Allie O'Brien considered competitive running once before in high school, but she decided against it, choosing instead to focus on her baseball and softball seasons that await in the spring. But Wilson Coach Desmond Dunham doesn't let prospects go that easily, so when O'Brien was handing in her Tigers softball jersey at the end of her freshman season and the track and field coach happened to be in the same room, Dunham jumped into the same pitch he has used hundreds of times before.
“Do you have a fall sport?”
Dunham eventually convinced O’Brien to give cross-country a shot this fall, and her love for running outdoors turned into a passion for the indoor track this winter. At first progress was slow, but there was always progress. Eventually her workouts got tougher and her times got faster. On Wednesday, that hard work peaked when O’Brien won the 1,600 and 3,200 meters to help the Wilson boys and girls sweep the DCIAA indoor track and field championships at Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex.
“It’s just amazing to be on this team and have all this support coming from all my friends and teammates saying, ‘you can do this,’ ” said O’Brien, whose running experience prior to high school consisted of a handful of neighborhood jogs with her father. “I never would have imagined back then that I would have done this so quickly.”
She ran a 5:47.58 in the 1,600, finishing directly ahead of two other Wilson sophomores. Meredith Ellison (6:00.23) and Alex Hannah (6:00.99) rounded out the trio.
O’Brien’s won the 3,200 in 13:05.21 to edge McKinley Tech’s Ruth Tesfai (13:09.13) and Wilson’s Mei Copacino (13:22.75).
“To see Allie come away as a double gold winner, I’m not surprised when you see the preparation going in,” said Dunham, who took over the girls’ team four years ago and the Wilson boys’ squad last year. “She works really hard and it’s great to see her work come to fruition.”
The Tigers' girls' team scored 182.5 points in their victory to finish ahead of Eastern (121) and McKinley Tech (105.5). Wilson's boys' team won the team competition with 130 points, beating out Eastern (94) and Ballou (86).
Sean Savoy is in a similar boat to O'Brien. Best known as the standout wide receiver and All-Met kick returner that makes tacklers look foolish in the open field, Savoy has decided to use his winter and spring seasons to get faster. The best way to do that was to work with Dunham's track teams. Winning titles along the way is just an added bonus.
The junior won the 55-meter dash in 6.68 seconds, edging out Phelps's Magloire Lavodrama, who ran in 6.71. Theodore Roosevelt's Salahudeen Nurul-Haqq finished third in 6.80.
Eastern sophomore Thea Shaw was a triple winner, claiming the girls' 300 in 42.30 and the 500 in 1:22.11 and the high jump with a top leap of 5 feet 2 inches.
