'Start fast and end fast': Urbana girls win record 7th straight county track crown; Oakdale boys also prevail

Jan. 23—HAGERSTOWN — Urbana junior Angeline Amefia continued to clutch the gold baton she had held while crossing the finish line minutes earlier.

She wasn't even slated to anchor the Hawks' 4x400 meter relay team at Saturday's Frederick County Public Schools Indoor Track and Field Championships. Sofia Cedrone was supposed to perform that all-important duty.

But Amefia had fresher legs, since Cedrone had just competed in the 800 run. Also, Amefia was having a big day, winning the 300 run and 55 hurdles earlier in the meet.

"So we're like, you know what, let's switch it up, let Angie go against [Linganore's] best runner, which is Mikayla Moxley," Hawks coach C.J. Ecalono said.

Holding the lead in her team's final event of the day, Amefia wrapped up the Hawks' seventh first-place finish of the meet. Those wins helped Urbana capture the county girls team title for a record seventh straight season, beating second-place Linganore 150.5-136 at Hagerstown Community College.

No girls team has won more consecutive indoor Frederick County meet team crowns — the Hawks had shared the record with Linganore, which won six straight from 1985 to 1990. And with a 12.5-point lead heading into the 4x400 relay, the Hawks were in no danger of being caught in the standings, but they nonetheless tweaked their lineup.

"The meet was already over at that point, we knew that," Ecalono said. "But we like to start fast and end fast."

A streak was also extended in the boys meet, where Oakdale won its third consecutive indoor county team crown and fifth in six seasons by topping second-place Linganore 93-74.

Of course, it had been two years since Urbana's girls and Oakdale's boys won county indoor team titles — there was no county meet last winter because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, most of the big names from those 2020 championship teams have graduated, save for holdovers such as Urbana's Ivy Coldren and Fiona Agyekum, who won the girls 1,600 and shot put, respectively, on Saturday, and Oakdale's Samuel Starrs, who won the pole vault for his team's only first-place finish of the day.

But both programs plugged in new impact athletes. Take Amefia, who was competing on the JV level two years ago.

"So she's come a long way. She's been working her butt off," Ecalono said. "Coach Mo [Halim] and her have been together a lot and just going to town with the short sprints and the hurdle work. I'm super proud of her, a phenomenal day for her."

And developing athletes like Amefia have had to contend with the health crisis, which robbed them of an outdoor season in 2020 and a complete indoor season in 2020-21.

"It's had ups and downs for sure, especially because of COVID," Amefia said. "But I think being part of the team again, back to normal, as normal as we can be now, has really helped me start running and taking it seriously again."

Two other members of Urbana's winning 4x400 relay team, seniors Cedrone and Tessa Stanley, were also JV runners two years ago, and the fourth member, sophomore Camryn Lowery, wasn't even in high school then.

"We were running JV events and not exactly the most trusted runners," Stanley said. "And our coach was looking at us as potential varsity athletes, and to be here winning the 4x4 relay meter means a lot."

When Agyekum joined Urbana's track team two years ago as a sophomore, she was interested in running.

"I ran a few weeks and realized it wasn't for me," she said.

She gave throwing a try and showed her progress on Saturday, winning the shot put title. She's relied on drills to hone her technique, which she thinks is just as important as — if not more important than — strength.

She's gunning for a put of 40 feet, and Ecalono thinks she has a shot at it.

Urbana swept the relays and got a huge early win in the 1,600 from Coldren, who hung with the frontrunners and eventually pulled away for her first indoor county title.

Coldren also placed third in the 3,200, an event she won at last year's outdoor county meet.

"That was a little rough. I've never done the 1,600, 3,200 double before," Coldren said. "Honestly, I put it all out there for the 1,600, so I'm just glad that I finished the 3,200 and I'll take my performance. the Linganore girls ran really well."

While the Oakdale boys successfully defended its county team crown, they didn't exactly pick up where they left off in the winter of 2020, considering all the changes the program has endured.

"We had Kyle Lund, a powerhouse team, and COVID hits," Starrs said. "I honestly had no idea how good we'd be. And then last year, we came in and had some good traction. We got second in counties (outdoor) last year, and over the summer, everybody's been working their butts off, grinding, and now we've come out on top."

With Starrs delivering Oakdale's only first-place finish, even if his height of 14 feet, 9 inches didn't meet his own lofty standards, the Bears relied on piling up points in numerous events.

"First is always great, but I love those points that you've got to grind out, the fifths, the sixths, the sevenths and the eighths, getting that point that matters," said Bears coach Ronnie Beard, who was an assistant coach in 2020. "Because when it all comes together, we need those points that are down there."

Junior Abhishek Mudireddy provided the Bears with plenty of points, placing second in both the 3,200 and 1,600 and fourth in the 800.

"Today was a really good day. I'm just happy to contribute to the team," said Mudireddy, who said he benefited from growing up around former Oakdale track stars like Lund and Colin Dempsey.

Catoctin junior Brody Buffington added a highlight Saturday to his still-young yet promising career as a sprinter, setting the county meet record in the 55-meter dash with a winning time of 6.49 seconds.

Other county champs in the boys meet were: Thomas Johnson's Simon Essono (300); Linganore's Jack Sears (1,600 and 3,200); Walkersville's Travis Buakah (500); Frederick's Arthur Core (55 hurdles) and Adam Moezaw (shot put); Urbana's Christopher Sappe (800); Tuscarora's Edwin Niemandt (high jump) Urbana's 4x800 relay team, Tuscarora's 4x200 relay team and Thomas Johnson's 4x400 relay team.

Other county champs in the girls meet were: Linganore's Moxley (500 and 800), Caroline Perrone (3,200), Melanie Barger (55 dash) and Juliana Nardini (high jump); and Thomas Johnson's Elisa Ramos (pole vault).