While the rest of her Lansdowne High indoor track and field teammates stayed home last weekend, senior sprinter Ashley Blackwell was traveling with her mom and coach Andrew Parker to Virginia to compete in the Virginia Tech High School Invitational.
Running alone is not uncommon for Blackwell, who ran a personal best 7.37 and placed 20th in the 55-meter dash preliminaries.
In the 300, Blackwell placed 18th in 41.93.
The tougher competition at Virginia Tech paid off at the Class 2A Central meet championships on Monday as Blackwell won the 55 (7.52) and the 300 (42.86) to qualify for the Class 2A state championship meet at the Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex on Feb. 16.
Those are the same two events where she was the only competitor representing Lansdowne at the 2014 Class 2A state indoor meet.
In the 55 dash, Blackwell was eighth in the 2014 state meet (7.59) and she was fifth in the 300 meters (42.68) won by Western Tech standout Sharon Dorsey in 40.96.
Dorsey is running on a track scholarship at George Mason University.
Blackwell is hoping to run collegiately, but she has some unfinished business in her final indoor and outdoor track seasons.
Blackwell already enjoyed postseason success when she placed second in both the 55 meters (7.59) and the 300 (43.60) at the Baltimore County championships held on Jan. 20.
"Ashley is definitely the leader on the team," Parker said. "I really try to get everybody on the team to aspire to what she is doing. She is going to these meets which are hard to get into. They have hard entrance standards."
Blackwell also ran the anchor leg on the fourth-place 800 relay (1:57.79) at regionals with Kendra Cooper, Jataya Callahan and Leemu Jackson.
Briana Woolford and Nia Robinson have also contributed to the sprint relay squads this season for the Vikings, who were eighth in the team standings this year at the Baltimore County meet (18 points) after taking 13th last year with all three points coming from Blackwell
"We have seen a big increase in the numbers. It [the program] is definitely growing," Parker said. "I try to push that this is what we want them to aim for in the future. Work hard and follow her example. It's really great to have her on the team. She works extremely hard."
Blackwell attributes her improvement from last season to hard work over the summer running for the Elite Track Club in Columbia.
"I learned a lot of new drills and techniques and they helped me with my form a lot with my arms," said Blackwell, who admits the 200 meters is her favorite event.
She plans to run the 100, 200 and the 400 during the outdoor season.