By Dave Ryan

CAMBRIDGE — A series of championship wins this spring by the Cambridge-South Dorchester High School men’s track and field team – North Bayside, Bayside, and Region 1A East – ended Thursday with the most significant of all, the 1A State Championship title. It’s the first team crown in Vikings history, stretching back 13 years when the team was established under the leadership of coaches Lois Narr and Clint Falduto.

C-SD scored 80.5 points, with second-place Catoctin totaling 72. Viking coaches had kept a close eye on the Frederick County school as the season drew to a close, and knew that however it all ended, it would be close.

It took contributions from everyone to make it happen, not just reliance on a star athlete or two.

“It was a total team effort,” Coach Lois Narr said. “Every kid scored a point.”

After the team arrived back at school from the meet in Landover, behind an escort by a Rescue Fire Company truck with siren blaring in celebration, Coach Falduto remembered the season’s beginning in March.

“We knew we needed to fill some gaps,” he said. For instance, a lack of middle-distance runners led sprinter Tekai Drummond to try the 800-meter race, at which he excelled.

Tekai also invited Jakuez Snead to join the team. Jakuez, a sophomore, did well as a sprinter and placed fifth in shot put at the championships with a heavy-duty throw of 46’ 6”.

Then as the postseason began, runners in the relays had to be shuffled from one event to another, a move that went without a hitch.

Add to all that the jumps under Kason Washington and Stacey Brown, and a team developed that could score in all events, and right through 1^st-8^th place.

“That was a huge part of what we did,” Coach Falduto said, remembering a coach from a competing team who told him at the meet, “You guys are scoring everywhere.”

One of the high points for the Vikings was Tori Willis Jr.’s event championship in the 300-meter hurdles. Willis, a junior, claimed the title with a state-record time of 38.68 seconds.

And that was the only first-place finish for the team, unusual for a championship. It was the depth that did it.

Maryland public high schools are divided into four classes, with 1A comprising the smallest 25%. There are 50 teams in Class 1A, of which 42 qualified athletes for the championship, with 32 teams scoring.

Other regional results for boys’ teams are: Snow Hill, 5^th, 43 points; North Dorchester, 8^th, 27.5 points; Kent County in a three-way tie at 24 points; Mardela, 12^th, 22 points; and Colonel Richardson, 26^th, 8 points.

On the women’s side, C-SD placed 11^th of 30 teams that scored, 24.5 points, as Smithsburg earned the title after putting 112 points on the board. There was still plenty to celebrate, with senior Kassidy Young winning discus with a huge 124’ 4” throw, beating her second-place competitor by 10 feet.

That toss wiped out the school record – set by Kassidy earlier this season – of 112 feet. After three years of discus, Kassidy had dialed in her technique at the right time, hitting nearly 118 feet in practice a couple days earlier, saying, “I’m locked in!” as the session came to a close.

She could have been speaking for the boys’ team as well.

“A dream!” Coach Narr posted after the win. “So happy.”