By Riley Gill

After coming off two extremely successful seasons, the Oakdale’s Boy’s Track & Field team felt that they were right at the peak of their talent. However, at the end of the year, a sudden jump to the 3A state conference came as a reality check for the boys. Moving into one of if not the most challenging conferences in the state of Maryland meant facing off against teams like Damascus in football and the recently downsized 4A school, Oxon Hill, in track. Oxon Hill is one of the largest 3A schools in the state while Oakdale is the smallest. Not even ten students above the limit for a 2A school, it seemed that Oakdale would sink back to the bottom in track and field due to the numerous amounts of dominant 3A teams. Thanks to runners like Percy Agyei-Obese, Evan Kowalk, and Patrick Starrs, among several other talented athletes, Oakdale continually shocked 3A powerhouses with their improvement.

 “It takes time to be great, and we all knew that,” voiced Junior Percy Agyei-Obese, one of the boys most successful sprinters. Along with Agyei-Obese, Junior Kenny Yerardi, Junior Todd Case Jr., and Junior Patrick Starrs competed in the now state-championship 4×4 relay team. The team of all juniors took on a powerhouse relay team from Oxon Hill and in an impressive race came out on top.

 The 4×4 was not the only successful event of the day. Sophomore George Stulz came home with a state title in the pole vault, along with several other impressive performances in the high jump and 4×200.

Oakdale juniors Percy Agyei-Obese and Kyle Geffen make two out of four on the continually successful 4×200 relay.

“You just have to be ready to be uncomfortable”, explained Junior Evan Kowalk.

Junior Patrick Starrs also agreed, pointing out that “being better means working harder, and if you want to win that’s the sacrifice you have to make”.

The boys still won’t settle for second. Leaving the rest of the 3A state shocked after their impressive performance, Oakdale won’t settle until they climb back to the top and bring another state title back to Frederick County.