The Adidas Indoor Track Nationals is one of the biggest track meets in the United States with more than 1,800 teams representing virtually every state in the union, the District of Columbia and Canada. This year marked a very special race for the girls indoor track team as Western won the national championship in the Distance Medley Relay. Head Coach Katie Pugh said, “As far as I know, WAHS track has never won a national title in any event, either boys or girls.”
The team of sophomores Hannah Seideman and Zoey Downer, junior Sarah Jane Broadbent and senior Emerson Ritter took home the national title with a time of 12:34.39.
At the winter sports award ceremony in the WAHS gym, Coach Pugh had a few things to say about the anchor of the team, MVP Emerson Ritter. She said, “Emerson’s accomplishments on the track this season are impressive. She won the Liberty Flames 3,200 Meter Run her first time competing in that event in early December. Later in the season she ran a 10:46 in the full two-mile at New Balance Nationals, putting her third fastest overall in the history of WAHS in that event. She came in fifth in the state championship meet, and was seventh fastest Virginian at the national meet, across all classes. In the 1,600 race, she won the state meet with a time of 4:56, breaking the state meet record, and running the overall fastest time in the history of WAHS. In total, she individually earned 14 out of the team’s 39 points at the state meet.” She added, “It is important to understand that she was also swimming full-time as a member of the state champion WAHS Swim and Dive Team and only running three days a week. Even though she couldn’t always be at every track practice, she was 100% dedicated to the team’s success.”…