In the spirit of Halloween, allow me to be the first to welcome Sherwood, Blake, and Springbrook to the terrifying 4A West. No longer can you slide into the state championship meet through the 4A North. You must now face your worst fears at the haunted hills of Watkins Mill High School. The trails will be swarming with horrifying cougars, jaguars, and wildcats ferociously clawing and biting to get to the finish line first and keep you out of the state championship. They won't like a crew of warriors, bengals, and blue devils bobbing for apples in their bucket. No mercy will be shown. Survivors will move on. Stragglers shall rest in peace.

On the men's side, Cougars, Vikings, Jaguars, Trojans, Warriors, and Wildcats are all in. Seven other teams all have the goose bumps looking at that final spot. I give the nod to the Bulldogs of Churchill beating out the Colonels in a close one. Magruder's top two will not help them as much in a smaller race. Churchill's pack will send the other teams to the graveyard. Nicolas Escobar and Emilio Galis will be a shoe-in to qualify individually. Other candidates for the All-Monster Mash Team will be Kenny Siu from Wootton, Sharif Kronemer from Springbrook, Ben Hoyt from Richard Montgomery, and Rutvij Pandya from Blair.

The wicked witches of the west (4A west, that is) will once again be chasing after Morgane Gay of Whitman, but expect her to cross the finish line before you can click your heels three times. There's no place like Hereford for the Bulldogs, Vikings, Jaguars, Patriots, Cougars, Rockets and Wildcats, who seem to have scared off the competition with their evil ways. Expect Abby Spitler, Courtney Whalen, and the Blair Witch herself, Johanna Gretschel to qualify individually.

Talk about startling! Have you seen the Frederick County Championship results? Those girls from Urbana have improved at a freaky rate. They could be seeking vengeance on the Damascus girls who defeated them easily at Mountain Run in September. B-CC will also be in good position to qualify for states behind Addie Tousely who must be considered the favorite to win her first major race here. I hope you aren't afraid of heights because the talent level drops off into the valley of death after B-CC. Paint Branch could qualify, but there could be four or more incomplete teams, so who even know how many teams will qualify?

Beware! Wil Zahorodny is good, but the legend of the Dylans is growing. Dylan Bernard of Urbana is working on his second year of completely dominating Frederick County. The only Maryland athlete to take down Zahorodny before the county championship was Arthur Leathers, and Bernard has beaten Leathers this year. Dylan Straughan will lead the Four Horsemen of the 3A-pocalypse. Prevost, Short, and Davey-Karlson will be sending out a warning to the boys of Wilde Lake that B-CC is on a quest. I'll take the Barons, Hawks, Hornets, Titans, Panthers, and the Frederick Cadets in a thriller for that 6th spot.