The following are some of the top marks that I observed at the first developmental meet. It's not meant to be an all inclusive list of all of the best results. It's whatever I could jot down in between filming several races. These splits are all unofficial and will not count for anything. If you'd like a top performance to be added to this article, email webmaster@mocorunning.com.

The meet started with the 4x4 relay which is usually the last event. It got moved to the start because it was not contested at the meet last Saturday due to lack of time.

Paint Branch girls opened up the meet with a great 4:12 4x4. Northwest boys also had a dominating win in 3:30.

In the 55-meter dash, Olivia Ekpone of Wootton clocked a hand-timed 7.0 and Mitchell Pollard of Springbrook clocked a 6.3.

I actually didn't show up to the meet until the 300's and nobody I talked to seemed to know what happened in the hurdles. All I know is what you can see in the above photo by Scott Silverstein which shows Thea LaFond of Kennedy leading four other top hurdlers late in the race. If you know the fastest hurdlers of the day, please email me.

Ekpone was back for the 300 which she won in a dominating 40.0. Jonathan Haughton of Blair won the 300 in 36.0.

In the Girls 1600, Britt Eckerstrom of Northwest led for most of the race with teammate Alyssa Henshaw following closely behind. Henshaw caught her teammate on the final lap and they finished together in 5:26.

The boys 1600 saw WJ's Roni Teich lead for the majority of the race, but Blair's Rutvij Pandya remained close behind until the final lap. Pandya made a move and went on to win in 4:39. Teich was second in 4:42.

The first heat of the girls 500-meter run was led by Korine Duval of Paint Branch. Damascus's Ryann Brickley caught up on the last lap and the two finished very close together in about 1:21. In the next heat, B-CC's Hannah Richardson also ran about 1:21.

In the boys 500, Gaithersburg's Antonio Palmer led from the start. Northwest's Chris Onuigbo held on tight, but Palmer was strongest in the end winning in about 1:06.

Damascus's Alex Carroll held a comfortable 25-meter lead over Northwest's Kai Santangelo for most of the girls 3200. Carroll won in 12:34 followed by Santangelo in 12:41.

The boys 3200 saw a star appearance from Sherwood's Solomon Haile. Haile is running at the Footlocker National Championship in three days and is favored by many to win the prestigious national title. It was apparent from the beginning of the race that he was just using the race as a light workout leading up to the big race. He jogged the first mile in just over 5 minutes, then came back in the second mile in about 4:50 for a finishing time of 9:56. WJ's Alex Willet and Northwest's Chris Miller stuck with Haile for the first mile until they could no longer match his quickening pace. Willett finished in 10:18 and Miller finished in 10:23.

In the girls 4x2, we got to see the head to head matchup that we missed last Saturday. Paint Branch was matched up against Wootton and Paint Branch made a statement. Jasmine Jones grabbed the lead for her team. Vanessa Jules tried to hang onto it but Wootton's Olivia Ekpone worked her way up even with PB at the handoff. PB's Korine Duvall retook the lead over Wootton in the third leg. Arielle Statham breezed her way home to a very impressive run of 1:47. Wootton was second in 1:50.

The Blair boys still seem to be on top of the moco sprinting scene. They won the first heat of the 4x2 easily in 1:35. I didn't get the time for Clarksburg in the next heat, but Avery Graham looked ridiculously strong on he anchor leg. Whitman also ran 1:35 in a later heat off the waterfall start showing that they are a legit contender in the 4x2 this season.

In the girls 4x8, Einstein, Clarksburg, and Whitman each had a girl split about 2:30 at some point in the race, but it was WJ who had the strongest four girls. Clarksburg's Lauren Sumner came through first to lead the race in 2:30 followed very closely by Whitman's Tessa Morrison, but WJ's Cameille Bouvet was not far behind in 2:36. Clarksburg's Jenna Smith was barely able to hold off a charging Jenna Willett from WJ. Willett split 2:33 while Smith split about 2:38. WJ and Clarksburg tangled for two laps before Yodit Solomon from Einstein passed them both en route to a 2:31 split. WJ's Moersen clung to Solomon and split 2:36. WJ's anchor leg Jennifer Spencer proved too strong for any other team to keep up and WJ won in 10:25. Einstein was second in 10:29. Whitman just edged out Clarksburg in 10:35.

The boys 4x8 saw several lead changes. Springbrook's Rodney Kizito led the race out in a hard 60 seconds for 400 meters. Down the stretch, Blair's Greg Vogel turned on the jets and brought it in first with a 2:07 split. Blair's Lucas Alvarado held the lead for another 400 meters, but Northwest's John DiNardo split 2:08 to bring his team into the lead. The race was far from over as Springbrook's Alex Gomes stuck within 3 seconds of Northwest's Steven Obrzut over the third leg. Both runners split 2:10. At the final exchange, several teams handed off a lap early so it appeared as if Northwest and Springbrook were no longer leading, but this is what really happened. Northwest's anchor Chris Onuigbo shut the race down with a 2:09 split. Northwest won in 8:37. Springbrook was second in 8:45, Walter Johnson was third in 8:47, and Blair was fourth in 8:49. The fastest split of the day most likely came from Blair's Rutvij Pandya on the anchor leg: 2:06.

Boys 4x8 Splits:
Blair: Greg Vogel 2:07-Lucas Alvarado 2:15-Nick Vujcic 2:16-Rutvij Pandya 2:06
WJ: Roni Teich 2:09-Alex Willett 2:13-Josh Ellis 2:18-O'Leary 2:07
Springbrook: Rodney Kizito 2:09-David Sweigart 2:11-Alex Gomes 2:10-Reynaldo Roberts 2:15
Northwest: Nick Gummo 2:09-John DiNardo 2:08-Steven Obrzut 2:11-Chris Onuigbo 2:09

Sean Stanley had three throws in the shot put over 53 feet. His second throw was 57 feet, 8 inches. He says that he has not been practicing until this week because he took a break after football season.

Ashley Dabney of Wheaton and Vanessa Jules of Paint Branch both cleared 5-2 in the high jump. Both girls missed each attempt at 5-4. Jules won with less misses.

Octavia King of Blake won the shot put with a throw over 32 feet.

Rodney Kizito jumped 41-4 in the triple jump and Donnell Adams jumped 19-6 in the long jump, although they were not necessarily the leaders.

If you know the leaders of any other field events, please email me.