Blazers place well at Howard County meet

DEC. 18, PRINCE GEORGE'S SPORTSPLEX–

Today, the Blair Indoor Track team ran in their first scoring meet of the season. Sophomore Halsey Sinclair placed 1st in the 3200m event, while her sister Ashlyn placed 2nd in the 1600m. The girls' team scored 28 points at the meet, while the boys' team achieved none.

Halsey finished the 3200m in a time of 11:06, her best time of the year, gaining 10 points for the Blair team. Her sister Ashlyn ran a 5:19 mile and was only four seconds behind the first place finisher. With her 2nd place finish, she garnered eight points for the Blair girls, who eventually finished in 6th place out of 32 teams.

The boys' teams did not fair as well point-wise, but continued to improve on their times from earlier in the year. Coach Carl Lewin said after the meet, "Everyone was faster than last week.” The team made several improvements on hand-offs according to Lewin, but the boys' team still has room to grow. According to Lewin, the team must improve their pacing in order to be more competitive.

The boys' 4x200m relay team placed 21st overall, but with a time of 1:39, they only improved slightly since the developmental meet last weekend. The 4x800m team also did better, finishing in 12th place with at time of 9:01, but neither gained any points. There was one main reason for the poor placement of Blair boys at the meet. "We're still going too hard out of blocks. It's hurting us,” said Lewin.

Both teams showed improvement from last week, with every individual and team running their fastest times of the year. Sophomore Joshua Uzzell ran a 4:55 for the 1600m, matching his indoor track personal record in the event, and shaved six seconds off of his 800m time. Uzzell, along with Lewin, felt that the entire team performed well, although they did not place as highly as hoped. "Our times were very good, and we reached our goals. Overall it was a very good meet, ” said Uzzell.