Enjoyed last week's matchup between Anish Nanjanppa, Sam Keeny and Tanner Piotrowski at the Seahawk Invite? All three teams are scheduled to compete again this Saturday at the Howard County Invitational. (Photo by Keeley Olson)
Meet Page - Virtual Meet Previews - 2018 Results
On the boy's individual side, we should expect a tight rematch from last week as Anish Nanjappa of River Hill, Sam Keeny of South River and Tanner Piotrowski of Arundel all look to seek an individual title. Nanjappa pulled away last week from the two to narrowly miss out on a sub-15 performance running a 15:00 3-mile (40th in the nation currently). Keeny and Piotrowski weren't far behind as Keeny edged out Piotrowski, with both runners coming under the 15:20 mark (15:10 and 15:14).
Keeny and Piotrowski have already established themselves as contenders in Anne Arundel County. Could Spencer Tate (10th at last year's state meet) join them at the front of the pack at Saturday's race? (Photo by John Roemer)
However, watch out for Kyle Lund as the dark horse of the race. Lund won the Brunswick invite with a time of 16:24, but don't let the slower time fool you - Lund's PRs of 1:53 in the 800m, 4:16 in the 1600m, and 9:28 in the 3200m speak for themselves. Other potential competitors for a top spot include Spencer Tate of Broadneck (9:44 3200m PR), Collin Dempsey of Oakdale (2nd behind Lund at the Brunswick Invite last week), Woodrow Kashima of Liberty (17:00 at Brunswick Invite last week), Cameron Hindle of Long Reach (Howard County Indoor and Outdoor 1600m champion) and Jake Cole of Centennial (9:41 3200m PR).
On the girls individual side, we could see a tight race against the duo of girls from Broadneck, Anna Janke (11:24 3200m PR ) and Mollie Fenn (18:52 5K PR) against top seed Bronwyn Patterson of South River (17:59 3-mile PR) and reigning champion Faith Meininger of River Hill (11:28 3200m PR). Since none of these girls have truly raced yet this season (excluding league meets), this will be the first look at what seems to be a first competitive race for many girls this season. Neither Patterson nor Meininger raced last weekend at the Seahawk Invitational, so it will be interesting to see who toes the line on Saturday at Centennial. Others competing for a top spot could include Niya Torres (fifth at Seahawk last week) and Lindsey Wingeart of Arundel (5:19 1600m PR) and Parker O'Brien of Leonardtown (11:38 3200m PR).
On the girls team side, we should see a tight battle between the Broadneck girls led by duo of Fenn and Janke, Leonardtown girls led by Nelle Ray (who also did not compete last weekend), and the South River girls led by Browyn Patterson. Since we have yet to see many of these teams race this season, the girls race should be an interesting one. Other team contenders include the home team Centennial girls led by Katerina Talanova (20:06 3-mile PR), Oakdale girls led by Hayley Ross, and the Glenelg girls led by Katie Melesko.