MDRUNNERS.COM 2006 All-State Selections Ben Mallare Nov 13, 2006

MDRUNNERS.COM is pleased to announce the selections for the 2006 All-State Teams for cross country.

The 70 selected athletes were chosen based on their performance this season that has qualified them as the very best high school runners in the state of Maryland.

The selections for the second, third, fourth and fifth All-State teams are displayed within Each team\'s athletes are listed alphabetically.

The selections for First Team All-State, including the selections for Runner of the Year and \"Runner-Up\" of the Year will be revealed in selection order, ascending from the No. 7 runner to No. 1. One selection will be named a day from Tuesday November 14 to Monday November 20.

Congratulations MD Runners!

State Meet Coverage Ben Mallare Nov 11, 2006

There were lots of exciting results in Saturday\'s race at Hereford! We\'ll have links to plenty of coverage this weekend. Full results now posted.

Championship Preview: Regional Finals Ben Mallare Oct 29, 2006

Region Previews for the following regions, boys and girls individuals:

3A East
4A East
2A East
4A West
3A West
2A West
4A North
3A North
2A North
4A South
2A South

Championships will be held on Thursday.

Championship Preview: Anne Arundel County Ben Mallare Oct 25, 2006

Anne Arundel County is home to two of the top schools in the state for the past few years - Broadneck and Severna Park. The outputs from these two schools are enough to give Anne Arundel some power in the state, but add in the occasional stars from schools like South River, Meade and Arundel, the county championships are traditionally intense races, and always unpredictable. Three years ago the Broadneck and Severna Park girls teams both earned 33 points, with Severna Park edging a win because of their #6 runner. Two years ago Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck) upset two-year county champion Will Eden (Annapolis) by 3 seconds, while sophomore Tait Woodward (Broadneck) surprised everyone by beating Marissa McPhail (Arundel) and then-freshman Liya Kasimova (Severna Park). Last year the Severna Park girls team ran for the lowest team average ever in the county at 26 points.

This year\'s county teams are closer together this year on the boys side as South River and Severna Park caught up to Broadneck. On the girls side South River has three girls to break up the powerhouse that is the No. 2 Severna Park girls.

The County Championship is this Friday at Arundel High School.

Championship Preview: Howard County Ben Mallare Oct 23, 2006

Howard County, probably tied for the second deepest county in the state with Anne Arundel, after Montgomery, comes together at a new course this year to compete for the championships on Friday. The new course is located at the Belmont Conference Center. It stretches 3.1 miles and is said to be very difficult, among the likings of Hereford High School (Bull Run, State Championships).

Returning county champions Alison Smith and Andrew Revelle, both from Atholton, are competing in the county competition for their last time. Both are the top picks for the county title again this year.

Championship Preview: Montgomery County Ben Mallare Oct 16, 2006

As crazy as it sounds, the regular cross country season ended Saturday, giving the athletes that competed one last fight before the championships. The champs will be kicked off this weekend with the MVAL Championships (Friday) and the Montgomery County Championships (Saturday).

Montgomery County has been traditionally known to be one of the deepest in the state. Several of the top female individuals and top male teams are from Montgomery. In 2005, six MoCo girls placed within the top fifteen at the 4A State Championships, including 3rd and 4th place finishers Lousie Hanallah (Winston Churchill) and Emma Eckerstrom (Northwest). On the boys side, Sherwood, Quince Orchard, Walt Whitman and Richard Montgomery were beat only by Broadneck at the state meet.

This year, the county is lead primarily by the same athletes that lead last year, less \'05 county champ Ryan Janes (Gaithersburg). This Friday, over 300 athletes and over 40 teams will compete to take home a county title.


Boys Race Preview
Individuals
CHRISTOPHER MOEN (Junior, Walter Johnson)
 Although Moen has only had one phenomenal performance this year (1 second win over Andrew Revelle at Howard County Invite), it would be foolish to underestimate his ability to pull out a win when he needs it.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #1

KYLE GAFFNEY (Senior, Blake)
Moen and Gaffney have been at eachother\'s heels since the year of Moen\'s freshman and Gaffney\'s sophomore campaigns, when they finished 40th and 41st at these championships. Even if Gaffney doesn\'t take the title this year, he will not let Moen win it without a strong, strong fight.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #2


Teams

QUINCE ORCHARD
The nationally ranked QO boys team is the deepest boys team to compete in the state in years. They will have no problem stealing the title from Sherwood this year.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #1

Girls Race Preview
Individuals
HALSEY SINCLAIR (Senior, Montgomery Blair)
For three years, Halsey Sinclair has fought her way to the top of the county for when it counted, including last year\'s meet, where the race she ran to win her third consecutive title was one of the only good ones she ran all year. By no means does Sinclair have her fourth title secured, but she certainly has the athletism to capture it one last time.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #1

EMMA ECKERSTROM (Junior, Northwest)
Emma started the season a little less prestigiously than we may have come to expect from her after she won the 4A 3200m state title last year, but she has been on an upward trend all year. She is likely to be Sinclair\'s top competition for the title, and will certainly take it if Sinclair isn\'t at her best.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #2

CARA HARRISON (Senior, Quince Orchard)
Harrison has had a season to be proud of, and she has not lost to Eckerstrom, nor been ranked below her. But she will need to run a brilliant race in order to beat Eckerstrom on Friday. She is very capable of doing this, as she is of defeating Sinclair if Sinclair isn\'t trucking.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #3


Teams

NORTHWEST
Strongest team in the county has not been the best so far this year. Friday may be the turning point.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #1

RICHARD MONTGOMERY
No. 1 ranked team has had a strong season, will need to be well prepared to top Northwest at the county.
COULD BE: #1 SHOULD BE: #2

Q&A with Quince Orchard\'s Cara Harrison Ben Mallare Oct 15, 2006

This week No. 10 Cara Harrison (Quince Orchard) took the time to respond to a Q & A about her running and her season. The Montgomery County senior has run against tough competition this season, often out of state. She ran her current PR of 18:33 at the Paul Short Run two weeks ago, and clocked a 19:13 to win the Peter Geraghty Invitational at the beginning of September.

Harrison now focuses her attention on the Montgomery County Championships this Friday, where she will race against many of the top runners in the state to try to stop Halsey Sinclair (Blair) from becoming a four-year county titlist...

County and State Rankings for October 12 Ben Mallare Oct 11, 2006

Weekly Rankings for Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties, private schools, and Maryland state.

Sophomore Kristen Malloy (Hereford), Senior Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck), the Eleanor Roosevelt Girls and the Quince Orchard Boys keep strong holds on their top spots.

Athletes of the Week:
Nora McCall (Good Counsel) and Vince Walsh (Dulaney)

Weekend Review: Centrowitz to #3 on Milesplit Natl / Lancer, Doc Jones, Octoberfest Invites Ben Mallare Oct 08, 2006

In what can be described as (for lack of a better way of putting it), the first weekend in the post-Bull Run regular season, some Maryland teams and athletes scattered to one of four regional invitationals, while other schools took the weekend off to train...

>>LANCER - No. 1 Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck) eclipsed the competition yet again, this time running a new PR in 15:00.50, enough to boost him all the way to #3 on the Milesplit Network-Wide 5K Elite List.

>>DOC JONES - No. 9 Liz Mccarter (Mount Hebron), who finished in 19:02.9 taps most impressive time of the meet.

>>OCTOBERFEST - The top ranked Quince Orchard boys sent up huge sparks towards the folks at Nike, narrowly defeating Thomas Jefferson, the #3 ranked school in the Southeast region. The win will propel QO into the NTN SE top 5, a great accomplishment.

>>INTERSTATE - The River Hill and Severna Park boys and girls teams were a surprise to the Western Maryland meet, as both schools were the top teams of the day in both large schools races.

Highlights from Bull Run: 10 Most Impressive Performances Ben Mallare Oct 02, 2006

It was the meet that coaches across the state had been preparing their teams for since August 15, and even though the meet was pushed back to the season halfway-mark, it still served as somewhat of a \"kick-off\" for the season. Many teams and athletes exposed what they had been holding back, as this was the first real chance for them to compete against a good chunk of the competition they will see when the state championships roll around. These teams/athletes made some big moves on the field Saturday to move up in competition.

BULL RUN 2006: Invitational Preview Ben Mallare Sep 24, 2006

The largest invitational in the state of Maryland will be held on September 30, the latest in the season the meet has been held in it\'s 11 year history. 112 teams from Virginia, West Virginia, DC, Deleware, Pennsylvania and Maryland will gather to get the first real look at where the top runners and teams in the state stand in comparison to eachother. Races begin at 9:00 AM and run all day untill 4:00.

>>Top Athletes: Kristen Malloy (Hereford), Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck), Alison Smith (Atholton), Andrew Revelle (Atholton), Katie Hursey (North Carroll), Erik Anderson (Archibishop Curley), Katie Harman (River Hill), Jared Welsh (FSK), Liz McCarter (Mount Hebron), Arthur Leathers (FSK), Greg Jubb (Loyola), Kelsey Hill (Severna Park), Ryan Stasiowski (Loyola), Halsey Sinclair (Montgomery Blair)

>>Top Schools: Severna Park Girls, Loyola-Blakefield Boys, Dulaney Girls, River Hill Girls, Broadneck Boys, C Milton Wright Girls, Francis Scott Key Boys, Seton Keough Girls, Dulaney Boys

**Fixed for updates and mistakes, 9/25

**Predictions for Overall Top Finishers in Maryland, 9/25

**Matthew Centrowitz of Broadneck not competing, 9/25

**Quince Orchard varsity not competing, 9/27

South Carroll Invite Preview Ben Mallare Sep 20, 2006

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22 - Matt Centrowitz and Kelsey Hill will fight to lead Broadneck and Severna Park to victory in their first year at this event. Katie Hursey of North Carroll will try to beat Hill in the two athlete\'s first race competing against eachother. Teams Attending: Archbishop Spalding (B Team), Bel Air, Broadneck, Centennial, Century, Clear Spring, Elizabeth Seton, Fallston, Francis Scott Key, Frederick, Liberty, Linganore(girls), Mt. Hebron, North Carroll, Reservoir, Severna Park, South Carroll, Tuscarora, Urbana, Walkersville, Westminster, Winters Mill