Mason’s track and field team finished its 2016 season strong as 21 individuals from the team travelled to Radford University to compete in the Virginia High School 1A/2A State Meet. Overall, the girls team finished in a close third and the boys, improving five places from last year, in 22nd.

Mason returned with fourteen all-state performances. On the girls team, these included senior Vicky Addo-Ashong in the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and 100m hurdles; the girls 4x800m team (sophomore Logan Funk, and seniors Jackie Bartz, Aisha Rupert, and Blaise Sevier); freshman Charlotte Crum in the 400m; freshman Danielle Welch in the 400m; junior Korinne Wills in the 300m hurdles; Sevier in the 800m; Funk in the 3200m; and the girls 4x400m team (Baartz, Crum, Welch, and Sevier.)

On the boys team, these included the 4x800m team (sophomore Bill Comstock, junior Ryan Henderson, and seniors James Schneider, and Matthew Mineo); Henderson in the 1600m; and Minneo in the 800m.

There were three school records broken at states: two by Vicky Addo-Ashong in the 100m hurdle and triple jump, and one by the girls 4x800m team.

“I think we did really well on both sides due to our mix of seniors and talented underclassmen,” said Jeff Buck, head coach of the track and field team. “The seniors did a fantastic job guiding our underclassmen and it showed at how much they shined at states this year.”

In addition to states, the girls’ team had its best finish since 2010 at regionals and continued its three year streak as champions at conferences and two year streak as champions at districts, with its highest point total ever.

On the boys team, they stayed at 18th overall at regionals, but placed fifth overall at conferences and fourth at districts, an improvement of two places from last year.

Despite the large amount of seniors leaving this season, coaches and athletes alike are hopeful to achieve as many records as this year and continue the plentiful number of athletes qualified to states in 2017.