'Holy cow, we did it!'

“You’re kidding me, we brought four girls!””

Coach Clint Falduto

By Dave Ryan

LANDOVER — Cambridge-South Dorchester High School’s John Condon is a Region 1A State Champion, after posting a time of 10:06.42 in the 3,200-meter run on June 18 at the Prince George’s Sports Learning Complex.

“C-SD right where we belong!” Head Coach Lois Narr said as Condon mounted the winner’s podium to receive his gold medal. “Smartest race and believing in himself, he was confident and trusting of his instincts about pace, he was patient, he was strong and he left the rest in a cloud of dust sprinting to the finish line.”

Condon, who is a junior, finished his season with other notable successes — in the Sectional Championships on June 14, he placed second in the 1,600- and 3,200 meters, and won the 800 meters. In between the longer runs, he competed in pole vault, taking second place there, with a  9' 6" jump.
Coach Narr mentioned the speed of the Sectionals, down from a two-day affair in the past to less than a single afternoon this season. “Somebody like Johnny,” she said, had to tough it out in four events, “all in a span of three hours.”

His mother, Coach Angie Condon, knew he would give it all he had, saying some competitors would “have fallen out by the 800.”
All four results secured him a place in the state finals. This year, because of COVID-19 precautions, only two athletes per event, per region, qualified for States. Usually, the number is four per event.
Condon wasn’t the only C-SD man at the finals. Jaden Jones, a junior, brought back some hardware of his own, with a medal for a third-place finish in the 100, which he finished in 11.42 seconds.
Fab four
Then there were the “Fab Four,” who achieved a nearly unprecedented success at the Sectionals. Sa’Mara Spriggs, Alexus Spriggs, Makayla Dockins and Luci Thomas won the region.

By themselves.
That just doesn’t happen, certainly not in many years throughout the Bayside Conference. To pull it off, athletes have to compete successfully in many events — up to four each — and score as highly as possible.
It’s tough enough to do that, but with meets all season, including the championships, restricted in numbers, they moved much more quickly than usual. That’s nice, until you realize that a runner who is just about done after one race has to pull herself together, get fired up and go do it all again, barely recovered. Not an easy way to score points.
But they did, bringing the winners’ plaque back to C-SD. Not that they thought it would go like that, though.

When the season started, with the pandemic still at its peak, the abbreviated spring season had just four meets scheduled. It was only after things got underway that the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association decided to hold championships.
The uncertainty of the whole year had affected many aspects of school sports, including the number of athletes on the team. Usually about two dozen girls would be racing, jumping or throwing, but at the sectionals, there were only those four.
“We didn’t expect to get it,” Alexus said of the title afterwards, adding that Coach Clint Falduto had motivated them. “We had a job to get done.”
They sure did, as the one team at Sectionals with only four members — but ones with talent.
“We came in with strong competitors,” Coach Falduto said.

Indeed. Luci was second in the 3,200, with Sa’Mara winning the 100-meter hurdles and the triple jump. Alexus won the 400 meters, and Makayla is the region champion in discus and shot put. Add to all that their points from lower placings in other events, and the squad racked up 82 points for the win.
Head Coach Lois Narr was impressed by Alexus’ winning performance in the 400 meters, saying, “She just blew it away,” with a personal record of 1:02.74.
At the end of the day, after leading throughout the competition, Coach Clint could hardly believe his eyes when he checked the final score. “Holy cow, we won!” he called out. “You’re kidding me, we brought four girls!”
The following day, the team celebrated the girls’ 1A East title — and the boys’ fifth-place finish — the following day with pizzas in the shade of a tree near the C-SD track, and then turned to preparations for the last, biggest meet.

State results
In this meet, as in others with more than eight teams, points are awarded to places 1-8 in the following amounts: 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
In overall Region 1A results, Dunbar boys placed first, with 74 points. C-SD was the top Eastern Shore team, in eighth place with 28.5 points, edging out Snow Hill by half a point. Mardela was in 12th, with 21 points, and a discus title to Zach Mills, who had a monster throw of 147’ 4”. North Dorchester High School did not qualify any boys for the 28-team competition.
Among the girls, Western Tech is the top team, with 77.5 points. The Lady Vikings were 13th of 27 teams, with 20 points. Colonel Richardson was 22nd, with 4, Snow Hill 27th with 1.

Viking individual results
Boys
Jaden Jones — 3rd, 100 meters, 11.42 seconds
John Condon — 1st, 3,200 meters, 10:06.42, Personal Record (PR); 8th, 800 meters, 2:21.12; 3rd, 1,600 meters, 4:36.04 (PR); 3rd, Pole Vault, 11' 0"

Girls
Sa’Mara Spriggs — 4th, 100-meter hurdles, 17.63 seconds (PR); Triple Jump 4th, 32’ 4.5” PR
Alexus Spriggs — 6th, 400 meters, 1:03.60 seconds; Triple Jump, 5th, 31’ 1.5”, Season Record
Luci Thomas — 6th, 3,200 meters, 15.37.62, (PR)