The 4x800 Underdog: The Northwest boys have been the top 4A 4x800 relay since basically the beginning of the season. Only 3A Oxon Hill have a faster time in the state among public schools. However, a challenger seems to have emerged from the 4A East region: Howard. There really hasn't been any attention given to the Howard 4x800 this season because they didn't run their 'A' team until regionals (if the Howard County Championships had not gotten cancelled due to #Blizzard2016, they could have run a much faster time). However, their regional-winning time of 8:38 was a full ten seconds faster than Northwest's.
Northwest could have certainly been running just fast enough to win, but Howard has thrown themselves into the conversation with Churchill as the top threats to Northwest. Both the Howard and Northwest boys 4x800 are structured similarly - all four legs are pretty consistent, with no dominant runners. On the other side, Northwest has the confidence that has been building all season, and maybe some motivation from last year's close second place finish. This race should be very close from the gun and a great way to kick off the 3A/4A state meet.