West Springfield's Reagan Bustamante didn't shy away from the heavy mix of snow and rain that dampened the competition at the Northern Virginia Invitational on Saturday in Fairfax. The senior indoor All-Met , who has her sights set on breaking five minutes in the 1,600 meters this season, took the lead early in the girls' race and didn't let up.
On March 24, Bustamante ran just one-tenth of a second over five minutes at the Leslie Sherman Memorial Invitational. But she went into Saturday’s race at Robinson knowing her goal likely would have to wait.
“It wasn’t the best weather we had today,” said Bustamante, whose time of 5 minutes 8.96 seconds was more than eight seconds faster than the rest of the field. “I just kind of thought of it as a workout, just to get something in and make the best of it.”
Things were much closer in the boys’ 1,600, with Jefferson’s Saurav Velleleth (4:23.11) edging out Lake Braddock’s Ben Fogg (4.23.26). Fogg’s teammate Colin Schaefer took third.
Cavanaugh McGaw, also from Lake Braddock, entered the meet unhappy with his recent performances. He seized the opportunity to turn things around by finishing first in the boys’ 800 meters with a time of 1:59.53.
“I had a bad week last week,” McGaw said. “It was definitely good to come out here and run well.”
T.C. Williams’s Tre’kel Lockett won the boys’ 200-meter dash with a time of 22.86 seconds. West Springfield’s Daniel Adu won the 400 in 49.29, just ahead of Wakefield’s Jonathan Adams and Edison’s Moses Kamara.
Heather Holt, a cross-country and indoor All-Met for Marshall, continued her stellar year by distancing herself from the field to win the 800 in 2:16.26. Stone Bridge’s Maya Girdy ran the fastest 200 with a time of 25.98.
Washington-Lee junior Benedict Draghi carried over his strong run through the indoor season with dominating wins in both the shot put (57 feet 2 inches) and the discus throw (161-8).
In the boys' relays, T.C. Williams's team of Ibrahim Bangura, Joshua Kelley, Samuel Lally and Brian Michael Byrd claimed first place in the 4x100, finishing in 43.91 seconds. Lake Braddock took first in the 4x400 with a time of 3:37.97. Stone Bridge finished first in the 4x800 with a time of 8:16.70.
Westfield won the girls' 4x100 relay with a time of 50.14, and Lake Braddock's 10:23.40 in the 4x800 topped the rest of the competition.
On Friday night, Lake Braddock junior Conor Lyons won the boys' 3,200 meters, registering a time of 9:21.73, and Westfield's Sara Freix took first place on the girls' side with a time of 11:01.61. Chantilly junior Natalie Lott won the girls' 100-meter dash in 12:51, while Westfield junior Davian Powell (11.29) took first place for the boys, edging Bangura by one-hundreth of a second.
