More than 4,600 athletes from 23 states and Washington, D.C., are expected at WakeMed Soccer Park for the two-day meet. Saturday's high school schedule is highlighted by the Girls Race of Champions at 9:50 a.m. and the Boys Race of Champions at 10:15. The same WakeMed course will host the NXR Southeast Regional later this fall.
For Maryland's contingent, the trip offers an opportunity to race unfamiliar competition on one of the country's best-known courses.
Calvert Hall Gets an Early Look at the Southeast
The Boys Race of Champions is loaded. Christ School, Belen Jesuit and Broughton will all line up alongside Calvert Hall on Saturday, giving the Cardinals an early look at several programs expected to factor heavily into the Southeast postseason picture.
Christ School finished seventh at Nike Cross Nationals last fall and returns six of its top seven runners. Broughton finished 18th at NXN and returns five runners from that lineup. Belen Jesuit returns its entire top seven after a scheduling conflict prevented the Wolverines from competing at NXR Southeast last season.
Calvert Hall enters with plenty of evidence of its own. At the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational on Sept. 19, the Cardinals defeated Blacksburg 59-119 while averaging 15:30 across their scoring five with a 38.6-second spread.
The individual field is just as deep. Belen Jesuit senior Marcelo Mantecon, who finished fourth at NXN last year, headlines a field featuring numerous athletes with elite track credentials.
Calvert Hall won't be Maryland's only team in the Championship race.
Sherwood heads south one week after a strong showing at Oatlands, where Dimitrios Rementelas finished fifth in 15:52.48 and Ioannis Rementelas was seventh in 16:08.84. The Warriors finished fifth as a team and 85 points ahead of defending Maryland 3A champion Centennial.
Maryland will have two additional individual entries in the race. Walt Whitman's Jonah Greszler finished 11th at Oatlands in 16:21.98, while Hereford's Eli Aitken has established himself among the state's stronger runners this fall.
Hereford Takes Its Winning Streak South
Few Maryland girls teams have built a better résumé over the last two weekends than Hereford.
First, the defending 2A state champions defeated defending 4A champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase 34-45 at the Barnhart Invitational. Hereford put all five scorers inside the top 13, led by Dempsey Nelson in second, Kylie Jacobson in fifth and Charlie Brill in seventh.
One week later, the Bulls did it again. Hereford scored 70 points at Bull Run to defeat defending 3A champion Severna Park, which finished with 82. Nelson finished seventh overall in 19:35.7, Jacobson was 10th in 19:48.8 and Brill was 14th in 20:20.4.
The Girls Race of Champions brings together programs from across the country, including California's JSerra Catholic, Texas' Flower Mound and several of the Southeast's strongest teams. Instead of another head-to-head with a Maryland state champion, Hereford will get an opportunity to see how its pack translates to a deep interstate field at WakeMed.
Walt Whitman will join Hereford in the Championship race. Whitman enters after Kinjal Kapoor and Maya Gros-Slovinska finished 13th and 15th at Oatlands last weekend, running 19:23.26 and 19:26.88, respectively. Look for them to lead the Vikings as a formidable 1-2 duo.
The Championship race will also include Severn Run sophomore Adriana Vastag, who has already put together two notable performances against Maryland competition. Vastag won Barnhart in 19:29.58 before finishing third at Bull Run in 19:00.9.
She'll step into a significantly deeper individual field Saturday, giving one of Maryland's top young runners an opportunity to test herself against national-level competition.
Maryland Across the Meet
The Race of Champions won't be the only place to find Maryland teams Saturday.
Montgomery Blair will compete in Girls Varsity Blue before its boys take the course in Varsity Red. The Boys Red race will also include River Hill.
River Hill will return on the girls side in the combined Varsity Red/White race, joining Sherwood, Walter Johnson and Elizabeth Seton.
Finally, Hereford, Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson will compete in Boys Varsity White.
Those races give Maryland programs another opportunity to see unfamiliar competition before attention begins turning toward county, conference, regional and state championship meets later in October and November.