2017 All-MCPS Outdoor Track & Field Team


Top Row From Left: Northwest 4x100 Relay: Eddita Pessima, Cori Brown, Stephanie Bateky; Blake 4x200 and 4x400 Relays: Noelani Phillips, Serena Harrison, Cyan People's, Tahira Bakare, Kenya Allison, Geligne Franklin; Bottom Row From Left: Damascus 4x800 Relay: Samantha Kameka, Melissa Kameka, Heather Delaplaine, Juliana Ancalmo; Janise Bestman (Paint Branch), Morgan Casey (Blair)

Athlete of the Year: Taylor Wright, Northwest - Class of 2019 - Wright led all MCPS athletes this spring in the 100m (11.91), 200m (24.40) and high jump (5-07). She won the same three events at the Montgomery County Championship Meet and the 4A West Regional Championship. She won the 4A state title in the high jump (5-04), finished as state runner-up in the 100m and 200m, and 4x100m relay.

Morgan Casey, Montgomery Blair - Class of 2018 - Casey swept 800-meter titles from the DCC Championship and Montgomery County Championship right up through the 4A West and 4A State Championship. She won the 4A state title in the 800m with a county-leading 2:16.22.

Abigail Green, Walter Johnson - Class of 2018 - Green wrestled with illness early in the season and saved the best for last. After sweeping county and region 1600m and 3200m titles, she set season best times at state championship meet by winning the 3200-meter state title (10:45.66) and placing second in the 1600-meter (4:59.24).

Eddita Pessima, Northwest - Class of 2018 - Pessima swept county, region, and state titles in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. She led all MCPS athletes in both events this spring (14.41/44.06) and just missed breaking the 300-meter hurdles county meet record of 44.12 with #2 all-time county meet performance, 44.39.

Ashley Santini, Northwest - Class of 2017 - Santini swept county titles in the long jump and triple jump plus won the 4A West Region title in the triple jump. She led all MCPS athletes this season in the long jump with leap of 18-04 at the Central Invitational. She recorded 36-06.25 in the triple jump at state championship meet.

Janise Bestman, Paint Branch - Class of 2019 - Bestman led all county athletes in the shot put with a season best mark of 36-07 recorded at the county championship meet. She ranked third in MCPS in the discus (101-07). The multisport athlete plays basketball in the winter and says that she enjoys playing football, yes, "boys football."

Paige Evans, Clarksburg - Class of 2017 - Evans led all county athletes in the pole vault with season best mark of 10-03 recorded at the 4A West Region Meet. She tied the #2 all-time mark at the county championship meet with winning vault of 9-06.

4x100 Relay - Northwest - Cori Brown (2019), Eddita Pessima (2018), Stephanie Bateky (2017), Taylor Wright (2019) - Northwest placed 26th overall at the Penn Relays with a season best, MCPS-leading time of 48.27. They recorded 48.39 at the county championship meet which was third best in meet history. The Northwest 4x100 relay won Montgomery County and 4A West Region titles before taking second place at 4A state championship.

4x200 Relay - Blake - Noelani Phillips (2019), Tahira Bakare (2019), Kenya Allison (2018), Cyan People's (2019) - Blake recorded MCPS-leading performance of 1:41.86 at 3A South Region Meet and went on to win 3A state title in windy conditions in 1:42.52.

4x400 Relay - Blake - Geligne Franklin (2019), Noelani Phillips (2019), Kenya Allison (2018), Serena Harrison (2020) - Blake's MCPS-leading 4x400 of 3:54.96 came at the Penn Relays where they placed 31st overall. They went on to win the 3A state title in 3:58.09.

4x800 Relay - Damascus - Samantha Kameka, Juliana Ancalmo, Heather Delaplaine, Melissa Kameka - At the Penn Relays, Damascus recorded the fastest 4x800 by a county team since 2012, 9:24.96. The Hornets later won the 3A state title in 9:31.05 with Alexis Whitehorn-Coriz after losing star runner Melissa Kemeka to injury.

		1st Team 				2nd Team
		====================================    ==============================================
Sprinters 	Taylor Wright, Northwest 	2019 	Madison Depry, Wheaton 			2020
Middle 		Morgan Casey, Montgomery Blair 	2018 	Melissa Kameka, Damascus 		2019
Distance 	Abigail Green, Walter Johnson 	2018 	Nandini Satsangi, Poolesville 		2019
Hurdles 	Editta Pessima, Northwest 	2018 	Kaya Rae Dunbar, Paint Branch 		2020
High Jump	Taylor Wright, Northwest 	2019	Tatiana Teixeira, Winston Churchill 	2017
Long Jump	Ashley Santini, Northwest 	2017 	Stephanie Bateky, Northwest 		2017
Triple Jump	Ashley Santini, Northwest 	2017 	Lucy Lee, Winston Churchill 		2017
Throws 		Janise Bestman, Paint Branch 	2019 	Xanthi Limber, Clarksburg 		2018
Pole Vault 	Paige Evans, Clarksburg 	2017 	Victoria Toth, Bethesda-Chevy Chase 	2017
4 x 100 	Northwest High School 			Watkins Mill High School
4 x 200 	James Hubert Blake High School 		Watkins Mill High School
4 x 400 	James Hubert Blake High School 		Walter Johnson High School
4 x 800 	Damascus High School 			Walt Whitman High School

					Honorable Mention
======================================================================================================
Sprinters	Karis Lee, Winston Churchill 	2019 	Jada Sobratti, Watkins Mill 		2019
Middle		Kyra Badrian, Paint Branch	2017 	Serena Harrison, James Hubert Blake 	2020
Distance	Yasmine Kass, Paint Branch 	2018 	Julia Reicin, Winston Churchill 	2017
Hurdles		Courtney Christian, W. Johnson 	2017 	Lily Lippert, Clarksburg 		2018
High Jump	Kaya Rae Dunbar, Paint Branch 	2020 	Alyssa McCloskey, Clarksburg 		2018
Long Jump	Naomi English, Albert Einstein 	2018 	Lucy Lee, Winston Churchill 		2017
Triple Jump	Stephanie Bateky, Northwest 	2017 	Ashley Weaver, Winston Churchill 	2019
Throws		Precious Battle, Northwest 	2019 	Trinity Klock, Clarksburg 		2020
Pole Vault	Ananya Bernardo, B-CC 		2018	Karalyn Schwartz, Clarksburg 		2019


MCPS coaches organized and voted for this 2017 All-MCPS Outdoor Track & Field Team.
Relay teams were selected based on the single fastest performance of the season using automatic timing.
Photo and editorial provided by Mocorunning.com

A funny thing happened during the photo shoot. One athlete asked what this was all about. There is a very long history of the All-County Track & Field Team dating back several decades. It was last published by the Gazette in 2015. The Gazette selected All-County teams for more than two decades. Before that, the Montgomery Journal had published All-County teams for much of the 1980's and the Montgomery Sentinel was naming All-County teams before that. Until the last few years, there was always a group photo in those publications. Those publications were born out of the era of printed news. Mocorunning.com was a grassroots creation, born out of the era of internet news with a tremendous appreciation for the printed news that preceded it. Mocorunning never infringed on the All-County teams published by the Gazette in the 2000's, but at the request of MCPS coaches, Mocorunning has provided a platform for the 2017 All-MCPS track team as selected by coaches. We definitely wanted to bring back the group photo.