It was the running events however, that showed the true depth of our teams. The girls 4x100 beat state champions FPD by a second with a time of 51.60; a time just under one second from the state time last year, quite a feat for the first meat of the season. The boys too showed great improvement with a time of 47.20. Junior Bianca Rucker showed her worth in all her events placing first. Perhaps the most notable performance of the night was the girls 4x400 relay consisting of Suzanne Johnson, Nicole Davis, Rita Chhabra, and Bianca Rucker which easily took first with a time of 4:17 nearly eight seconds faster than their state time last year.

The following week, after continued hard training, the teams traveled to Riverside Military Academy where had the opportunity to compete against all the teams in our region. Overshadowing the meet was the near death of senior Jeff Donahue. While competing in the high jump Jeff gashed his leg open piercing flesh down through the muscle. A man among men Donahue claimed to feel no pain. He was quickly taken to the hospital by Mrs. Wise where he received a whopping thirty five stitches. Aside from this, the most notable performance of the evening was sophomore Zak Metz winning the 1600, 800, and the 4x400, running personal bests in each event. Metz is relatively new to competing in the 1600, shocking the team in the last 100 meters over taking seasoned team mates Daniel Reiss and Nathan Bennett with a time of 4:54. Soon after was Metz’s signature event the 800 in which he destroyed all competition with another personal best of 2:07. The most exciting event of the night, however, was the boys 4x400 in which Dominion’s A-relay beat Riverside for the first time in history with a time of 3:43. Other notable performances include Justin Hipps placing second in the high jump with a height of 5’6”. Arnold Kim continued to dominate jumping events placing first in long jump with a jump of 19 ft. 6 inches and placing second in the triple jump losing only to the son of boxing great Evander Holyfield.

Dominion continues to compete with the top teams in the state, further refining their skills and dropping time in their events. The girl’s are currently favored to win regions for the third year running and should prove to be serious competition at the state meet. The boys, too, have the capability to win region stealing it from Riverside for the first time in years.