Kenwood on Track for a Special Season

Rachel Bauer initially viewed track and field as a way to stay in shape and get ready for soccer season.

Quickly, though, the sophomore realized she could be as successful, if not more so, on the track as she was on the soccer field.

“You always have goals to strive for and beat in track,” Bauer said. “It’s so competitive.”

Many girls at Kenwood share a similar response and the results have been impressive in the early part of the indoor track season. The Bluebirds took first place Friday in the 13-team CCBC Essex Invite, which included mostly competition from Harford County schools.

This came after the Other teams that competed in that meet included , , ,  and . In addition, the girls placed third in an 11-team meet on Dec. 14 against teams from Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties.

Among the highlights for Kenwood at the CCBC Essex meet included junior runner Jada Boyd placing second in the 800 and 1,600 runs in times of 2 minutes, 39 second and 6:05.7, respectively. Also, junior Shannon Foster tied the school record in high jump by clearing 4-feet, 8-inches to take third.

In addition, Rakiya Ratliff, Shaneara Terry, Rayven Ray, and Alexis Moog's 4x200 relay placed second and were barely edged out by last year's 1A state champion team of Harford Tech. Moog also came in third in the 300 meters with a time of 46.47. 

Kenwood seeks to test itself even further at 3:45 p.m. today at CCBC Essex when it hosts the . Admission is free, but the school is asking for donations to help raise money for the St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

Other schools set to compete today include Overlea, , , , and North County.

“We have a lot of athletes who really want to work hard and put Kenwood on the map as a track program to watch in Baltimore County,” said Bauer, who also placed fourth in the 800 on Friday with a personal-best time of 2:41.

Many of the athletes on Kenwood’s track team credit second-year coach Mark Planamente for the progress of the program over the last two seasons.

A social studies teacher at Kenwood, Planamente is constantly promoting the school’s indoor and outdoor track programs, as well as the cross country team, which he also coaches.

He is also always looking for new students who may be interested in giving track a chance. This season, the girls program had 60 students try out for the team and about 45 are still with the program.

“I just want to see this program reach its full potential,” Planamente said. “We have the chance to do something special here.”

Planamente said part of his program’s success this season has been his ability to attract student-athletes from other programs, including those that have played soccer and cheerleading in previous years.

Foster She was a gymnast for several years and was also a cheerleader before deciding to try out for indoor track after a successful outdoor season last spring. That included winning the county junior varsity high jump title.

“A lot of the skills you need to be good in gymnastics are the same ones you need to be good in the high jump,” Foster said. “Coach Planamente has us believing that we have the ability to be very good and I want to see how far I can go with this.”