Get To Know Maryland's Six Returning State Champions

Across both the MPSSAA and private school classifications, there are six individual state champions running it back, while the other six have since graduated and wrapped up their prep careers. Since you'll be hearing a lot about them over the next three months, it's time to get re-acquainted with six of the best runners across "The Old Line" state.

2026 Defending State Champion Status

Stoian battled all the way to the line as a junior, holding off Northwest senior Audrey Wychulis, with the junior taking the win in 19:44.02, with Wychulis less than half a second back in 19:44.33. The top dog in 4A had a solid season on the track, making it to the MPSSAA 4A South Region Championships in the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m, ultimately wrapping up her season in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Her title defense won't come easy, though, with last year's fifth-place finisher Aniya Yates back in the mix. The junior leads all 4A returners with the fastest 5K time from a year ago, 18:08.91.

After cruising to her second 2A title in three years, Colson kept the momentum going on the outdoor oval, running PBs of 5:14.22 and 11:09.17 in the 1600m and 3200m, both earning her top-10 finishes at the MPSSAA Outdoor Track Championship. With how consistently dominant Colson has been during her time as a Knight, it's hard to imagine her not ending her high school campaign with another title. A year ago she broke the tape in five of her eight races, finishing second in two of them and eighth in the other.

She owns a PB of 19:01.83 from the 9th Annual XC Chesapeake Invitational, which is a comfortable 55-second lead on the rest of 2A.

Not only is she the defending state champion, but she's the top returner statewide by over a minute. Avila was as good as they come last fall, winning six of her 11 races and qualifying for both Nike Cross Nationals and the Brooks XC Championships with a fourth-place finish at both the NXR Southeast and Brooks XC Northeast Championships. She also clocked 17:01.4 at NXR, the second-fastest time in state history behind Falcon school record holder Leah Stephens, who ran 16:54 in 2022.

There is a lot that could go Avila's way before she takes her talents to Villanova next year, and that includes breaking the state and school record and defending her title.

Just a few months removed from setting a number of PBs during the track season, Detrow is back for one last cross country season, this time entering as the defending champion. In her big win last November, she pulled away from the field and built a 24-second lead before crossing in 19:13 as one of only two girls to run sub-20. That was simply the storybook ending for Detrow, who had won seven of nine races heading into the Maryland Private School State Championships.

As a senior who hasn't taken her foot off the gas, this could be the year she finds herself under 19:00, and that will only help her case as she looks to hold off a talented chase pack.

Dating back to October of his junior year, Miyagishima has set a new PB in all eight distances spanning across cross country, indoor, and outdoor. Just a few months after winning his first-ever state title, the current senior ran 4:23 and 9:33 over 1600m and 3200m, each a significant improvement from his sophomore campaign. That track speed is only a glimpse of what he could achieve this fall, and it's a really strong sign that his PB of 16:08 will be lowered quite a bit over the coming months.

He won his title a year ago by nine seconds and has an eight-second lead over the rest of 2A, the only boy with a time under 16:10 for 5K.

The third-fastest returner regardless of class and a winner of four state titles in the last year alone, Rementelas has a target on his back and there's no doubt about it. As a sophomore, he was simply a force to be reckoned with, and it wasn't often that someone got the best of him. He won seven out of nine races and only finished outside the top two once. He held off his brother, Ioannis, by eight seconds to win the title in Parkton, Maryland a year ago, and will have him and other hungry distance runners hoping to dethrone him.

A piece of advice for anyone with aspirations of taking down the defending champ: if you're going to beat him, you probably shouldn't try to "sit and kick," considering Rementelas has 1:52 800m speed on his resume.