Mocorunning.com conducted an open online poll between January 16 and January 21 to determine who the local track fans think will win each event at the upcoming Montgomery County Indoor Track Championship Meet. One hundred and one valid votes were collected during the given time frame. Below you will find a table of the poll winners and five expert picks. The first column on the left is the name of the event. The second column is the athlete that the majority of fans picked to win each event. The third column is the percentage of fans who voted for the poll-winning athlete. The five columns on the right of the table are the selections of five Montgomery County track experts who do excellent in prediction competitions season after season.
Montgomery County track fans believe that Gaithersburg's Owen Cain can pull off the rare quadruple by winning the 55-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, and triple jump, but is he really that good? The answer is maybe. He is explosive and exciting to watch. This is not the strongest year, nor is it likely that any records will be broken in any of the four events that he will be attempting to win, but he is without a doubt among the top competitors in each event this year. He sits atop the county leaderboard in the hurdles, high jump, and long jump, but it may be possible that he comes home with no county titles at all. Paint Branch's Marcus Willacy and Northwest's Marvin Lisk have had better marks in the triple jump this year. Quince Orchard's Jacob Adedji tied him at the Montgomery Invitational with a jump of 20-09, while others such as Northwest's Hassan Dixon and Whitman Anthony Young-Wiseman have jumped much further in previous seasons. Clarksburg's Avery Graham will be back in action in the high jump as the only other athlete to previously clear Cain's personal best of 6-02. The hurdles may be his safest bet to win the county title, but anything can happen in a hurdles race and Whitman's Jonathan Hale and Paint Branch's Malcolm Wyche were only a tenth of a second behind him at the Montgomery Invitational. It will be interesting to watch as this rapidly-emerging star attempts to earn 40 points for his team.
Glancing over the individual county favorites, it won't come as any surprise who the fans voted to win the boys team title. Gaithersburg is favored by county track fans to win seven total events. Sean Stanley continues to appear invincible in the shot put even as QO's Marcus Brown continues to make up ground. Antonio Palmer is still the heavy fan favorite in the middle distance events, but he will need to bounce back from a lackluster performance at the Montgomery Invitational to stay ahead of QO's Wayne Bartholomew, Churchill's Sean King, and others.
The only question when it comes to the distance events is whether Sherwood's Solomon Haile will run to win or run to break records. He may not even need to try to break the records of 4:25 and 9:35, both set in the last two years. Many fans believe that the 1600 may be Whitman's Andrew Palmer's opportunity to finally take down Haile after he clocked a 4:23 full mile at the Montgomery Invitational, but according to the poll, more fans think that Haile is just too good.
Watch for big moments to come every time Clarksburg's Avery Graham steps on the track. He now appears fully healthy and is not far off the nation's fastest times in the 55-meter dash. For anybody to win the 55m besides him would be a shock. Many fans are still partial to a fresh Jonathan Haughton in the 300-meter dash, but Graham has just seemed unbeatable lately. The open 300 could be jaw-dropping. Graham is also no doubt the reason fans favor Clarksburg to win the 4x200-meter relay. His teammates are likely to put him in good position and he is powerful enough to chase down just about every runner in the county from 20 meters back.
The meet will open up with what should be a heated record-breaking battle between Damascus and Churchill in the 4x800. A large majority of fans predicted Churchill would repeat their victory over Damascus from the Montgomery Invitational, but nobody believes it will be a blow out.
The consensus is that Northwest will ease their way to victory in the final event of the meet, the 4x400 relay. Likely anchoring the squad should be Chris Onuigbo who opted out of the open 800, an event he would likely score in but would be difficult to recover from.
Name
Comments
It's possible
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:41:46 PM
Owen Cain will win 4 events but Avery Graham will be the top scorer?
Matt
Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:13:46 AM
Avery has a shot at 40 as well. 55 and 300 he is assumed to be a lock. 4x200 should also be his. Depending on his HJ-ing skills he could score 40. However Cain is unlikely to win both LJ or TJ in my opinion, Wiseman has a much better LJ PR, and Wyche is right there in the TJ
curious
Thursday, January 22, 2009 09:35:36 AM
has cain lost any of these events to moco athletes this season?
i don't feel like looking up results.
The-boy
Thursday, January 22, 2009 04:47:58 PM
U spelled Jacob's name wrong its Jacob Adedeji
Anonymous
Thursday, January 22, 2009 05:05:56 PM
I see Lisk getting Triple and High jump i feel is in the air since No one seen avery jump this year and the long jump will comd down to who wants it more between Cain, Wiseman,Adedeji, and Dixon. Owen will win hurdles and look for a upset in the shot put i feel marcus brown is tired of getting second and he throws 59 60 to beat sean. churchill wins 4by 8 antonio will win the 8 and its goin comedown to how he fels in the 500 if he beats wayne. haile doubles 16 and 32. i see avery upsetting John in the 300. This counties is going to be a good one. some events to keep eye on are 4by 8, 500, 1600, 800, SP, LJ, HJ, 4by 2, 4by 4 and definetly the 300. I can't wait till monday its going to be a show and definetly i see a lot of upsets!
anonomos
Friday, January 23, 2009 12:22:14 AM
im anonomos hahah
Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:14:47 PM
Watch out for Paint Branch to move beyond the "cusp" as stated in the Mid season Team rankings.....4x2 4x4 Triple Jump Hurdles....They have the potential to place top thee in all
