Photo by Craig Amoss
Ryan Lockett's return back to Poolesville High School as a junior has been extremely successful. After a second-place finish at the Montgomery County Championships where he ran 15:53, he reversed his fortune against Linganore's Micah Hewitson at the 3A West Regionals. Earlier in the season Hewitson ran away from Lockett and the rest of the field at the Urbana Invitational, but on the same course a month later it was Lockett who broke free from the competition. His 1-2 finish with teammate Andrew Lent led the Poolesville boys to a regional title in just their second year in the 3A classification.
Over at the 2A West Regionals, Liberty's Nick Tilson and Oakland Mills' Joey Navarro met for the third time this season. For the second time this season Tilson was victorious, leading the Liberty boys to their second straight regional title. After finishing second at the last two 2A state championships, Tilson will undoubtedly be shooting for that elusive state title next Saturday at Hereford.
Perhaps no runner in Maryland has been more dominant in his or her region as Smithsburg's Will Merritt. Since his debut as a sophomore in 2014 he is now three-for-three when it comes to 1A West Regionals. He set a 5K personal best of 15:43 this past week at the 1A West meet, holding off Southern Garrett's Declan Horner. Merritt will be tasked with defending his 1A state title from last year on Saturday.
Outside of the regional races, a pair of seniors led their Montgomery County private schools to conference wins this past week. Jewish Day School's Reuben Winston won the PVAC Championships on Wednesday as the Lions won their third straight conference title. The Heights senior Matthew Zischkau won the Montgomery County Private School Championships in a showdown with Landon's Wesley Feldman, and the Cavaliers won their first-ever MoCo Private Schools title.