Jalen Walker had never run track and did not even know that he could run on an indoor track team according to Coach Dave Knight. Walker's talent was noticed early in the spring season when he became the team's top sprinter. He exploded onto the scene at the Darius Ray Invitational where he posted county-leading times of 11.04 and 22.04. Both times smashed the Mocorunning.com freshman county records which date back to 2006. Walker finished second at the county championship in the 100m and 5th in the 200m. He almost missed the 4A West Regional Meet due to a school-graded singing obligation before the coaches appealed to allow him to run. As a result, he became the 4A West champion in both the 100m and 200m.
At the state championship, he placed 7th in the 100m and 6th in the 200m, the highest finishes by a freshman in the 4A classification in the last five years. He also led all county freshman in the triple jump this year with a mark of 41-03.00 and he definitely plans to run indoor track in the future.
Itai Bezherano progressed from a junior varsity cross country runner to the fastest freshman 3200-meter runner in the county this year. Three times he dropped under 10:10 with a season best time of 10:04.6 coming in a victory at the County B Championship Meet.
Kurtis Bynum led all county freshman in the 300-meter hurdles this year. His time of 42.25 ranks third among MoCo freshman since 2006. He also dropped under 12 seconds in the 100m (11.94) and clocked 17.52 in the 110m high hurdles.
His freshman track campaign ended when he suffered a torn hamstring at New Balance Indoor Nationals, but Rio Chiba made a big impact in a short period of time. He blew away Mocorunning.com's freshman records which date back to 2006 in the 300m dash (36.46) and 500m dash (1:09.44). He also led all county freshmen this year in the 55m dash (6.85). He finished ninth in the state in the 300m.
Micah Keels posted times that were nearly identical to those posted by his brother Allante' Keels at Landon back in 2006. Micah finished fifth in the IAC Championship 400-meter dash in 51.25 whereas Allante' was fourth as a freshman in 51.1h (hand-timed). Both Keels brothers are now among the top four MoCo freshmen in the 400m since 2006.
Kelvin Masanjo was one of three MoCo freshmen to go under 39 seconds in the 300m this year (38.30). Outdoors he nearly qualified for the state meet in the 400m with a 6th place regional finish in 51.74. He showed some range with a time of 2:09.19 in an early season 800m.
David Fitzgerald led all Montgomery County freshman in the 800m (2:05.3) and 1600m (4:27.24) during the regular season. He was sixth at the county and regional championships in the 1600m, qualifying for the state meet automatically on time. He earned All-American honors by finishing sixth in the freshman mile in a personal best time of 4:28.17 at New Balance Outdoor Nationals.
Georgetown Prep needed every point it could get at this year's IAC Championship and Junda Yu came up with a big personal best by sticking with the leaders in the 1600. His time of 4:37.94 ranks third among county freshman since 2006 behind only David Fitzgerald and Andrew Palmer. He also clocked 2:04 on the 4x800 and is a top ranked badminton player according to Coach Greg Dunston.
Noah Jankel led all county freshman in the 55m hurdles (8.86) and 110m hurdles (17.08) this year. The 8.86 makes him the fastest county freshman in that event in the last five years. He was the runner-up at the County B Championship Meet in the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles (43.0).
Billy Emerson led all Montgomery County freshman in the shot put and discus this year. He placed in the top ten in both events at the 3A West Region Championship with personal bests of 114-04 and 41-10.
Tavis Holland led all Montgomery County freshman in the 400-meter dash this year with a personal best time of 50.79 at the 4A State Championship. It was the fastest 400m time by a Montgomery County freshman since 2007. Indoors, he was only a step behind Chiba with times of 7.18 and 37.50.