County Championships HUB
With most of the county/conference championship meets in the books, we wanted to highlight some of the top performances and surprises that came from those meets. Check out the 8 we thought were noteworthy below!
The MIAA, IAC, ISL, and MAC have their conference meet early next week and we will make sure to have those results up ASAP!
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1) Walter Johnson Girls Look Really Good
Heading into the Montgomery County Championships it looked like a toss-up between Walter Johnson and Bethesda Chevy Chase. However, WJ left no doubt who the best team in Moco is by placing 5 in the top 21 and averaging 19:48 over the 5k course. They now look to be the favorites for both the 4A West Regional as well as the 4A State meet, and have a shot at ending the season as the overall number 1 ranked team in the state.
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2) Severna Parks Girls Depth is Impressive
There was no question that the Falcons were the favorites going into the Anne Arundel County Championship, but how they performed at the meet was beyond impressive. The first 6 runners to cross the line were Falcons, resulting in a perfect 15-point score. They then placed 8-9-10-17 for their next 4. In the JV race, the top 19 girls were all from Severna Park. They look to be carrying the right momentum into the regional and state meet, which they will be heavy favorites.
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3) Howard Boys Beat Centennial by 1 Point.
You can't get much closer than a 1-point victory, and that's what occurred between Howard and Centennial at the Howard County Championships.
Both teams came into the meet with the expectation to win. Howard had a strong top 4 but has struggled all season with their #5 runner. Centennial had much more depth but not quite as strong up front. Joey Ensor from Howard won the race with a time of 15:29. Howard then went 4-7-10-24 (46 points) in terms of places. Centennial was led by David Herzberger who finished 3rd with a time of 16:14. They then went 6-11-12-14-18-20-22 (46 Points). Luckily for Howard, Centennial's 8th runner, who finished 22nd did not count in the team scoring, resulting in Howard's 5th runner, Om Maryankandy, scoring 23 team points and moving Howard's score from 46 to 45, edging Centennial by 1 point. If it had come down to a tie-breaker, Centennial would have won.
Unfortunately, the two teams won't get to race again this year as Howard is 3A and Centennial is 2A.
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4) Records Go Down at PG and Bayside Meets.
Ben Marks (Queen Annes) and Kieran White (Parkdale) etched their name into the record books at their respective County Championship meets last week. White ran 15:53 which is the second fastest all-time mark in PG County history and the fastest ever at the Championship meet. Ben Marks ran 15:17, 1 second faster than the all-time Bayside Conference record from Timothy Synowiec from just 2 years ago. Both athletes should easily qualify for the state meet and get to battle for a top finish!
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5) Carter Brotherton Upsets 4A Defending Champ Elena Blodnikar.
Elena Blodnikar (Leonardtown) was the big favorite coming into the SMAC Championships. She is the defending 4A State champ and has run 18:24 for 3 miles this season. While Carter Brotherton (Great Mills) had a really nice start to her season, finishing 3rd at the Seahawk Invitational, she had not looked as strong in some more recent meets. She ran 19:57 at Bull Run finishing 10th in the merged results. Blodnikar finished 2nd at Bull Run, running almost 45 seconds faster. The two girls ran step for step with each other the entire race, with Brotherton out leaning her at the line. She hopes to use that momentum to finish out the season and will now be one of the favorites for the 3A title.
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6) The 3A Boys States Race Is Going To Be Fun
It's not often that 8 county/conference champion teams will get to battle it out for a state championship, but that will happen with the 3A Boys this year. Severna Park won the Anne Arundel Championship, Howard won the Howard County Championship, Thomas Wootton won the Montgomery County Championship, Towson won the Baltimore County Championship, Chopticon won the SMAC Conference, Manchester Valley won the Carroll County Championship, North Hagerstown won the Washington County Championship, and Poly won the Baltimore City Championships. All 8 teams are very likely to qualify for the state championship and it should be an extremely competitive meet watching them fight for the State title!
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7) Manchester Valley Upsets Liberty
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Coming into the Carroll County Championship Liberty was the favorite. They have looked strong all year, going toe to toe with bigger 3A and 4A schools during the early part of the season, and then easily winning the small school division at Bull Run. However, Manchester Valley had other plans for the championship meet. Logan Amis had a great race placing second for the Mustangs as their top 5 went on to place 2-6-7-15-18 for 48 team points. Liberty placed 3-4-10-14-19 for 50 team points.
It was unseasonably hot this past Thursday when the meet took place and the heat could have factored into some of the performances. But with that said, Manchester Valley pulled off the biggest upset of championship week!
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8) McDonogh Girls Emerge Victorious Within a Competitive IAAM Field
Coming into the IAAM Championship meet, there were 4 teams who had the potential to walk away with the championship trophy. McDonogh, Archbishop Spalding, Bryn Mawr, and Notre Dame Prep are all currently ranked in the Maryland top 15 and have had strong seasons this year. The race took place on the fast Shawan Downes course where MDXC is hosted. All 4 schools were only separated by 23 points. McDonogh got a huge boost from Mary Gorsky who had her best race of the season, running 19:03 and winning the race. They ended up placing 1-10-13-16-17 to win with 57 points. Bryn Mawr had the strongest top 3 as they went 2-3-7, but their 4-5 finished in 28th and 29th for a team total of 69 points. Notre Dame was 3rd with 78 and Spalding was 4th with 80.