The conditions were nearly perfect. Some complained it was too hot, but the humidity was low, the course was dry, and the times were rather impressive on both the boys and girls side despite a very hilly second mile.

Starting with the girls, Thomas Johnson stole the show. In a 14-team field, TJ finished with a score of 28 points: an average score of 5.6 from the 5 scoring runners. Stephanie Bryan stole the show with a time of 18:43, 25 seconds before her nearest competitor.

As far as the Montgomery County girls, Damascus and Richard Montgomery both had solid performances. Damascus finished in fourth, finishing with their top 5 all below the 21:45 mark. Highlighted by the run of Emily McIlvried (20:15), Damascus looks to pose a threat come October and November. Richard Montgomery finished in tenth place and looks to keep progressing as the season moves along. Freshman Abby Titmas had an impressive run for the Rockets finishing in 22:48.

On to the boys side, Damascus and Richard Montgomery had a much anticipated early season meeting. Although the Moco fans projected RM to finish 6th in the county, many have high expectations seeing that the Rockets bring back their entire top 7. Today, however, Damascus proved that they hold the upper hand. Thomas Arias and Cecil Jones both had top 5 finishes in the "Large School" division with incredible runs, leading their team to victory. Not far behind were Alex Arias and Ben Constantinides, both finishing in the top 15. The Damascus team left it all on the course (for some that included breakfast), but I'm sure the victory was worth it.

Richard Montgomery finished 3rd in the team battle led by Sam Martin's PR of 16:36.

"It felt really good to open up the season this way," said Martin. Martin also said that he thinks his team will be ready down the stretch of the season. The next four finishers for RM finished under 17:30, leading to a 52.5 second spread, the lowest of all boys teams.

The only other Moco school in attendance was Landon, who finished in 4th place (small school division). Jack Strabo finished in 16:40 to lead the injury ridden Bears to a solid finish.