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 results and five expert picks. The first column on the left is the ranking number. The second column is the combined ranking based on the fan votes. The third column is the amount of poll points accumulated by the team in that row. 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.
Combined Poll
Ranking
Poll Points
Kevin
Rob
Kid
Matt
Sean
#1 Boys Team
Gaithersburg
391
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg
#2 Boys Team
Clarksburg
340
Clarksburg
Blair
Clarksburg
Whitman
Clarksburg
#3 Boys Team
Whitman
228
Northwest
Northwest
Whitman
Northwest
Blair
#4 Boys Team
Northwest
217
Churchill
Clarksburg
Northwest
Clarksburg
Churchill
#5 Boys Team
Churchill
205
Damascus
Magruder
Churchill
Quince Orchard
Whitman
#6 Boys Team
Blair
195
Paint Branch
Quince Orchard
Damascus
Springbrook
Quince Orchard
#7 Boys Team
Damascus
175
Whitman
Walter Johnson
Sherwood
Churchill
Damascus
#8 Boys Team
Quince Orchard
167
Quince Orchard
Sherwood
Paint Branch
Paint Branch
Paint Branch
#9 Boys Team
Paint Branch
106
Magruder
Whitman
Quince Orchard
Blair
Sherwood
#10 Boys Team
Walter Johnson
106
Blair
Paint Branch
Blair
Magruder
Walter Johnson
#1 Girls Team
Churchill
364
Churchill
Paint Branch
Churchill
Churchill
Churchill
#2 Girls Team
Paint Branch
355
Paint Branch
Churchill
Paint Branch
Paint Branch
Northwest
#3 Girls Team
Wootton
283
Damascus
Northwest
Damascus
B-CC
Paint Branch
#4 Girls Team
Northwest
246
B-CC
Clarksburg
Kennedy
Damascus
Walter Johnson
#5 Girls Team
B-CC
221
Wootton
Walter Johnson
Clarksburg
Kennedy
Damascus
#6 Girls Team
Damascus
198
Northwest
Wootton
Wootton
Wootton
B-CC
#7 Girls Team
Whitman
99
Kennedy
Whitman
Northwest
Gaithersburg
Quince Orchard
#8 Girls Team
Kennedy
86
Whitman
Blair
Whitman
Northwest
Whitman
#9 Girls Team
Gaithersburg
75
Gaithersburg
Northwood
B-CC
Clarksburg
Poolesville
#10 Girls Team
Clarksburg
73
Poolesville
B-CC
R. Montgomery
Poolesville
Kennedy
Analysis
There is no dissension among the fans or experts on who is the top boys team in the county this year. Nearly everyone agrees that Gaithersburg will be the 2009 indoor county champions. They may or may not win seven individual events as fans voted in the individual portion of the poll, but they will score highly enough in the sprints, hurdles, and field events to pull away from the rest of the teams in the county by 20 points. That is about as much as fans agree upon as there are several opinions as to who will take the second place spot. Clarksburg seems like a good bet with their sprinting duo of Avery Graham and Mark Small combined with their seemingly endless supply of throwers. Whitman will also do quite well if Andrew Palmer runs three events as the entry list indicates he will do. Northwest is another well-rounded team that most believe will finish in the top 5.
One thing is for certain on the girls side. Paint Branch and Churchill will be the top two teams in the county. Voting among the county fans was nearly a split decision between the two teams for the top spot with Churchill coming out on top as the final few votes came in. PB is very, very strong in their key events: the sprints, relays, and field events, but Churchill is also expected to score decently in those same events. When Churchill is through with the distance events, they should have close to 100 points, a total that PB may not be able to reach even on a great day. After the top two teams, there is very little agreement at all who will follow. Wootton is a popular pick with Olivia Ekpone leading her team and entered to run three open events. B-CC, Northwest, and Damascus were also popular picks for top five spots because those three teams along with Churchill should dominate the distance events.
Name
Comments
SBtrack
Friday, January 23, 2009 08:35:46 PM
Personally after some more thought I would like to say that whitman will most likely not place 2nd overall as a team. It is doubtful that Palmer double let alone triple, if he is able to to score over 15 points then whitman is likely to place top three, however I am not confident he will be able to at the county meets for several reasons. So if using my pics for anything slide whitman from 2nd to 6th
Anonymous
Saturday, January 24, 2009 07:49:20 PM
Well, as Kevin has mentioned several times in previous articles, Whitman's Jonathan Hale and Jayson Carson will most definitely score in the hurdles, and both Wiseman and Carson can jump 5-10 in the high jump. At the developmental Wiseman jumped 21 in the long jump, and Carson jumped 20-09. Along with Palmer and Silver-Korn, Whitman could most definitely get in the top 3 for boys. Wiseman could also do very well in the 400. Palmer is not Whitman's only asset.
Anonymous
Saturday, January 24, 2009 07:50:06 PM
sorry, I mean the 300 for Wiseman.
Anonymous
Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:22:55 PM
don't count on palmer...
Sean
Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:27:17 AM
I will take the next prediction contest more seriously and spend a little more time on it
