Photo by John Roemer
For all the success that the River Hill boys have enjoyed on the course this decade (top-2 finishes at the state meet in four of the past five years), it is the Howard boys who enter 2019 with a winning streak at the Howard County championships. However, five of the top six Lions from last year's county meet have graduated, while River Hill returns five from last year's varsity team - including defending champion Anish Nanjappa.
Howard County Boys Preview: By The Numbers
Photo by Craig Amoss
A third straight county title for Howard would most likely include a stellar performance from rising junior Kendall Phillips. Phillips (fourth) and Centennial's Jacob Cole (eighth) were the only underclassmen to crack the top ten at the county meet last season. His 16:29 personal best effort at the 4A North regional meet last year was the fourth-fastest 5K clocked by a sophomore, behind Severna Park's Jake Gelfand and the Wedding brothers from Chopticon.
Photo by Brandon Miles
Cameron Hindle was one of this spring's breakout stars in the state, as his 4:24 1600 effort at the Howard County Championships was the fourth-fastest by a sophomore in Maryland. After capturing both the indoor and outdoor titles in the event, he enters his junior season on the course as a potential dark horse candidate to challenge Nanjappa for the county title.
Photo by Craig Amoss
One team to watch in 2019: the Mount Hebron boys. They rank right behind Howard in third place in our returning composite rankings thanks to their returning depth (their top six runners from last year's state cross country meet are back). The Vikings are led by William Jones, just another one of a strong class of 2021 in Howard County (along with Phillips, Cole, Hindle, Oakland Mills' Baidy Ba and Marriotts Ridge's Grayson Max Crockett).
Photo by John Roemer
One of the top returning duos in the county, Wilde Lake's William Tripp (back left) and Andrew English qualified for last year's state meet as individuals. Now seniors, they will try and guide Wilde Lake back to the state meet as a team for the first time since 2014 (when they finished fifth in the 3A classification).
Photo by John Roemer
The tenth-fastest returning runner from last year's county championships (and seventh-fastest returning county runner from the state meet), Grayson Max Crockett also threw down a stellar 10:04 3200 at the indoor state meet this past winter. It was the seventh-fastest performance among all county runners last indoor season and solidifies his spot as one of the top members of a loaded class of 2021 in Howard c