River Hill senior Chris Heydrick had a hard time watching his teammates race at the Howard County Indoor Track & Field Championships on Jan. 31.
So when it came time for Heydrick to run his first race in two and a half weeks in the 800 meters at the 3A East Regional Indoor Track & Field championship at the Baltimore Armory on Feb. 3, it was an anxious moment for the multiple-time state champion.
"I've been itching for this moment since I saw the guys running at counties," Heydrick said. "I wanted to be out there with them, so I'm happy to be back."
Mt. Hebron, which won the county boys title, dominated again to take the regional title by 33 points over Westlake, while River Hill bounced back from a third-place county finish to take the girls title with 65 points ahead of Huntingtown.
Heydrick, who admittedly is still not quite 100 percent because of an injury he suffered to his leg in early January, had some stiff competition in the 800 meters. With inside position to start the race, he slipped at the start and fell to the back of the pack after the first 100 meters.
"I like to have a really powerful start, but everyone slipped out when we were trying to push out," Heydrick said. "I didn't get the position I wanted, but it was nice to have some guys catch up to you (at the end) and have a little different race than I thought."
Even with the slow start and battling an injury, Heydrick pulled out the win, finishing in 2 minutes, 5.11 seconds, ahead of Mt. Hebron's Alec Vaughn by .19 of a second and .58 of a second ahead of Miles Smith of La Plata.
"It was pretty tough. Nobody really knew about that guy from La Plata so it was good to have him in there," Heydrick said. "It was hard to make moves on the track. Usually it's pretty easy to ramp up your speed in the last 200-300 meters, but in this one you couldn't really get a grip on things."
Heydrick said he hopes to take the next two weeks before the state meet on Feb. 17 to fully recover and to prepare a solid finish to his indoor career.
"I'm just going to get a nice two-week block of training in and hopefully get right back in shape to where I was and run the 4x800 and 800 and try to do well in both of those," he said.
Mt. Hebron sophomore Darnell Pratt didn't have the county meet he had planned, but he made up for it at the regional meet.
Pratt helped his 4x400 relay team win the county meet and set a meet record, but he failed to win any of his individual meets – the 300 and 500 meters. He battled a tight muscle in his backside that slowed him just enough to finish second in both races.
This time around, Pratt won both the events, outpacing his teammate Nicholas Wardell in the 500 meters and winning the 300 meters by more than a second. He also started off the 4x400 meter relay that won by more than three seconds.
"I felt good, I just tried to push through the pain and get first place," Pratt said. "I knew I had to come back this time and fight. I guess (on Saturday) I kind of let the pain get to me. I was hurting so I might as well get the reward so I just kept fighting."
While Pratt is excited about his individual accomplishments, he knows there are bigger goals in mind as his team is expected to battle for the state title.
The Armory has hardwood floors, while the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex has a soft, rubbery track. Pratt said his coach Teyarnte Carter told him and his teammates the proper technique on how to run on the hardwood floors.
"You kind of have to brace yourself on the turns. Some people may slip and that can really hurt your time," Pratt said. "It kind of slows you down."
Carter added that it may have been one of the reasons for the 33 point win.
"A lot of kids don't understand how to run on this floor. Good thing about it is I did. I knew the ropes and what to tell them and how to run on the floor," Carter said.
Although Pratt is just a sophomore, the majority of the Vikings boys team are seniors. It's the biggest reason Carter hopes her team can get it done at states.
"The majority of them started as freshman, and now this is their senior year," Carter said. "This is what you've been training hard for. This is it, this is the opportunity. I said, 'You're writing a story. Let's finish the story.'"
Wilde Lake's David Eisenhauer once again dominated the 1,600 and 3,200 meters without Heydrick in the mix, finishing almost 12 seconds ahead in the 1,600 and nearly 30 seconds in front in the 3,200.
Eisenhauer knows the big races will be at states where he finally has some stiff competition, but still his goals and expectations are high.
"I am looking to break the school record of 4:20 for the one-mile, or about 4:18.5 in the 1,600 conversion, and I want to be able to kick when I need to because if anyone else is with me, they're going to be kicking too, and I want to have confidence that my kick is better than theirs," Eisenhauer said.
As for the 3,200, Eisenhauer has eyes on the state record, although he has some tough competition in Milford Mill's Jordan Leone, who Eisenhauer said ran 9:24 at a Virginia Tech Invitational.
"My goal is to be 9:16, everything I have to break the state record," Eisenhauer said.
Atholton's Jen Bleakney continued her strong postseason, sweeping the 800 and 1,600 meters for the second straight meet.
Bleakney cruised to a win in the 1,600 meters, winning in 5:31.87, almost three seconds ahead of Eileen Zohorsky of Mt. Hebron.
In the 800 meters, however, Bleakney knew she had some serious competition in Huntintown's Kaliyah Gorman. Bleakney said she has battled Gorman in the state meet in years past and knew she had to be on her A-game to take the win.
"I was trying save everything I had for that race," Bleakney said. "I was really happy with my 800. I think I got out really strong and got a good gain and lead on her."
The River Hill girls finished third at the county meet, but exceeded expectations to win the regional meet.
"We had a bunch of points all over the place," said coach Paul Hugus. "Bunch of distance points, bunch of relay points. ... Points all across the board. And to be honest, it was pretty unexpected. We had no idea that this would come together like this, so we're really, really happy and I think the girls are surprised and excited to see what the next step is."
Oakland Mills boys win 2A Central
Oakland Mills performed well in the 2A Central meet at the Baltimore Armory on Feb. 2, as the boys' team won the regional title while the girls finished second behind Hereford.
Joey Navarro won the 1,600 (4:54.64) and 3,200 (10:40.57) to help the boys' team earn 98 points, 19 ahead of Hereford. Brit Lang won the 800 (2:29.80) and 1,600 (5:19.19), and finished second in the 3,200 for the girls' team.
Lauren Wood won the girls' 55 meter hurdles (9:33), while Kelsey White won the boys' 500 meters (1:13.65). Kevin Paez, Sean Smith, Gann Kohn and White combined to win the boys' 4x800 meters in 9:02.06.