Just three years ago, the Atholton High School track team hit bottom. With seven members, the Raiders often were forced to strive for moral victories instead of the real thing.
Yesterday at the 5th Regiment Armory, however, coach Pat Saunderson's squad took the final leap in its arduous journey to the top of the area track world.
In what has been a season of firsts -- which included their first win over Oakland Mills in a decade, and recent triumphs in county and regional meets -- the Raiders captured their first-ever Class 1A-2A state championship.
As victorious team members gathered around the medals platform to pose for a few photographs with their new trophy, junior Jared Howard put the whole experience into perspective.
"I think people are finally starting to pay attention to Atholton," said Howard. "When I was standing up there, it just sunk in. All the hard work, all the little setbacks, all this team has had to overcome . . . winning this makes it all worthwhile."
The middle-distance specialist did his part, winning the 500 and taking second in the 300, as the Raiders ran to top-six finishes in 10 of 13 events to beat defending state champion Oakland Mills by 19 points.
Atholton finished with 62 points, followed by the Scorpions (43), Forestville (41), Glenelg (37) and Central (37). Wilde Lake tied for 14th with 11 points.
Fairmont Heights won the girls meet (60), with Central (54) second, Wilde Lake (30) third, Catonsville (29) fourth and Glenelg (23) fifth. Defending state champion Hammond finished 10th.
For Saunderson, a former Atholton runner in the mid-1980's, the victory took on significance.
"I've been part of county and regional titles, but never a state championship," said the third-year coach. "We set three goals in the beginning of the season, and today we accomplished the third one."
His team also got strong performances from Zach Tropf (first in the 1,600, fifth in the 3,200), Anthony Fleg (fourth in the 3,200), Maurice Clifford (third in the 55 --), John Porter (sixth in the high jump) and Adrian Valdes (sixth in the shot put).
The Raiders ended the day on a fitting note, as the foursome of Clifford, Ed Lebard, Eddie Chang and Howard set a state record in the 4 x 400 relay, winning in 3:33.6.
But Oakland Mills also had plenty of shining moments, keeping the pressure up with wins in the 3,200 (Steve Petro) and high hurdles (Kyle Walker.
The Scorpions' crowning achievement, however, came in the 3,200 relay.
Seeded eighth in the event, the team of Frank Dawson, Petro, Ryan Drake and Greg Curtis -- a rarely-used combination -- ran their fastest time of the season by nearly 17 seconds, winning in 8:33.7.
Glenelg also stayed near the lead, getting first- and sixth-place finishes in the pole vault from Pat Tvarkunas and Alex Sarau, respectively, and second places in both the high jump (Charles Martin II) and the 3,200 relay.
On the girls side, Wilde Lake showed just how much a team can improve in two years.
After not scoring a single point in the 1993 county championship meet, the Wildecats took second place in the high hurdles (Nyjila Littlejohn), third in the 800 (Brooke James) and won the 800 relay (Littlejohn, Adelle Chenier, Laura Cometa and Tonya Dedmond) in a state record of 1:49.8.