The Northern Garrett girls could have the best shot at taking down Brunswick at the state meet on Saturday. (Photo by Craig Amoss)
We have your definitive guide for this year's 1A state championships!
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Season Rankings: Boys 3M - Boys 5K - Girls 3M - Girls 5K
Team Scores: Boys 3M - Boys 5K - Girls 3M - Girls 5K
List of Qualified Individuals and Teams
2010s Table of Champions
| Boys Winner | Team Champ | Year | Team Champ | Girls Winner |
| Zachary Laird (Bohemia Manor) 16:36 | Boonsboro (49) | Boonsboro (44) | Sarah Condon (Cambridge-South Dorchester) 20:52 | |
| Zachary Laird (Bohemia Manor) 16:09 | Bohemia Manor (34) | Boonsboro (64) | Ashley Betz (Patterson Mill) 20:18 | |
| Will Merritt (Smithsburg) 15:54 | Bohemia Manor (52) | Boonsboro (37) | Ana Rhoten (Northern Garrett) 20:10 | |
| Will Merritt (Smithsburg) 16:50 | Boonsboro (78) | Boonsboro (43) | Haley Wright (Boonsboro) 19:33 | |
| Ty Franks (Bohemia Manor) 16:26 | Southern Garrett (43) | Smithsburg (46) | Katie Leisher (Manchester Valley) 19:41 | |
| Ty Franks (Bohemia Manor) 16:20 | Perryville (55) | Cambridge-South Dorchester | Katie Leisher (Manchester Valley) 19:30 | |
| Ty Franks (Bohemia Manor) 16:58 | Boonsboro (69) | Boonsboro (45) | Sarah Zielinski (Boonsboro) 19:48 | |
| Ryan Pfarr (Bohemia Manor) 17:15 | Bohemia Manor (65) | Bohemia Manor (53) | Jordan Dodson (Perryville) 19:56 | |
| Ian MacFawn (Allegany) 16:47 | Catoctin (93) | Bohemia Manor (55) | Emily Ruppel (Loch Raven) 20:30 |
1A Boys Individuals
The Favorite: Zane (Iggy) Chalker - Senior, Williamsport
Photo by John Roemer
Chalker entered the season with the top time from last year's state meet of any 1A returner (although Williamsport competed in 2A last year). If anything, that gap has grown in 2019. One of his best performances of the year came in one of the few races he hasn't won, when he finished fourth in the elite school race at Bull Run. His 16:15 performance at Hereford in September was a full 80 seconds faster than the next-fastest 1A runner (Bohemia Manor's Day Leone). Both his three mile and 5K times are at least 25 seconds faster than the next-fastest 1A runner, and he won Friday's 1A West regional race by nearly a full minute. Chalker has a chance to be Williamsport's first individual state XC champion since 1978.
The Contenders:
- Kaleb Berhanu - Sophomore, Pikesville: Berhanu is just one of three 1A boys to have run under 17 minutes in the 5K this year. The highest Pikesville finisher of the decade at the state meet is Menelik Solomon who placed fifth in 2011.
- Bryson Brawner - Senior, Smithsburg: Brawner has finished 15th at the 1A state meet in each of the past two years, but this could be the year he breaks well into the top ten. His 16:23 three mile season best is sixth in 1A, and he is coming off a runner-up finish at the 1A West regionals.
- John Condon - Sophomore, Cambridge-South Dorchester: Condon was this year's 1A East runner-up, and his 16:19 three mile season best ranks fourth in the 1A classification this year. The Vikings haven't had an individual XC state champion since 1979.
- Cole LaPierre - Senior, Francis Scott Key: The first-year cross country runner owns the third-fastest three mile time (16:15) in the 1A classification this year and is coming off a third-place finish at 1A West. Key's last state champion won in 1991.
- Day Leone - Sophomore, Bohemia Manor: The 1A East champion owns the second-fastest three mile and 5K times among 1A runners, and was the second-fastest 1A runner at Bull Run earlier this year. Could he pull off the upset and become Bohemia Manor's seventh individual champion of the decade?
The Dark Horses:
- Garrison Barlow - Sophomore, Northern Garrett
- Gabe Conder - Senior, Williamsport
- Alexander Contreras - Freshman, Catoctin
- Aaryan Shah - Senior, Williamsport
- Logan Trautwein - Junior, Allegany
1A Boys Teams
The Favorite: Williamsport
Photo by Craig Amoss
As with Chalker, the Williamsport boys entered the year as the 1A state title favorites and that hasn't changed throughout the year. They were the top 1A team at Frank Keyser and Bull Run and have won back-to-back races (Washington County championships and 1A West regionals) heading into the state meet. They have a talented an experienced top four consisting of seniors Chalker, Aaryan Shah, Gabe Conder and AJ Miller seeking the school's third state title (and first since 1975, although they finished second in both 2011 and 2012).
The Contenders:
- Allegany: If Williamsport has the best top four in Saturday's race, Allegany isn't far behind. The Campers' top four scored just 50 points, ahead of Smithsburg's (57) and Brunswick's (71). How well of a performance they get from any of their prospective fifth runners will determine whether or not they make the state podium for the first time since 2009.
- Cambridge-South Dorchester: The Vikings won the 1A East regional on their home course in a race that didn't play out as close as expected entering the meet. They put five runners before the the first four of either Patterson Mill or Bohemia Manor. Behind Condon and a 2-5 group that ran between 17:28 and 18:23, they will be after their first state podium finish in school history.
- Pikesville: The Panthers rank third in our 5K team rankings behind Williamsport and Bohemia Manor, thanks to a top three that have run between 16:47 and 17:47. Like Cambridge-South Dorchester, Pikesville will be after their first top-two finish at the state meet.
- Smithsburg: The Smithsburg boys were runners-up at the 1A West regional, edging Allegany and Brunswick as the three teams were separated by just ten points. Freshman Cameron Rejonis has stepped up to give Smithsburg a second low stick behind Brawner, separating them from the rest of the 1A pack.
The Dark Horses:
- Bohemia Manor
- Brunswick
- Patterson Mill
1A Girls Individuals
The Favorite: Daylie Younker - Junior, Smithsburg
Photo by Craig Amoss
The first-year cross country runner from Smithsburg has steadily ascended the 1A rankings all season. Younker won three races this season, all on her home course (Don Stoner Invitational, Washington County championships and 1A West regionals). Her regional performance included a victory over one of her top competitors, Mountain Ridge's Hannah Muir, by 13 seconds. Younker also beat Muir and defending 1A state champion Sarah Condon at Frank Keyser back in October. The Leopards haven't had an individual state champion since 1985.
The Contenders:
- Sarah Condon - Senior, Cambridge-South Dorchester: Condon was a bit of a surprise state champion last year after she finished 2nd at the 2018 1A East regional meet. Condon is coming off her first XC regional title when she beat out Bohemia Manor's Ashley Osborne by nearly 30 seconds. Condon is currently the only girl in school history to win an individual state XC title.
- Hannah Muir - Senior, Mountain Ridge: Muir has played the Robin to Younker's Batman nearly all season. She is the only other girl besides Younker to have run under 20 minutes for three miles in 1A this fall. She was the second-fastest 1A runner at Bull Run behind Younker (Muir edged Condon by just two-tenths of a second in the small school race). And she was the runner-up at the 1A West regional meet. Mountain Ridge has never had a female individual state XC champion.
- Jena Rhodes - Junior, Brunswick: A tenth-place finisher at last year's state meet, Rhodes finished in the same spot at the county (14th) and regional (4th) meets as she did last year. The last Railroader to win an individual state XC title was Sara Fisher in 2008.
- Elizabeth Willman - Junior, Brunswick: The Brunswick girls are set up for success at this year's 1A state meet behind their 1-2 punch of juniors Rhodes and Willman. Willman finished one spot ahead of Rhodes and both counties and regionals, and finished seventh at last year's state meet.
The Dark Horses:
- Arrisyn Amtower - Sophomore, Northern Garrett
- Sophia Brown - Freshman, Northern Garrett
- Maya Osborne - Sophomore, Bohemia Manor
- Emma Strickland - Senior, Catoctin
1A Girls Teams
The Favorite: Brunswick
Photo by Craig Amoss
After back-to-back runner-up finishes the Brunswick girls are poised to capture their first state title since winning five in a 12-year span from 1982 to 1993. They are the top team in the state by both three mile and 5K team scores, and beat possibly their top competitors, Northern Garrett, at the 1A West regional meet by 21 points. Juniors Rhodes, Willman, and Alison Laverty give them three potential top ten finishers. The Railroaders' youth movement that saw them first challenge Boonsboro in 2017 may come to its full fruition on Saturday.
The Contenders:
- Bohemia Manor: The Eagles pulled out a narrow three-point win over Cambridge-South Dorchester at the 1A East regional meet Thursday. Putting five runners before the Vikings' fourth displayed their depth advantage. They will try and recapture the magic that led to six podium finishes (and four titles) between 2007 and 2014.
- Cambridge-South Dorchester: The Vikings will have another chance at beating their regional rivals - and perhaps more - this weekend, especially if Condon can repeat last year's victorious effort. They currently narrowly edge Bohemia Manor in the three mile team rankings.
- Northern Garrett: A young Huskies team led by freshman Sophia Brown (fifth at 1A West) and sophomore Arrisyn Amtower (1A #6 three mile time) could be Brunswick's top threat Saturday. Northern Garrett's only podium finish came as runners-up in 2016.
- Smithsburg: The Leopards have been right on Northern Garrett's tail all year. They beat them by one point at the Wildcat Invitational and finished one spot behind them at Frank Keyser and regionals. Having a low stick in Younker could go a long way to getting them back on the podium for the fourth time since 2013.