Boys 100 - Expect Duane Wilson of WJ, Anthony Young-Wiseman of Whitman, and Travis Hawkins of Quince Orchard to be around 11-flat. Denny Long of ER, Austin Lewis of Severna Park and Josh Furman of Old Mill are among the competitors who have gone under 11 seconds with automatic timing this season. Jermaine Woodard is the only freshman boy from the 4A West to qualify for the state championship meet individually.

Boys 200 - Denny Long was the 300 state champion indoor and may be considered the favorite to win the 100 and the 200, but last year, Jonathan Haughton of Blair edged out Long for the win in a sub-22 performance. Haughton will be back ready to defend his title, but Young-Wiseman was right beside him at the regional meet.

Boys 400 - George Empty of CH Flowers was the runner-up in the 500 at the indoor state championship and is coming into the state championship with by far the fastest seed time. Montgomery County runners are dangerous, though, and between Chris Onuigbo in the fast heat and Antonio Palmer, Darren Harris, and Hassan Dixon in the first heat, Moco should put multiple guys close to or under 49.0.

Boys 800 - Who knew PG County was so loaded with 800 runners? Wayne Bartholomew was the only Montgomery County runner to make the fast heat and the indoor state champ has to be considered the favorite to win despite his slower seed time. Antonio Palmer and Sean King will have to race hard to place out of the first section, and they are more than capable of doing so.

Boys 1600, 3200 - Solomon Haile of Sherwood is heavily favored to win the 1600 and 3200. For a short time, he will have more state titles than national titles.

Boys 110/300 Hurdles - Marquis Woodyard of Thomas Johnson, Cortry Mazyck of Suitland, and indoor 55 hurdle state champ Trae Proctor of Thomas Stone have the most impressive resumes of the athletes in the hurdle event. Owen Cain and Jonathan Hale will fight it out with them in the 110 hurdles. Trevon Carroll stepped up big for Gaithersburg at the 4A West Regional meet, giving them another great weapon capable of scoring points in the 300 hurdles.

Boys 4x100 and 4x200 - Blair has impressed in Montgomery County this year, but has slower times among teams in the fast heats of the 4x100 and 4x200. The PG County boys will probably fight it out for the wins.

Boys 4x400 - Northwest is ready to fly. They showed that at the regional meet where the won almost three seconds ahead of the competition in 3:23.40. Expect them to be closer to 3:20 at states, a time that will make them competitive with Bowie, ER, and Suitland, but not guarantee the win.

Boys 4x800 - Walter Johnson defeated Churchill at the regional meet, but Churchill should come out with a stronger team at states and shouldn't be as worried about WJ as they should be about Broadneck who defeated them in a great race at the indoor state championship.

Boys High Jump - Owen Cain of Gaithersburg and Jeremiah Hendy of Bowie have cleared 6-4 this season, but Cain has a personal best of 6-07 from indoor season which makes him the most dangerous.

Boys Long Jump - The boys long jump belongs to Dwayne Powell who jumped 22+ all season and jumped 23 feet at the regional meet, but Owen Cain of Gaithersburg and Anthony Young-Wiseman of Whitman, should be in the 21-22 foot range with the top competitors. Jacob Adedeji of Quince Orchard and Justin Henderson of RM should push the 21 foot mark.

Boys Triple Jump - Owen Cain of Gaithersburg and Brock Chapman of Thomas Johnson will go at each other in a matchup that could have big implications in the team scoring. The two athletes lead the field with season best marks of over 45 feet.

Boys Shot Put and Discus - Marcus Brown of Quince Orchard has been unbeatable lately, but 4-time state champion Sean Stanley should not be underestimated, especially in the shot put. Both athletes are capable of throwing 60 feet. The discus, however, appears to be Brown's to lose after his 170 foot throw at regionals.

Boys Pole Vault - Gaithersburg's Ahntaun Nguyen became the first MCPS athlete to clear 12 feet in the pole vault since 2004 with his win at the county championship earlier this season, but the rest of the state remains far ahead of Montgomery County in this event. Thomas Johnson's Erick Artusio is the heavy favorite to win the pole vault and possibly go after the state meet record set by Chris Stark of Springbrook in 1999.

Team Champions - I don't think there is a clear favorite. Many of the teams are evenly matched and can come away the state champions. Gaithersburg is more than capable of winning, but in a mock meet that I scored, Gaithersburg, Thomas Johnson, Eleanor Roosevelt, CH flowers, and Bowie came out with between 40 and 50 points while Quince Orchard and Suitland were not far behind. This should be considered to be anybody's meet to win.