LANDOVER — McDonogh track coach Jeff Sanborn plans to step down this year after 31 years guiding the school's indoor and outdoor track programs. The girls gave him a nice going-away present from the indoor team Friday night.
McDonogh won its seventh consecutive Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland team championship, edging Maryvale in the meet at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex. Gilman scored a close victory on the boys side, outlasting Loyola Blakefield for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association team title.
The Eagles finished with 151.50 points and won the night's final event (1,600-meter relay) to clinch their victory over Maryvale (138.5). Sanborn said McDonogh was worried coming into the meet as Maryvale handed the Eagles their first regular-season loss in six years two weeks ago.
But seniors Lakin Hatcher, Maggie Seybold and Allison Glossinger stepped up. Hatcher won the 55-meter dash, long jump and ran on the victorious 1,600 relay. She also added a second-place finish in the 300.
Seybold won the 1,600, finished second in the 800 and third in the 3,200. Glossinger captured the 800, took second in the 500 and ran on that last winning relay.
"Our seniors showed up tonight," Sanborn said. "But we thought the entire team would [contribute], and that's what they did."
The Eagles also won the 800 and 3,200 relays.
Cameron Hinton paced the Lions with wins in the 300 — where she held off Hatcher for the top spot — and the 500.
Alicya Guckert (pole vault) and Emily Craig (3,200) also won events for Maryvale.
"I thought everyone tried their best," Hinton said. "I thought we did what we could to make up the points, and we almost did."
For the boys, Gilman came on strong in the second half of the meet to overtake a Loyola team trying to win the school's first-ever track title.
The Greyhounds (144 points) also clinched the title with a win in the final event to edge Loyola (135). Gilman and Loyola broke away from the pack midway through the meet and made it essentially a two-team battle down to the finish.
The Greyhounds took the lead late, got a big win from Jelani Roberts in the 300 — he also won the 55 earlier — and received a 1-2-4 finish from Alonzo Mayo, Robert Levine and Dan DeSmit in the triple jump to hold off the Dons.
"We knew that Loyola was going to put up a good [fight]," Gilman coach Matt Tully said. "Our kids were resilient, and they came through whenever we asked them to."
Roberts also ran on a fourth-place 800 relay team. Gram Davis won the pole vault for a second straight year, and the quartet of Tory Young, Tommy Diehl, T.J. Oursler and Cole Sutton combined for the win in the 1,600 relay.