On a very breezy and chilly day, the Northwood Gladiators were looking to end their dual meet season with a victory. They squared off against the Rockville Rams whose boys were coming into the meet with an 0-3 record to the Gladiators' 1-4. The Gladiator girls came in 0-5 and the Rams were 1-2.

The meet began with the 100m/110m-hurdles. Derrick Powell cruised to a win for the boys and Rockville grabbed first for the girls.

The 4x8 followed the hurdles. Ileka Ifejika of Northwood lead it off against Ian Kirk of Rockville. Kirk gave his team the early lead into the second leg splitting a little under 2:20. The Gladiators were able to cut down the lead with a 2:15 split by sophomore Jereil McNealy. The Rams still had a lead going into the third leg. I received the baton for my team and was able to gain and stretch out about a 200m lead with a 2:05 split. The anchor leg for Rockville, Billy Orndorff, had a lot of ground to make up. In the end, he was able to run a strong leg to give the Rams the victory. The girls 4x8 was also won by the Rams.

The next event was the boys and girls 100m dash. The girls' race went 1-2-3 with Northwood stealing all of the points. Blessing Showunmi lead the charge taking first place. In the boys' race, David Payne and Omar Ransom went 1-2 for the Gladiators finishing in 11.6 and 11.8 respectively.

The 1600-meter run was swept by Rockville with Ian Kirk taking first and Billy Orndorff following for second. The Rockville girls also won the 1600-meter run. The Gladiator boys were then able to grab the win in the 4x2.

The next race was the 400-meter dash. In the girls' race, sophomore Cecillia Bayoh of Northwood won going away in about 69 seconds. As for the boys, the race was much tighter between my teammate, Derrick Powell, and myself. The race began and through 200 meters we were pretty even with Powell having a slight lead. Powell began to pull away and with about 100 meters to go, he had about a 10 meter lead. Through that final stretch I closed the gap, but it wasn't enough for the win. Powell finished in 52.4 and I followed in 52.74.

The next event was the 3200-meter run. Billy Orndoff cruised to an easy win for the boys. Northwood finished in second and third. The Rockville girls also grabbed first place. Blessing Showunmi added another first place finish winning the 300-meter hurdles and Omar Ransom took first for the boys.

In the 200-meter dash, the Northwood girls took first and second. In the boys' race, the Gladiators went down-to-the-line with Derrick Powell edging out Richard Cadet and David Payne to win in 23.9. Cadet, who also won the high jump and grabbed the 3rd in the 400m-dash, and Payne, who took second in the shot put, finished in 24.1 and 24.25 respectively.

I won the open 800m-run, but the real race was for second between Ian Kirk of Rockville and my teammate Jereil McNealy. Milliseconds separated the two with McNealy coming out on top in 2:18. Northwood also grabbed first place finishes in the 4x4 from both the boys and girls.