Article Text

Postseason indoor track-and-field competition will send Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria high-school teams well beyond their home communities over the next month.

District meets and two regional championships are scheduled at the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex in Landover, roughly 30 to 40 minutes away. Travel complications have led to difficult trips for some teams over the years, even though the complex offers top-tier facilities.

The National District meet is set for Wednesday, Jan. 29, followed by the Liberty and Concorde district meets on Thursday, Jan. 30 and Friday, Jan. 31. The Patriot District also competes there Friday, Jan. 31.

The Class 6C and 6D North Region meets will follow at the same venue Wednesday, Feb. 12 and Thursday, Feb. 13. Some Prince William County schools in another region also use the complex for regional competition.

Teams advancing to the Virginia High School League Class 6 state championships will make an even longer journey during the first weekend of March, traveling to the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

The recurring travel burden stems from the lack of a public indoor track-and-field facility in Fairfax County capable of hosting these meets, aside from George Mason University. An agreement that allowed Fairfax County Public Schools to hold district, regional and sometimes state competitions at the university ended more than a decade ago.

Friends of Fairfax County Indoor Track & Field has spent years urging government officials to build a county facility, but those efforts have not yet produced one. That has left the Prince George’s complex as the primary alternative—and required teams and spectators to plan around the extra travel.