The sun was still shining brightly when athletes left the Prince Georges Sports and Learning Center early this evening. It was an enjoyable experience for those who took the time out of their winter breaks to compete in the 2nd Montgomery County Developmental Meet. The all-MoCo meet reaffirmed many things that we already knew and taught us a few new things.

Good Lookin Teams

Although the meet was unscored, the Churchill girls and Magruder boys stood out from beginning to end. The Churchill girls were able to grab the top times in the 55m dash, 55m hurdles, 300m dash, and took 2nd in the 4x4 and 4x8. But it wasn't just Audrey Gariepy-Bogui racking up all of the "points." Two freshman named Maryam Fikri and Katie Wolf also found themselves bumping off some of the best athletes in the county, and Erin McManus came through with a high finish in the 800m. What's most impressive is that they performed so well without their top athletes Louise Hannallah and Michelle Gellman.

The Magruder boys looked great after claiming top times and marks in five events. Jose Lopez set the tone for his team by leading off the winning 4x400 and 4x200m relays and claiming top times in his heats in both the 55m hurdles and the 300m dash. Kalgeri Robinson did his part by winning the long jump and high jump.

Also running very well as teams were the Richard Montgomery boys and the Whitman girls. RM did not enter their top athletes in the relay events, but they did perform very well in the events that they entered. Patrick Pinchinat won his heats in the 55m dash and 300m dash while Brian Sickles was tops in the 500. Tyler Jackson placed high in the hurdles and Ben Hoyt and Brian Sickles placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 1600. The Whitman girls came away with top times in the 4x800m and 4x400m relay. Leslie Morrison again won the 500m and 800m runs while Morgane Gay easily won the 1600m.

Event by Event

Top tosses in the shot put came from Kennedy's Chimso Okoji with a throw of 46'-00.50" and Einstein's Terrell Pettis with a throw of 40'-02.75". The top female thrower was Erica Neville from Poolesville with a throw of 32'-04.50."

Tara Okusaga from Northwest took top honors in the triple jump and long jump with marks of 33'-11" and 15'-09" respectively. Kalgeri Robinson of Magruder did what he had to do to win the long jump and high jump. His marks of 19'-01" in the long jump and 5'-08" in the high jump were good enough to win so he did not attempt anything more.

Debbie Isen of Whitman led the first leg of the 4x800m relay with a quarter split of 1:10 and continued to stretch out her lead, but Churchill's Maryam Fikri was able to close the gap and take the lead just before the first handoff in 2:24. Einstein moved into the lead for a little while before Whitman's Gabe McKenzie retook the lead and held it for Morgane Gay. The Churchill girls once again ran a nice time of 10:16, but they weren't going to catch Whitman, whose duo of Gay and Morrison ran 2:24 and 2:26 respectively to finish in 9:55.

B-CC's Alex Prevost brought out the boys 4x800m race in 1:04 and closed in 1:04, which was enough to hand off the baton first. Walter Johnson's Jared Schneider quickly took the lead with Watkins Mill's Jordan Delisser pursuing. Schneider also came through the quarter in 1:04 but Delisser held close for another lap before blasting into first for a split around 2:06. WJ's Anthony Popiel was able to regain the lead after one lap and increase that lead with a 2:13 split for teammate Chris Moen. Moen cruised to the victory in 8:38 with a 2:07 split.

In the hurdles, Churchill's Audrey Gariepy-Bogui dominated once again with Northwest's Tara Okusaga a few steps behind. Gariepy-Bogui was hand timed in 7.9. Magruder's Jose Lopez won the first heat of the 55m hurdles despite a stumble at the finish.

The first heat of the girl's 55m dash was won by Churchill's freshman Katie Wolf in 7.3. Churchill's Gariepy-Bogui won the 2nd heat of the girl's 55m dash in a blazing 6.9 (hand timed). Richard Montgomery's Patrick Pinchinat won the first heat of the boy's 55m dash in 6-low with Sherwood's Jamal-deen Olatunde right on his shoulder.

In her third event in a brief period of time, Gariepy-Bogui took control of the girl's 300m dash, which she won in 42.1, a few strides in front of Poolesville's Meghan Rose. Wolf won the 2nd heat of the 300m in 43.1.

The boy's 300m dash saw some fast times out of several of the heats. The first heat was led by Magruder's Lopez for the first lap, but Paint Branch's Nick South caught him at the line (the meet wasn't scored so let's call it a tie in 37.4). Jamal-deen Olatunde had the fastest time of the day according to my timing. His domination in the 2nd heat led to a time of 36.7. Pinchinat ran in the 3rd heat and looked very smooth and relaxed as he won in 36.8. Churchill's Evan Whetsell busted out of a large pack in the fourth heat for a victory in 37.8.

Once again, Morgane Gay dominated the 1600m race. This time she ran a time of 5:14. RM's Sarah Britton ran a very nice final lap to place 2nd in 5:31 with RM's Luyang Liu 3rd in 5:36.

The boy's 1600m race was one of the more exciting races of the day with several lead changes throughout. Walter Johnson's Jared Schneider and RM's Brian Sickles took over the race at the halfway mark after coming through in 2:21. RM's Ben Hoyt hung in there near the front. Sickles and Schneider made another push at the front with 2 laps to go. With less than a quarter mile to go, Schneider opened up a lead on Hoyt and Sickles and pressed it to the finish. Schneider won in 4:39. Hoyt was 2nd in 4:41 and Sickles 3rd in 4:43.

Whitman's Leslie Morrison dominated the 500m race in 1:17.6 by opening up a large gap just a lap into the race. Neither Katie Wolf nor Meghan Rose could close the gap. They finished 2nd (1:20.6) and 3rd (1:21.2) respectively. Maryam Fikri won the 2nd heat in 1:22.0.

The boys 500m dash was lead by Quince Orchard's Reagan Lynch for the first 300m. Churchill's Evan Whetsell got into a little tangle with 200m to go, but soon blasted up to the front and charged around the track for the victory in 1:09.5. In the next heat, RM's Brian Sickles won in 1:09.2. It will be interesting when those two meet head to head!

The girls 3200m race was led out by a pack of WJ's Jennifer Spencer, QO's Stephanie Joson, and RM's Alana Moore. After the first half mile, RM's Luyang Liu had caught up and taken the lead. Liu brought the pack through the 1600m in 5:53 and proceeded to build a lead over Moore and Joson. Liu had an outstanding final two laps to win the race in 11:54. Joson also finished the race well in 12:09. Moore finished 3rd in 12:17.

The boys 3200m featured the county's best cross-country runners: WJ's Chris Moen, Sherwood's Chris Barnard and Tommy Mullings, and QO's Neal Darmody. Darmody led the pack through the half-mile in a swift 2:27. On the 6th lap, Moen made his move to the front of the pack and brought everyone through in 5:33. Moen made a huge move after the 1600m mark, but the pack was able to close the gap and stay in the race. Several times throughout the rest of the race Moen made big surges, but Barnard and company continued closing the gaps. In the end, Moen was still leading with a lap to go and no one was catching Chris Moen on the final lap. Moen won in 9:53, but the audience witnessed superb efforts out of Barnard (9:56), Mullings (10:00), and Darmody (10:06).

The Magruder girls won the first heat of the 4x200m relay in 1:59.4, but the fastest time of the day came from the Watkins Mill girls who ran 1:55.7 in the third heat. In that same heat, the Sherwood girls also looked good in 1:59.9. The Magruder boys won the first heat of the boys 4x200m relay in 1:35.3. I clocked Jose Lopez around 23 seconds. Sherwood won the 2nd heat in about the same time (1:35.6). I also clocked Jamal-deen Olatunde in about 23 seconds. Those guys can fly.

Leslie Morrison brought out the open 800m race with a swift 1:08 400m split. QO's Vie Duncan and Churchill's Erin McManus followed as best they could and actually were able to close the gap on Morrison but not by nearly enough. Morrison won in 2:22, Duncan 2nd in 2:24, and McManus 3rd in 2:26.

QO's Mike Migdall took the early lead in the boys open 800m. He pulled the pack through the quarter in 1:03. BCC's Alex Prevost took the lead with a lap to go and held on for the win in 2:08. Migdall placed 2nd in 2:10.

The 4x4 looked like a repeat of the 4x8 with many of the same players on the Whitman and Churchill squads. Fikri and Isen came through the first leg at the same time with splits of 1:03. Wolf was able to build a slim lead on the second leg, but then Gay captured back most of that lead on the third leg. And then it happened. With Churchill just a few steps ahead of Whitman, the two best athletes in Montgomery County faced off in an anchor battle in what is probably as close as we will ever see to a level match up. Sprinter, hurdler, and jumper Audrey Gariepy-Bogui had a slim lead over sprinter and middle distance runner Leslie Morrison. Morrison immediately caught Gariepy-Bogui but never got far away. Morrison led Gariepy-Bogui around the track and finished 1st with a split of 1:00. Gariepy-Bogui split 1:02. Whitman won the race in 4:16 and Churchill placed 2nd in 4:17.

In the boys 4x4, Magruder's Lopez flew off the far corner of the cascaded waterfall and came through the quarter in just under 54. For the remainder of the relay, the Blair boys were the only potential challengers, but Magruder was never truly in danger of losing that race. They won in 3:35 with Blair in 2nd in 3:42.