Towson - The reigning 3A State Champs have not lost this year. They won Barnhart, Bull Run, Gunpowder, Baltimore County, and the 3A North Regional. Kerian Mischke is one of the top runners in the state and they have a strong top 5. On paper, they are the favorite in the tight battle. They also always seem to run well at Hereford. It's hard to bet against them on Saturday. Two weaknesses they have is that after #5, they drop fast. If one of their 5 has an off day, it could mean trouble for the Generals. Secondly, they have easily won their last 3 meets and did not go out of state to run in any national caliber meets. In their last 3 meets, if you add up their team score, they scored 104 points combined. They haven't been tested like some other teams on this list have been over the last several weeks.

Thomas Wootton - The Patriots have had one of the best seasons in recent memory. While all the talk at the start of the season was on the Wootton girl's team from last year, it has been the boy's team taking all of the spotlight this year. They placed second at Bull Run earlier this season only 15 points behind Towson, which really showed the state they were a contender. They went on to win the Montgomery County Championships and the 3A West Regional very comfortably. While they don't have a true number one like other top teams in 3A, Edward Sun, Renden Yerman, and Troy Bailey have all run really well this year and can all place in the top 20 on Saturday. While their 4-5 are by no means weak runners, in a field this strong, they will most likely need to run slightly better than they have this season for them to be able to take down Towson. With that said they have met every challenge they faced this season and come into this meet with a lot of confidence. 

Severna Park - Who would have thought that dropping down from 4A to 3A would give the Falcons their toughest test in the last several years. Their 5k times below are a little deceiving due to them running on the fast Chesapeake course for Regionals. They have slowly improved each meet this season and come into States with momentum from winning the Anne Arundel Championships and beating a strong Chopticon team to win the 3A East Regional. Taylor Jarvis has looked like a true #1 and has the ability to place in the top 5. The Falcons are also strong through #6, which gives them a little wiggle room in case someone doesn't have their best day.  The Falcons are well-coached and will have a smart game plan coming into the meet, They certainly will be in the mix. 

Howard: Joey Ensor has shown he is one of the best runners in the state and will give Howard a true low stick. The Lions, through 4 runners, may actually be the strongest team as Rayyan Dheini, Max Vom Saal, and Amadeus Davis have all run well this season and all have a shot to medal on Saturday. The Lion's weakness this season has been #5. With that said their 5, Om Maryankandy, has been improving all season and helped the Lions win the Howard County Championship by 1 point and win the 3A South Regional. If he continues to improve, the Lions will have a shot!

Chopticon - Weston Carr, Nick Watson, and Domonic Longobardi give Chopticon the best 1-2-3 punch of any team in 3A. They placed 3-4-7 at the 3A East Regional and have the ability to place in the top 15 on Saturday. The challenge will be how big of a gap will there be between 3-4. It was almost a minute at the 3A East Regional and that will need to come down if they want to upset the field. 

Projected Team Scores

5000 Meter Run

(This list does not include individual qualifiers)