Champ Week 1 - Girls Previews

The Baltimore County Championships will take place on Saturday, October 19th at Dulaney High School. (Photo by John Roemer)

The first round of championship meets continue with the Consortia Championships on Saturday. We outline the girls fields in all of the county and conference meets from then until October 19th!


Consortia Championships (10/12 - Meet Page)



Blair's Alexa Avila is one of two star freshmen poised to go head-to-head at the MCPS Consortia Championships on Saturday. Can she lead the Blazers back to a title? (Photo by Brandon Miles)

Last year the Northwood girls ended Blair's three-year winning streak at the Consortia Championships. This year, however, the Blazers seem poised to recapture their place atop the Consortia standings. Freshman Alexa Avila owns the fifth-fastest 5K time (20:04) in her class, and seniors Leah Kannan and Mira Diamond-Berman lead a group that could potentially put five runners in the top ten.

The Gladiators still have a young and talented team led by freshman Maya Ducker who ran 20:22 at Great American last weekend. Could we get a freshman-against-freshman matchup for the top spot at Northwood High School on Saturday?


Virtual Meet: 5K


Cecil County Championships (10/15 - Meet Page)


North East senior Yailynn Ramirez has won four straight races, including a victory over 2A East rival Heather Horst at the UCBAC Susquehanna divisional meet. (Photo by Brandon Miles)

North East's Yailynn Ramirez and Rising Sun's Heather Horst went head-to-head last week at the UCBAC Susquehanna divisionals, with Ramirez coming out on top. The two will be back at it again, as they will be several times going forward (UCBAC Championships and 2A East regionals). Horst and the rising sun girls edged Elkton at the Susquehanna divisionals and next week's race could be another close matchup between the two.


Virtual Meet: Three Mile - 5K


Harford County Championships (10/15 - Meet Page)



Wright seniors Haley Cummins (left) and Lindsay Perry are no strangers to running at the front. The pair went 1-2 in the medium school race at Bull Run in September and finished 2-3 at the Chesapeake divisional meet a week ago. (Photo by John Roemer)

Haley Cummins and Lindsay Perry went 1-2 in this race last year, and could repeat this year, especially if Bel Air doesn't run their 'A' squad. If the Bobcats do run their top team then sophomore Mackenzie Morrison may be the favorite, as she beat both Cummins and Perry at the UCBAC Chesapeake divisionals last week. There can still be an interesting team battle between Wright and Edgewood; the Mustangs edged the Rams by four points at the divisional meet. Either way, next week's meet will be another preview for the UCBAC Championships that will take place later this month.


Virtual Meet: Three Mile - 5K


CMC Championships (10/18 - Meet Page)



Middletown freshman Erin McQuitty has been one of the state's top rookie runners all year, finishing in the top 15 at both the Seahawk and Bull Run invitationals. Could she pick up her first major cross country victory at the CMC Championships at Boonsboro? (Photo by Craig Amoss)

The Urbana girls have won each of the first two CMC Championship titles, and the 11th-ranked team in the state could be in line for their third straight next Friday. Senior Sara Jarman leads a team that has put five girls at 21:32 or better in the 5K this season and look to be the top team in Frederick County. However, the Middletown girls - the only other team in the field ranked in the top 25 - can make things interesting. Knights freshman Erin McQuitty owns both the top three mile and 5K times in the conference so far this season and could be gunning for her first major cross country victory.

Other contenders include the Oakdale duo of Aubrey Schaffer and Hayley Ross, as well as North Hagerstown's Phoebe Meehan who finished second in last year's race.


Virtual Meet: Three Mile - 5K


Baltimore County Championships (10/19 - Meet Page)



Caroline Benda and the Hereford girls beat Towson and Dulaney in a tight contest the last time they met at the Bull Run Invitational. (Photo by John Roemer)

Dulaney. Hereford. Towson. The three perennial powerhouses in Baltimore County will meet once again on October 19th at Dulaney High School, and all three schools will have a shot at winning the county title. After clocking some fast times at Paul Short last weekend the Dulaney girls, led by junior Marissa Dailey, edge the two others in our virtual meet, and they did come out on top when the three teams last raced at Dulaney at the Barnhart Invitational.

However, it was Hereford who took down both Towson and Dulaney in their latest meeting at Bull Run. It was a tight battle, too, as they finished 7-8-9, respectively, separated by just 31 points. Junior Caroline Benda, the Barnhart individual champion, and her sister Meghan will be out to defend Hereford's 2018 county title.

The Generals are led by junior Madeline Till, still looking for her first major varsity cross country victory. She has two runner-up efforts on her ledger so far this fall and a top-ten finish in the elite race at Bull Run, where she finished just 15 seconds behind Benda. Runners from other teams who could crack the top ten include Carver A&T's Guinivere Roberts and Catonsville's Jessica McDivitt.


Virtual Meet: 5K


Montgomery County Championships (10/19 - Meet Page)


Both Charlotte Turesson and the Whitman girls will try to repeat their success from last year's rain-soaked Montgomery County Championships.

Last year's champions from Walt Whitman have looked strong all season, led by one of the best group of seniors in the state. Along with freshman Emilie Gros-Slavinska, who stepped up as the team's #5 runner at Great American, the Vikings have a 51-second 1-5 spread this season, which ranks second in the county.

However, the Walter Johnson girls have found their collective stride over the past couple weeks and showed it at Great American. While their spread is much wider than Whitman's (over three minutes), much of that is thanks to senior Jenna Goldberg and her 17:48 performance in Cary, NC. With four girls who rank among the top ten in the county, it will be up to their fifth runner if they are going to take down Whitman and reclaim the Montgomery County title.

The individual race, meanwhile, should be a thriller. Richard Montgomery's Charlotte Turesson ran away with the title last year as a sophomore, but Goldberg's improvement during her senior season gives Turesson a legitimate challenger this year. The duo ran 17:42 and 17:48, respectively, in different races at Great American, and will toe-to-toe in a major race for the second time this year (following Oatlands).


Virtual Meet: 5K