Athletes sprinted furiously, jumped high and long, vaulted gracefully, and threw with all their strength. An outsider might describe this as pure chaos, but to these dedicated Langley athletes, the Track and Field district meet was the pinnacle of their meets thus far.

Through lasting commitment and grueling track workouts, all the strenuous work paid off. The Langley girls varsity track and field team was named the Liberty District champions on Feb. 4. 

“There was this newfound energy in all of us. It was a goal we had all been working towards, and when we were named champions, it seemed so unreal,” said senior Bridget Chesney, who was part of the 4×800 relay that took second place. 

The meet was held at Prince George’s Sport and Learning Center, where six teams competed in addition to Langley. With 101 points, the Langley girls had just enough to edge out South Lakes and Thomas Jefferson, who were respectively second and third place. 

“Coach Culver believed in every girl on the team, which inspired us to perform better than ever before, said sophomore Elissa Purdy, who took 4th place in the 1000 meter run.          

Coming up, qualifying athletes will move on to compete in the regional competition on Feb 19.

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Thoughts from Langley track and field…

Andrew Havasy, Staff Writer

“The final event was the 4×400 and everyone was around the track cheering, that was fun,” said sophomore sprinter Adrienne Schmidt.

“I was so happy that we had won the title, but it was even more worth it because of all the long hours of practice we put into preparing for districts and I can’t wait for regionals,” said junior hurdler Gabriella Jacobsen.

When asked of the team’s achievement, track coach and Langley teacher Joshua Culver said, “They deserved this because of all of the hard work they put in to track and field. Because they stayed together, supported each other, competed for each other all season, and handled all of the adversity they faced, they deserved this championship.”

In addition, Coach Culver said, “As of now, we are trying to heal up from a few tweaks and injuries so we will take it easy for a couple of days, then get back to work for about a week before regionals. Our girls that advanced to the region have a great opportunity to qualify for the state finals. That is the girls’ goal, and they are going to prepare themselves to compete at the highest level.”