Paul VI’s girls track and field team won the Virginia State Catholic Championship Meet at Paul VI May 10.
With nine other Catholic schools from Virginia in attendance, the Panthers, coming in as underdogs, came together as a team to pull off an incredible upset win for the girls and finish runner-up for the boys, as well as many top individual performances, including a new school record by senior Andy Geiser of 49.00 in the 400m, placing third.
The girls relay teams excelled, with the 4x100m relay of Samantha Bentley, Claire Curtze, Brooklynn Stratford and Avery Dickens finishing second overall. The 4x800m relay team of Danielle Fransella, Lilly Wahl, Nisha Downey and Chloe Rakowitz finished in third, and the 4x400m relay team featuring Rakowitz, Elliana Taddeo, Bentley, and Kathia Kouami ran an incredible race, with a second place win and season personal record of 4:18.
Top individual performances for the girls team were:
- Senior Catherine Richards — first place 3200m, second place 1600m run
- Senior Maya Habib — first place 300m hurdles, second place 100m hurdles, fourth place long jump
- Senior Paige Salang — third place discus
- Sophomore Ellie Angel — third place 100m hurdles, fourth place 300m hurdles
- Freshman Kouami — third place 400m, second place 4x400m
The Paul VI boys track and field team ended as runner-up in the Virginia State Catholic Champions as a team by a very small margin. Starting off strong was the boys 4x800m relay featuring Stephen Schafer, Liam McCarthy, Jackson Todd and Kendrick Malpeli, who finished in first place and brought home the gold for Paul VI. The boys 4x100m relay of Keyon Johnson, Luke Heinze, Owen Ellison and Christian Rutland placed second overall running their fastest time of the season, 43.4 seconds. The boys 4x400m relay of Brandon Morrow, McCarthy, Tim Stankiewicz, and Malpeli ran a great race against tough competition, finishing second overall.
Top individual performances for the boys team were:
- Senior Logan Downey — third place 300m hurdles, eighth place long jump, sixth place triple jump
- Senior Geiser — third place 400m, setting a new school record of 49.00
- Senior Luke Heinze — third place 300m hurdles, eighth place 100m dash, second place 4x100m
- Senior Stephen Schafer — first place 4x800m
- Junior Brandon Morrow — first place 800m, second place 1600m, second place 4x400m
- Junior Christian Rutland — first place long jump, second place 4x100m
- Junior Tim Stankiewicz — second place triple jump, fourth place high jump, second place 4x400m
- Junior Caden Pochick — second place 300m hurdles, second place 110m hurdles, third place high jump
- Junior Keyon Johnson — second place 100m dash, second 4x100m
- Freshman Jackson Todd — first place 4x800m
