John Champe, Osbourn, Unity Reed)

April 27-29^th – Penn Relays

April 29^th – Gainesville Cardinal Classic

May 3^rd- Running Store Prince William County Championship at Patriot

May 5^th-6^th – Dogwood Invite at University of Virginia (qualify by time)

May 13^th – Victor Calhoon (Prom)

May 16th, 18^th – Cedar Run District Championships

May 23-24^th – 6b Region Championships (Colgan, Freedom Woodbridge)

June 2^nd-3^rd – Class 6 State Track & Field Championships (Newport News at Todd Stadium)

** We are trying to add a meet in May for our kids not competing at conference.

We had a great meet to start the season at the Battlefield Relays on Saturday with the boys and girls sweeping the team titles in the 25-team invitational. We also had numerous personal bests. The kids handle the weather conditions well and did not let it affect their effort.

Congratulations to meet winners! Some events like shot put added the two athletes’ performances together to get the team time or distance.

110 meter hurdles: Wathen Montgomery and Nick Daly

400 meter hurdles: Nick Daly and Wathen Montgomery

4x100 Relay: Eddie Henry II, Jackson McCarter, Malik Dark, Shadrack Nvodjo 42.91 (State Qual!)

4x400 Relay: Jackson McCarter, Malik Dark, Wathen Montgomery, Nick Daly 3:29.87 (Reg Qual!)

4x400 Relay 9/10 grade: Henry Birge, Payton Holmes, Jacob McGonigle, Omar Allen

Distance Medley Relay: Henry Birge, James Fillmore, Connor Balcom, Patrick Lowry

Pole Vault: Carter Warren 12-0 (Reg Qual!), Jameson Grant 10-06 (Conf Qual!)

400 Hurdles: Kiara Garcia and Maddy Schmidt

4x100 Meters: Sidney Stith, Jolen Adu, Davina Owusu, Sydnee Smith

800 Sprint Medley: Sidney Stith, Davina Owusu, Sydnee Smith, Sidney Nolan

Shotput: Mide Akinkigbe (32-08 Cong Qual!) and Chim Okafor (32-04 Conf Qual!)

Battlefield Invite Results here:

https://va.milesplit.com/meets/513226-battlefield-relays-2023/results#.ZCJvZXbMK70

Raleigh Relays: Patrick Lowry and Rena Johnson made the invite-only high school 3200-meter race last Friday at NC State University. The huge college meet has one high school race and they made it into the star-studded race. It was very hot! 87 degrees when they ran, unfortunately. Patrick got the state standard running 9:25.82 to place 11^th and Rena earn the region standard running 11:26.16 to place 20^th.

Hi Everyone!

Thank you for coming out tonight to the parent meeting. If you were not able to make it, I will run through some main points.

Indoor Season highlights: The boys won the conference and regional championships and placed 7^th at state. The girls were 3^rd at conference, 6^th at regionals and 17^th at state. Athletes achieving All-State honors: Patrick Lowry (state champion in the 1600, 5th in the 3200), Sidney Nolan (3^rd in the 500), Rena Johnson (4^th in the 1600 and 4^th in the 3200), Lyndon Amoateng (5^th in the triple jump), Boys 4x200 6^th (Shadrack Nvodjo, Eddie Henry II, Jackson McCarter, Malik Dark) and the boys 4x800 (Patrick Lowry, James Fillmore, Jacob Casey, Carlos Garcia). 24 of our kids made it to the state meet.

We think we will be even better in outdoor by looking at the talent and work ethic so far!

Coaching staff: Head Coach James DeMarco (middle and long distance), Jason Grant (sprints, hurdles, jumps), Perry Gaskins (shot and discus), Craig Fell (pole vault), Cameron Biendl (new and will run weight room and work with injured athletes), Naomi Nvodjo (new and will assist sprint and jumps).

Meet schedule: Our first meet will be the Battlefield Relays on March 25^th at Battlefield High School. That meet only takes a limited amount of athletes. On March 28^th, we will go to Freedom High School and everyone who has been coming to practice will be able to compete. At the end of the week, I will have the meet schedule finalized as we are looking to host a few meets at home to get more of our kids an opportunity to compete.

Uniforms: In track, we have the kids purchase their uniforms. We use the same uniform in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field. We would like all the kids to have a t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt (top of page under mandatory) and the uniform. Everything else underneath is optional stuff you can order for your athlete of for yourself when cheering at the meets. Orders DUE March 3^rd:

https://stores.athletesmark.com/patriot_track_field/shop/home

The boys’ half tights are not in stock but a shipment is coming in early March. You can also wear a plain navy short from another brand as well, as long as the logo is not bigger than 2 ¼ inches.

Team information: Weekly emails about upcoming meets and team information are sent out. If you are not receiving them you can fill out the QR code and will be added or just email me (demarcjb@pwcs.edu). You can also go to PatriotPioneers.org, click “Spring” and then “Track” where I post weekly with updates and also all our team files are located. Everything should be updated by the end of the week (roster, schedule, coaches' bios, etc).

Team cuts: The team is very large (168) and we will keep everyone if they are following directions and working. We do have event cuts in the pole vault and throws due to the need to have enough repetition and training. Too many kids mean we don’t have as many reps for everyone. Pole vault cuts will be finalized on Thursday and Throws on Friday. If cut the kids can do sprints, hurdles, middle and long distance.

Kids who are not training, not doing the warm-ups, and walking the majority of practices will be told to go home and come back when they are ready to get better. If this is a common occurrence they will be removed from the team.

Schedule: The schedule is 2:30-4:30 pm Monday – Friday. Mid and long-distance meets on Saturdays to run at the Manassas Battlefield from 10 am – 11:45 am. Distance will run off-site at the Bristow Station Battlefield on Tuesday. On Monday and Wednesday if your athlete wishes to lift we do go till 5 pm.

Team Contract: The contract is on PatriotPioneers.org and under “Spring” and then click “track.” Please return the signature page that lists any important schedule issues.

Team Pictures: March 21^st are team and individual pictures

Mulch Fundraiser: The only fundraiser we do in outdoor is the Booster Club Mulch Fundraiser. We ask that everyone support the booster club who covers all of our expenses by buying mulch, helping deliver it, or becoming a booster member.

11^th Annual Mulch Madness: Please support the booster club by ordering your Spring Mulch through them. The mulch deadline is March 6^th and it will be delivered to your home on March 18^th. The form is here:

https://bigteams-public-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/library/files/patriotpioneers_org_437/files/2022%20Mulch%20Order%20Form%20copy-2.pdf

To order online go here:

https://patriotpioneers.square.site/product/phs-booster-mulch-sale/204?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=12

Patriot Track & Field

2023 Information

The Outdoor Track and Field season will be starting soon! The season starts soon and we would love to have you on the team. Outdoor track and field will get you fit, fast and strong. We have a great team of hard workers with awesome attitudes.

Tryouts are from February 21^st-23rd. As long as you have a great attitude and work hard we will not cut you. If you are not hustling, following directions and are not trying, then you won’t make the track team.

Official Season Start Date

Outdoor Track and Field Tryouts are February 21st – 23rd, 2023 (2:30-4:30 pm). Meet at the track.

All the following documents are required for tryouts and are due on Tuesday, February 21st, 2023, no later than 2:30 pm:

• VHSL Physical Form for 2022-2023 - (dated after May 1, 2022) - 
• Concussion Training online 
• Eligibility Form - You can get the form at the athletic office.
• Blue Emergency Contact Card Form

*If you have participated in a fall or winter sport this school year, the only form you need to turn in is the Eligibility Form. If you are still participating in a winter sport when Outdoor Track & Field starts, you are welcome to join us when your winter season is complete.

Please turn in all your forms to the main office, and have them placed in Mr. Qualls' mailbox.

You will not be able to participate in tryouts until you have turned in all the required documents.  

Lastly, if you have not sign-up for this year's Outdoor track and field, please do so now by using the QR Code below: you can also go here: https://forms.gle/ZwSAxkFULFjNajD96

Go Pioneers!

James DeMarco

540-230-2154 / demarcjb@pwcs.edu