A rhyming nickname of “fantastic” is used by some to describe what quickly has become a popular annual high-school track-and-field meet held at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax.
The large four-year-old girls and boys outdoor event called the Ramtastic Invitational recently was held all day on Saturday, April 11. There were athletes from 34 schools from throughout the metro area.
The meet has become so popular because it has reputation of being run well and efficiently, has a strong field of athletes and for the Robinson venue, which includes an eight-lane track for the running events and is one of the best around.
In addition to the races, the field events also take place inside the cozy Robinson stadium, not stuck off on an adjacent field like at some other venues.
So for spectators in the stands or leaning against the fence surrounding the track, it’s possible to watch all of the running and field events wherever the are located. And same for the athletes.
Overall, Ramtastic is a significant mid-season meet for building momentum toward the postseason.
“There are a lot of good teams and athletes here every year,” meet director Mike Kiernan told RunWashington.
The Ramtastic Invitational began as something of an afterthought in the 2023 spring outdoor season when another longtime meet — the Northern Virginia Invitational — that used to be held at Robinson moved to another venue.
The Northern Virginia Invitational is now held at South Lakes High School in Reston. This year’s competition will take place April 17-18.
With Robinson available for a weekend event, the Ramtastic competition was started, originally as a two-day meet.
“People still wanted at least one big outdoor meet at Robinson during the spring because it’s a great venue. So we started a new meet and it has worked out very well,” Kiernan said.
Kiernan and many other top local high school track-and-field officials run both invitational meets. Kiernan, a former track-and-field head coach of multiple Northern Virginia teams, has been a meet official for years now.
The field of teams at this year’s Ramtastic came from public schools in Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the city of Alexandria, plus a number of private-school squads throughout the region.
Some of the private schools were St. Albans and National Cathedral from D.C.; Bishop O’Connell, Episcopal and Flint Hill from Northern Virginia; and St. Mary’s Ryken from Maryland. The Ryken team traveled the farthest of any of the 34 to attend the meet.
Overall, some 1,300 athletics participated.
“We had more teams and athletes when this was spread out as a two-day meet,” Kiernan said. “Being one day now, it’s better to have fewer teams and athletes.”
Such big meets require many experienced officials to work the different running and field events. Being involved in track-and-field for so long, Kiernan is able to attract the necessary help to run a big meet.
There were no shortcuts as far as the number of events at the Ramtastic Invitational. All of the traditional outdoor track-and-field events were held in the varsity-only competition.
In the boys meet, there were 14 different winners of the individual events and three different relay champions.
The star of the girls meet was lone double winner Olivia Jones of the host Robinson team. The junior won both the 100 and 200-meter sprint races in times of 12.27 and 24.67, respectively.
Also on the girls side, Wakefield High junior Kayleigh Williams was third in both the shot put (30-feet, 6-inches) and discus (93.3), and Washington-Liberty senior Gabriela Netwall won the 400 in 56.63 and was fourth in the high jump at 5-1.
Overall, athletes from 17 teams won individual events with five different schools winning relay races. South Lakes had four individual winners and Chantilly, Forest Park and Robinson three each. The Woodson girls won two relays.
There were no team scores kept for the meet.
