It was a full week of championship racing around the state. Montgomery County crowned two team champions, the Central Maryland Conference sorted out its divisions, Mountain Ridge swept Allegany County, and a handful of private schools made the trip to Virginia to race some of the top teams in the country.
MCPS Championship
Six points. That was the margin between Walt Whitman and Bethesda-Chevy Chase at Saturday’s Montgomery County Public Schools Championships, and it was enough to give Whitman the girls county title, 89 to 95.
The race was led by Whitman's strong 1-3 trio up front. Maya Gros-Slovinska finished third in 18:36, Kinjal Kapoor was seventh in 19:13, and Emily Cornelius took 11th in 19:49. Those three runners scored just 21 points between them, which and Whitman’s fourth and fifth runners, Sofia Sigrist and Grace Greszler held the line with the remaining 68. B-CC raced strong for a close second place led by by a Top 5 finish by Nya Stoian and all five of their scoring runners within the Top 30. Montgomery Blair and Winston Churchill tied for third at 134 with the tiebreaker going to Blair.
Wootton sophomore Eleanor Finnegan took the individual title in 18:20, eight seconds ahead of Clarksburg’s Madeline Kelly (18:28).
On the boys side, Bethesda-Chevy Chase claimed the county championship with a commanding 78 points, finishing 40 points ahead of Sherwood (118), while Montgomery Blair took third (160). BCC's victory was built on depth and consistency, with all five scoring runners finishing inside the top 25 and separated by just 1:07.
Sherwood junior Dimitrios Rementelas captured the county title in 15:50, followed by Whitman's Jonah Greszler (16:01) and BCC's Alec Mostofi (16:07). Just 17 seconds separated the top three finishers, highlighting the competition at the front of the race.
CMC Championships at Boonsboro
Friday’s Central Maryland Conference meet was split into Large School and Small School divisions, producing four team champions across three programs.
Large School boys: Urbana scored 37 points to beat Oakdale (65) and Governor Thomas Johnson (67). Oakdale and TJ finished just two points apart for the runner-up spot. Urbana put five runners in the division’s top 11, led by Evan Madraymootoo (15:47.1) in 2nd and Simon Lipchock (16:09.0) in 5th, with Luke Osher, Omar Beraich, and Koen Edwards completing the scoring five. Oakdale senior Patrick Salter won the individual race in 15:33.6, the fastest boys time of the day and 13.5 seconds ahead of Madraymootoo’s second place for Urbana.
Large School girls: Governor Thomas Johnson scored 41 to beat Urbana (59) and North Hagerstown (69). TJ had five runners in the top 13, led by Salma Mahfoud in 18:48.2. An impressive individual performance came from North Hagerstown’s Mackenzie and Caroline Philp, who finished first and second in 17:25.6 and 17:34.7, just nine seconds apart. Tuscarora’s Siena Foster was third in 18:29.9.
Small School boys: Middletown won with 50 points, ahead of Smithsburg (65) and Walkersville (86). Landon Halvorson led the Knights with a sixth-place divisional finish in 16:33.5. The individual race was far tighter than the team race. Smithsburg senior Dylan Herbst won in 15:45.2, edging Catoctin’s Noah Riling (15:46.1) by less than a second.
Small School girls: Middletown was close to perfect, scoring 20 points to beat Brunswick (50) and Boonsboro (65). Freshman Sophia Caddy led the team in 19:16.3, followed by Lydia Barnette (19:50.8) and Cara Carpenter (20:06.2). Boonsboro sophomore Emily Franko won the individual title in 18:59.7.
Mountain Ridge sweeps Allegany County
On Wednesday, Mountain Ridge took both team titles at the Allegany County Championships.. The boys went one-two-three, led by sophomore Ethan Mauck, who won the three-mile race in 17:47. Teammates Chase DeWitt (18:05) and David Malone (18:24) followed, giving Mountain Ridge the top three spots in the race. Aynsley Hawkins won the girls individual title to complete the sweep. It’s a strong opening to championship season for a program now turning its attention to regional competition.
Calvert Hall holds its own in Virginia
While public-school teams chased county and conference titles, several Maryland private schools traveled to Pole Green Park for the VA XC Showcase. Calvert Hall’s boys finished second with 66 points. Kaden Omopariola led the way in eighth (15:10.8), followed by Ben Ghahhari in 11th (15:13.8), JD Hughes in 22nd (15:28.8), Colton Schafer in 36th (15:41.1), and Aidan Heinbaugh in 41st (15:44.4).
The key number is 33.6. That’s the gap in seconds between the Cardinals’ first and fifth runners, and it’s the kind of tight pack that wins team races against strong fields. This weekend's result also follows a third-place finish at Great American earlier this month.
In the girls Showcase race, Good Counsel’s Amelia Avila finished fourth in 17:06.6, a week after winning the MDXC Black & Gold race. Other Maryland finishers included Bullis’s Ian Fisher (35th, 15:40.7) and Owen Heilman (49th, 15:52.2), and Georgetown Prep’s Gavin Beard (55th, 15:55.1).
Up Next: Regional and state championships are approaching. Whitman, BCC, Urbana, Governor Thomas Johnson, Middletown, Mountain Ridge, and Calvert Hall all came out of the week with something to build on, and the next few weeks will show who can carry it into November.
It was a full week of championship racing around the state. Montgomery County crowned two team champions, the Central Maryland Conference sorted out its divisions, Mountain Ridge swept Allegany County, and a handful of private schools made the trip to Virginia to race some of the top teams in the country.
MCPS Championship