1. Severna Park (Week One: #1): Their full team was in action last Friday at the White Clay Creek Classic, but with the meet being run in individual races by grade it's still hard to get a clear picture of what their A team will look like. Whatever it is, it will be good.
2. Dulaney (Week One: #5): Their varsity team debuted with a huge win on their home course at the Barnhart Invitational, proving that they can rebound from their heavy graduation losses. The top two teams are both scheduled for the Gunpowder Invitational on October 15.
3. South River (Week One: #2): They shot up in the rankings after being the top team at the Seahawk Invitational, and a win over the Liberty boys only reaffirms their status as a top five team in the state.
4. Liberty (Week One: #6): First at Brunswick, second at HoCo and a narrow second at Hood College - not only are they the top team in the 2A classification, they're consistently showing that they're one of the top teams across all classifications.
5. Bethesda-CC (Week One: #9): Adam Nakasaka (15:53.80 last weekend at the Adidas XC Invite) plus six other runners sub-17:30 make them one of the deepest teams in the state. Unfortunately they won't meet with Northwest prior to the big race at the Montgomery County championships.
6. Howard (Week One: #3): After losing to the MSJ boys by five points at HoCo, they beat them by eight points at Barnhart. The two are scheduled to meet at what could shape up to be one heck of a Gunpowder Invitational (Severna Park and Dulaney also scheduled).
7. Mount St. Joseph (Week One: #4): They've run at three of the most competitive invitationals in Maryland this season and finished in the top five in all of them. They look like strong favorites to repeat as MIAA champions.
8. River Hill (Week One: #7): They got back on track a bit this past weekend with a second place finish at the William & Mary Invitational (two spots ahead of Northwest). They won't meet with the Howard boys again until they race in a tri-meet the week before the Howard County Championships.
9. Northwest (Week One: #8): A couple of their runners struggled at the William & Mary Invitational and they still finished fourth overall in team scores. They will be at DCXC for the first time this year.
10. Mount Hebron (Week One: NR): There were a handful of teams that could have filled this spot, but the Hebron boys looked strong last weekend in a third-place finish at the Hood College Invitational. They will be back at another major meet this weekend at Spiked Shoe.