LANDOVER, Md. – Walker Mason finished his long road back to competition by winning a long race.
The North Hagerstown senior held off Northwood’s Henry Nichols by .47 seconds to become the first Hub to win an indoor 3200-meter run title in 20 years on Wednesday at the Maryland Boys Class 3A State Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex.
Mason missed the entire cross-country season and part of the indoor track schedule while recovering from a stress fracture in his right leg.
Mason is the first Hub to win the 3,200 since Hemagiri Arumugam won two straight titles – in 2005 on the Class 3A-2A level and in 2006 in the Class 2A-1A competition. Smithsburg’s Sean Milligan was the last Washington County runner to conquer the race in 2022 in Class 1A.
Mason accounted for all 10 points for North Hagerstown. The Hubs tied with Centennial and Catonsville for 15th place. Linganore won the Class 3A title with 30 points.
Meanwhile, three North Hagerstown girls combined for 12 points as the Hubs tied Franklin for 14th place. Severna Park won the title with 74 points.
Caroline Philp topped the list by finishing third in the 3200 in a personal-best time of 11:31.75. She finished 1.69 seconds behind race winner Josephine Kamas of Severna Park.
Anna Chamberlain notched a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5-00. Chamberlain also finished 11th in the 55 hurdles in :09.40.
Mackenzie Philip carded a fifth-place finish in the 800 with a 2:22.86 effort, a personal best.
Taraji Nartey clocked a 42.17 to finish 10th in the 300.
North also competed in three relays.
The 4X200 team of Nartey, Annabelle Schaberl, Dayanah Brunson and Chamberlain combined for a 1:49.88 to finish eighth in the event.
Nartey, Chamberlin, Caroline Philp and Mackenzie Philip put together a season-best to of 4:13.65 in the 4X400 relay to finish seventh.
And Caroline Philp, Charlee Hajel, Anna Ramanan and Mackenzie Philp also recorded a season best with a 10:39.21 to finish 10th in the 4X800 relay.
Williamsport didn’t score team points in the Class 2A girls meet. The Wildcats didn’t have any boys qualify for state competition.
Williamsport’s Kiara Barker finished ninth in the shot put with a heave of 28-04 1/4.
