On Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Mt. Hebron Girls Indoor Track Team won the 3A Regional Meet at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland, scoring 95 total points. The 300 meter sprint team and the pole vaulting team were crucial in the meet, contributing 20 points and 19 points, respectively.

The team saw first place finishes in two relays, the 4×200 meter relay, and the 4×400 meter relay. Mt. Hebron also took first place in the 300m and 55m sprints, both credited to senior Jaiden Ritter, and the 500 meter race, credited to sophomore Sierrah Matthews.

Mt. Hebron finished 16 points in front of the second place team, with contributions from almost every department. Junior Ainsley Sowers, who placed second overall in pole vaulting, described the amount of hard work and practice the team has put in recently.

“I knew that we would all have to perform our best in order to secure the top places. We’ve been practicing a lot. Even during the snow, we were doing stuff indoors to make sure we were ready,” Sowers said.

“It makes us realize that we are capable of winning and that we need to continue to practice hard and perform at the best level because we have a chance to win states.”

Teyarnte Carter, coach of  Mt. Hebron’s sprint team pointed out, “a lot of people don’t understand that this is a Winter sport. While everyone else gets to practice inside, we’re outside in bad weather, in cold conditions. Not only do we have to be physically strong but we also have to be mentally strong.”

The relay teams have been a crucial part of the team’s success this season, and the team’s reliance on the relay teams will not falter at the state meet.

“Our 4x200m and 4x400m relays always do really well. That’s [senior] Jaiden Ritter, [senior] Blaire Ridgely, [sophomore] Garcelle Pierre, and [sophomore] Sierrah Matthews… but everyone played a major role in helping us win the meet,” Sowers added.

The relay teams were especially helpful in the regional meet, both of which finished first overall. These victories provided the team with a sense of victory before the awards ceremony had even began.

“We were pretty sure that we had won after the 4×400 relay ran, because we figured that there was no way another team could beat us after we won, but we weren’t positive. We didn’t want to celebrate prematurely. When they announced our name, everyone started screaming. It was really fun,” described Sowers.

The team will head to Landover, Maryland on Tuesday, Feb. 19, hoping to secure the state title. Coach Teyarnte Carter said, “some of them have never qualified for states before and this is their first year, so just to go out and have fun.”