Team-First Cougars Target Run at District Championships

Dating back to 2000, has claimed 35 titles in three sports—cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track—at the district, regional and state level. Heading into this winter's indoor track season, the Cougars have a sizable squad bolstered by young talent and are looking to add to their tally.

Since cross-country and track coach Alisa Byers first arrived at the Vienna school in 2007 and took over as head coach last year, the titles have kept on coming in various forms: girls' indoor and outdoor track took the Concorde District in 2008-2009, boys' cross-country won the state championship in 2008, boys' outdoor track won the district in 2009 and the girls' indoor track team won the district again last year.

Byers lets her team captains set the team goals and, unsurprisingly, both the boys and girls have their sights set on a Concorde District title. For the girls, who also aspire for a stronger finish at the Northern Region meet, the title would be a third in a row. A win in indoor track for the boys, who Byers said face "a lot of talent in our district … so far as jumps and sprints and distance, too," would be the first since 2001, the year Oakton last swept the district.

The Cougars have plenty of athletes to make their postseason run. In the first year of cuts and a $100 enrollment fee, numbers are up, with close to 180 on this year's team. That marks a significant difference from the nearly 120 athletes on the team in Byers' first year.

According to Byers, part of that growth is because "[t]his year, I think, what's different is that we've done a pretty, a fairly good job at recruiting. So we are tapping into different athletic markets."

To a core of dedicated runners, Oakton has added football players, baseball players, cheerleaders: "People who play different sports, which is common, I guess, for indoor track, but not so much for Oakton track."

But by Byers' estimation, another reason for the growth is because "kids want to be a part of something."

In the case of the Cougars, that "something" is a team-first culture that dates back to her predecessor, Phil Tiller, and incorporates aspects commonly found in relay teams across an entire sport often focused on the individual.

"Our team, I would say, is pretty special—and it started with the way that Phil kind of…handled things with the cross-country [team]. We like to keep things relaxed, we like to have fun. And then when it's time to be serious, we, you know, we put our game faces on.

"With that, we also try to encourage kids to talk to each other, help each other out. We're very, very much of a family. And there are some teams—and I've seen them just in the region and just in general—they have a lot of drama on their team, between teammates, jealousy and envy and things like that. But our team has always been about, this is good for the team, this is the way this is going to be done, and we'll just work together because we all have the same common goal."

Oakton's season will build up over the course of six meets to the district, regional and state championships. Some of those early-season competitions will focus more on sprinters, while others will be directed toward testing the distance runners and field events.

The real focus, though, is on the postseason.

Eyeing strong postseason finishes on the girls team is a base of returning runners. Sophomore Briana Stewart is a middle-distance runner whose fall cross-country season "will boost her to where, you know, she wants to be for indoor," according to Byers.

Senior Nyah Collier, who won the Concorde District 400-meter in last year's outdoor championships after being unable to complete the indoor season, is also motivated "to kind of prove herself, prove to others, that it wasn't just a fluke that she won the district championship, that she's willing to put in the work," Byers said.

The coach also singled out sophomore Meaghan Jean-Baptiste—"a huge talent in hurdles and jumps"—senior captain Jennifer Markin and senior thrower Erin Degutis, who Byers said has "been working out and lifting big" because she "set goals to contribute big for indoor."

Beyond Degutis, though, the Cougars are short on depth in the throwing events. Oakton will fill out the numbers with athletes from the sprint and distance-running events.

On the boys' side, Oakton will turn to two runners in distance events, junior Michael McNamee and senior Matthew Henton, who joined the cross-country team this year to improve their running.

The Cougars will be working to build up the short sprint aspect of the boys' team.

"And then, on the sprint side, we're all very, very new," Byers said. "So that's where, it comes in where we've got some returners, but we don't really know where they're going to contribute. But I do feel like…the new people that are coming in on the boys' short sprint side will be contributing to the team greatly."

Indeed, even with the returners she knows of, Byers said, "I feel like every year, we have a young group of talent that comes in." Just how talented that group is, and whether that talent is enough for a district double in the Concorde championships in February, will begin to play out in the Cougars' first meet.

Oakton opens the season with a meet Dec. 4 at Episcopal High School in Alexandria.