Official MoCoRunning Rankings 2

To view our first rankings with our original analysis, read MoCoRunning Newsletter 9/25 and scroll to the last two articles.

The team rankings are by Ron Burgundy and the individual rankings are by Kevin Milsted. Both rankings are agreed upon by the two.

Boys Team Ranking (previous rank in parenthesis)

1. Quince Orchard (1)
Wins Paul Short Invitational with usual #1 runner Reagan Lynch sick and finishing 7th for the team. Top 5 runners all under 17:00. Beats Whitman and Richard Montgomery easily in mid-week tri meet. Moves up to #9 on NTN South East Rankings.

2. Gaithersburg (3)
Wins Bull Run Elite race over Maryland Private School Powerhouse Loyola with incredible 23 second 5-man spread and top 5 runners in the top 25.

3. Whitman (2)
Takes second place at Oatlands Invitational with three runners in the top 10 and under 16:45 but large 5-man gap of 1:43 minutes. Loses to Quince Orchard but beats Richard Montgomery in mid-week tri meet.

4. Sherwood (4)
Third place to Whitman at Oatlands Invitational by 6 points with first two runners under 17:00. Beats Northwest in mid-week dual meet with almost perfect score of 16 points.

5. Walter Johnson (5)
Third place finish in unseeded section of Maymount X-Country Festival. First two runners finish in the top 10, placing 1st and 5th.

6. Richard Montgomery (6)
Wins Large section of Bull Run Invitational with impressive 4th place finish by #1 runner Brian Sickles and a tight 01:14 5-man spread. Loses to both Quince Orchard and Whitman in mid-week tri meet.

7. B-CC (7)
Strong 6th place finish in Bull Run Elite race taking 5th and 6th spots. Wins mid-week tri meet by 1-2-3 default over Magruder and Churchill.

8. Good Counsel (8)
Impressive 4th place finish at Mercersberg Invitational behind an 8th place finish from Ian McDermott and a close 01:14 5-man spread

9. Churchill (NR)
Impressive run at Paul Short Invitational and 01:05 5-man spread leads Churchill to victory over Northwest by 23 points. Loses to B-CC in mid-week tri meet but beats previously ranked Magruder.

10. Northwest (9)
Close loss to Churchill at Paul Short Invitational with a very tight 49 second 5-man spread. Loses to Sherwood in mid-week dual meet as well.

Girls Team Ranking

1. Good Counsel (1)
Wins Mercersburg Academy Invitational with top 5 runners in the top 26 including a first place Course Record by Nora McCall.

2. Churchill (2)
Beat Northwest girls by 19 points and one place and beat QO girls convincingly at Paul Short Invitational with 2:00 minute 5-woman spread.

3. Northwest (5)
Suffered only dual meet loss to Quince Orchard but beat them easily at Paul Short Invitational placing two runners under 19:00 minutes and ahead of Churchill's first runner. Easily defeat Sherwood girls in mid-week dual meet.

4. Richard Montgomery (6)
Wins Bull Run Invitational large section by 52 points over Broadneck with impressive 40 second 5-woman spread and top 5 runners in the top 20. Impressive mid-week tri meet victory over Quince Orchard and Whitman.

5. Quince Orchard (3)
Suffers losses to both Churchill and Northwest at Paul Short Invitational with a very large 5-woman spread of 3:31 minutes but impressive 3rd place finish by top runner Cara Harrison (18:33). Suffers crucial loss to Richard Montgomery in mid-week tri meet but beats Whitman convincingly.

6. Whitman (4)
Suffers tough 17th place finish at Oatlands Invitational with a very large 5-woman spread of 3:30 minutes. Suffers crucial losses to Richard Montgomery and Quince Orchard girls in mid-week tri meet.

7. Walter Johnson (7)
Finishes 10th place in the unseeded section of the Maymount Invitational with an 8th place finish from top freshman runner Jennifer Spencer. 3:06 5-woman spread.

8. St. Andrews (8)
Finishes 5th place at Mercersburg Invitational with impressive 48 second 5-woman spread and places top 5 runners in the top 50.

9. Damascus (9)
Finishes 5th in Varsity "B" section of Oatlands invitational with strong 2nd place finish by top runner Taylor Colbert, but large 5-woman spread of 2:30 minutes. Easily defeats Watkins Mill, Springbrook and Poolesville in mid-week quad meet with perfect scores of 15 points.

10. Blair (10)
Narrowly defeats Magruder in Elite section of Bull Run Invitational with extremely large 5-woman spread of 8:50 minutes. Loses mid-week dual meet to Blake girls while not running varsity team.

Girls Inidividual Ranking

1. Halsey Sinclair, Blair '07 (1) - Still undefeated within the county. 19:25 second place finish at Bull Run.

2. Cara Harrison, QO '07 (3) - Top Montgomery County finisher at Paul Short Invitational, 18:33, 4th. 19:39 course record at mid-week dual meet. She is running out of her mind, but history says that Halsey Sinclair is better until she proves otherwise.

3. Emma Eckerstrom, Northwest '08 (6) - Appears to be back in form after finishing 2 seconds and 1 place behind Cara Harrison at Paul Short.

4. Louise Hannallah, Churchill '08 (2) - 11th place 18:54 finish at Paul Short. She fell to Northwest's Kathy Aherne by 7 seconds, but having a better season overall.

5. Morgane Gay, Whitman '08 (5) Only Cara Harrison has beaten her within the county and she keeps posting very fast times including 19:08 3rd place at Oatlands and 20:05, 2nd fastest time ever at QO's home course.

6. Nora McCall, Good Counsel '07 (7) - 19:08 course record at Mercersburg Academy Invitational. Finished 32 seconds ahead of next competitor in a field of 118 athletes.

7. Kathy Aherne, Northwest '08 (8) - 8th place 18:47 performance at Paul Short shows that Northwest's #2 runner is ascending to the next level.

8. Ashlyn Sinclair, Blair '07 (4) - 20:10 8th place finish at Bull Run was nowhere near Halsey, but was the second fastest Montgomery County time for the day.

9. Veronica Salcido, Wootton '08 (9) - 20:17 2nd place performance at Bull Run and improving every race.

10. Abby Spitler, Gaithersburg '10 (12) - 20:43 3rd place finish at Bull Run puts the freshman in the top ten in the county.

11. Jennifer Spencer, WJ '10 (11) - 20:28 8th place finish at Maymont Invitational.

12. Debbie Isen, Whitman '08 (15) - 20:16 30th place finish at Oatlands Invitational.

13. Becca Stinner, Northwest '08 (16) 19:25 24th finish at Paul Short shows great improvement over previous races this season.

14. Tara Weiss, Gaithersburg '07 (18) - 20:59 7th place finish was 5th fastest MoCo time at Bull Run

15. Taylor Colbert, Damascus '09 (13) 20:22 2nd place at Oatlands. Still has not run against any good runners within the county, but was only a few seconds off of Debbie Isen's time on the same course.

16. Maryam Fikri, Churchill '10 (NR) - The Freshman is proving to be the most rapidly improving athlete in the county. Her 19:48 38th place finish at Paul Short is mistakenly listed under the name "Michelle Fish."

17. Luyang Liu, RM '08 (14) - 21:12 10th place finish at Bull Run drops her below Tara Weiss of Gaithersburg. Her 21:02 4th place finish was crucial to upsetting Whitman and QO in their mid-week tri meet.

18. Sarah Britton, RM '08 (NR) - 21:05 5th place at QO Tri puts her ahead of previously ranked Aimee Moores of QO, and 21:12 9th place at Bull Run puts her right on the level of teammate Luyang Liu.

19. Laura McCary, Magruder '07 (10) - Maybe no one told her there were hills at Hereford or maybe it was just an off day. Her 21:14 20th place finish drops her in the ranking.

20. Stephanie Alberico, WJ '07 (17) - Did not appear in any results this week.

Boys Inidividual Ranking

1. Chris Moen, WJ '08 (1) - 19:24, 1st place at Maymont and still undefeated within the county.

2. Kyle Gaffney, Blake '07 (2) - 16:39, 1st place at Bull Run and still undefeated within the county.

3. Chris Barnard, Sherwood '07 (4) - 16:19, 2nd place at Oatlands redeemed a dual meet loss to Will Palmer.

4. Will Palmer, Whitman '07 (3) - 16:23, 3rd place at Oatlands just a few steps behind Chirs Barnard.

5. Elias Tousley, B-CC '07 (7) - 16:41 5th place at Bull Run and history tells us that he and Bowie will swap places on the ranking all season long. Just when they stopped calling him Michael, he is now Elias Towsley.

6. Chris Bowie, B-CC '07 (6) - 16:42 6th place at Bull Run. He's the Bowie to your Tousley.

7. Mat Abernethy, Gprep, '07 (9) - Debut against the rest of Montgomery County went very well with a 16:36, 5th place performance at Oatlands.

8. Reagan Lynch, QO '07 (5) - How much do you penalize a guy for running sick to keep his team regionally ranked? 17:56, 179th place at Paul Short drops him to 8th but he's still #1 at QO for now.

9. Neal Darmody, QO '08 (NR) After just a single dual meet, I wasn't sure what to do with Neal Darmody, but he now appears to definitely be top 10 material.

10. Greg Bove, QO '07 (11) - Holding down the consistency at QO with a 16:16, 20th place performance at Paul Short

11. Andrew Palmer, Whitman '10 (14) - Best freshman around has been dropping time in every race he runs. 16:44, 9th place at Oatlands.

12. Sam Epstein, Whitman '07 (12) - Took down Tommy Mullings with a 16:45, 10th place finish at Oatlands.

13. Tommy Mullings, Sherwood '07 (10) - 16:51, 15th place at Oatlands

14. Wil Zahorodny, Damascus '08 (8) - Although he was not in the same race as the above runners at Oatlands, his 16:57, 2nd place finish at Oatlands was considerably slower than those above him.

15. Jared Schneider, WJ '07 (13) - The senior is keeping it consistent on the young WJ team. 17:03, 5th place at Maymont.

16. Brian Sickles, RM' 07 (NR) - The senior is improving every race including a breakout 4th place 17:12 finish in the Bull Run large race.

17. Brian Marshall, Seneca Valley '07 (15) - 17:26, 14th place at Bull Run Elite race.

18. Chris Boyd, Wootton '07 (16) - No Results Found This Week

19. Sam Boimov, Gaithersburg '07 (17) - 17:27, 15th place at Bull Run was 1 second behind Brian Marshall. Led his team to a solid victory in the elite race.

20. David Laratta, QO '08 (NR) - 4th QO athlete to make the top 20 ranking and deservedly so with a 16:23, 7th place performance. P.S. he placed 13th in the state as a sophomore in '05.