This past weekend, on April 18th & 19th, the Chargers faced their strongest competition thus far in the prestigious Allen Johnson Invitational, held at Lake Braddock.  During the two-day meet, the Chargers earned two state qualifying marks, five regional qualifying marks, as well as a slew of other seasonal/personal best marks.

The Charger Distance runners enjoyed a very strong evening on Friday.  In addition to having all four of their 1600m runners (Seniors Karen Spears, Peter Bruneman, Waleed Mufti and Mike Holton) earn seasonal/personal bests in the earlier races, they also found success in the 3200m run.  All-Met Lia DiValentin faced her first 3200m run of the season, and found that she had not lost much of a step since her successful indoor campaign.  In her first individual invitational event of the season, she scored her first win, in 11:01.79.  Her time represents the best time in the state this year, and secures her a berth in the state meet on May 31st.  Sophomore Chris Foley also followed her lead, and ran the best race of his short career.  His time of 9:33.01 was a personal best by 15 seconds, and also earned him the second state qualifying mark for the Chargers this season.  Senior Eric Palmer just missed a regional mark with his time of 9:44.55, which was a 21 second personal best.  Both Palmer and Foley competed on Saturday morning in the 4x800m relay, teaming with co-captains Theo Holton and Wilson Bever.  Their time of 8:19.90 was the best time for a Charger squad since 2004, and shows that they will remain competitive in the district and region, once they reach championship season.

The Charger sprinters also enjoyed a strong weekend.  Senior MVP Bugsy Urrutia had a solid weekend, earning three medals, including two regional qualfiers. Coming off an indoor season with All-District and All-Region honors, he earned solid marks in the 100m Dash (11.26) and 200m Dash (22.99), which places him amongst the regional leaders.  He also led the boys 4x100m relay to a solid 2nd place (44.38), with senior Robert Herrity, and juniors Efraem Salas and Auston Eckert. Freshman Amira Idris earned the final regional mark on the track, with her time of 26.12 in the 200m dash.

The Charger pole vaulters also earned kudos for their performances.  Junior Curtis Sun earned a 2nd place with his vault of 12' 6", equalling his regional qualifying seasonal best.  Kim Weinberg, the indoor district champion, also qualified for regionals with a mark that equals her personal best height of 9' 3". 

The Chargers next competition is on Saturday, April 26th.  We will be hosting 30 other schools in the 3rd Annual Cassel's XBC Track Experience.  The coaching staff hopes that the Chantilly faithful will come out to see the Chargers hold their own against some of the best athletes in the area.