Seahawks track and field seniors graduate and race to States
- The Reston Letter Staff
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
By Shanen Elliott, guest writer
The South Lakes Seahawks track and field team capped another successful Virginia season by sweeping Regionals (5th straight girls title/2nd straight boys), then adding to it with 3rd (45 points) and 5th place (37 points) finishes respectively at VHSL States. Seniors Aya Ryan and Caroline Elliott anchored the girls as the dynamic duo paired with Quinn Jackson and Sarah Ghantiwala to finish second in the 4x800m (USA 11th best time of 8:56.03). They added 2nd place finishes in the 1600m (Elliott) and 800m (Ryan, Elliott 5th), before Ryan closed her career with an outstanding 4x400m final leg (Anya Catto, Olivia Friends, Karletta Webb, Ryan, 4th). Additional girls scoring came from Catto (300m Hurdles, 5th), Tia Tuffour (100m Hurdles, 7th), Collins Han (100m, 4th), and the 4x100m relay team (Melanie Velasco, Friends, Suriah Fornah, Han). Meanwhile, the boys' squad was highlighted by a couple of school-record-breaking performances from seniors. Blake Jackson established the new school benchmark in the triple jump (2nd place), before finishing 2nd in the long jump, while Milo Wilkins put himself atop the SLHS record board in the shot put (6th). Alex Guthrie continued his hot streak with 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the 200m and 100m, then joined Jackson to anchor the 4x100m alongside Joshua Dagne and Brooks Ross (5th).
This wrapped up an action-packed week at South Lakes that saw multiple track & field seniors walk first at their Friday graduation, before boarding buses to compete that same day at States. The team was also strongly represented at the annual "The Lakes Show Awards Ceremony!" Award winners included: Elliott & Guthrie (Female & Male Athletes of the year), Ryan & Wilkins (Tri-Sport Athletes), Q.Jackson (Top Rookie), Guthrie (Top Record Breaker), Scott Raczko (Coach of the Year), and South Lakes Track & Field (Team of the Year).
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