As exciting as it was to watch the showdown between the Northwest and Walter Johnson girls last week, the real fight at the 4a west regional meet will be for seventh place. Six of the thirteen teams in the region will end their seasons on the spot while seven move on to state level competition.
Below, I've calculated the score of the county meet with only 4a west region teams. This includes all junior varsity runners who out-performed runners in the varsity races, assuming that coaches will put in their best runners. There were not many serious absences at the county meet so this is a good indicator.
Girls:
Walter Johnson 52
Northwest 58
Thomas S. Wootton 87
Walt Whitman 101
Winston Churchill 135
Bethesda Chevy Chase 160
Sherwood 173
Richard Montgomery 202
Montgomery Blair 232
Gaithersburg 267
Magruder 297
Paint Branch 385
Springbrook NS
Walter Johnson, Northwest, Wootton, and Whitman should safely advance to states. Churchill, B-CC, and Sherwood have the final three spots on paper, but this is the gray area. Richard Montgomery is a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores that have been improving quickly in the second half of the season. Blair, Gaithersburg, and Magruder are also young, and although it seems like a long shot for Magruder, I believe they were missing one of their top girls at the county meet. Out of that crowd, Abby Spitler of Gaithersburg is the only sure individual qualifier, while Emma Tolerton of RM and Myla Sapp and Jennifer Sholar of Blair may have shots at top 25% finishes. Springbrook did not have a full scoring team at the county meet, but because they are entering a full team in the regional meet, seven teams will indeed qualify even if all five girls do not show up.
Boys:
Walter Johnson 42
Winston Churchill 89
Walt Whitman 115
Richard Montgomery 136
Northwest 144
Magruder 161
Sherwood 184
Thomas S. Wootton 196
Bethesda Chevy Chase 210
Gaithersburg 229
Springbrook 312
Paint Branch 351
Montgomery Blair 370
On paper, Wootton is the team on the outside looking in. Wootton's strong pack does not have the studs that Sherwood, Magruder and the other teams have, which hurts their chances. B-CC and Gaithersburg are both having uncharacteristic seasons. B-CC, just two years removed from a 3A state title, has Eliot Gerson who will qualify individually if the team does not. Gaithersburg, who has a 12 year streak of qualifying for the state meet in consecutive years, will probably break that streak this year while the Stepek brothers move on. Hayder Cherinet of Paint Branch and Willy Wise of Springbrook are good bets to qualify individually.
Note: I will not be previewing any other regions.
Name
Comments
Anonymous
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 01:12:02 PM
No 3A? I guess that's the norm for mocorunning. 4A and done.
:(
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 01:56:23 PM
3A= not good enough?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 02:18:03 PM
u can't preview everything peeps...chill
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 02:37:55 PM
3A isnt really interesting.....sorry
dave
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 03:00:53 PM
kevin puts in a ton of work for this. relax and maybe it will be up later
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 03:20:59 PM
3a should be use to this kind of treatment by now
Kevin
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 03:44:55 PM
Hi Everyone. For those who don't know, I have a full time job and maintain this website as a hobby. I follow Montgomery County schools year around because I enjoy doing it. I don't follow every team outside of Montgomery County with as much passion, but I usually start researching them at about this time of year. I'm not going to preview the 3A West or the 3A East or the 3A North or the 3A South because those regions have teams that are not in Montgomery County that I am not familiar with. You can contact me anytime to help me further understand your criticism or if you want to learn how you can help.
:)
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 04:32:27 PM
Haha... no one really cares about the others... damascus... haha
chill
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 05:28:29 PM
yeah please everyone chill out. kevin is the man. and no eliot gerson anymore. hes done for his school. likely not to see him again until outdoor.
B-CC
Thursday, November 05, 2009 06:50:17 AM
Too bad Eliot Gerson won't be running for B-CC ... he's no longer a member of the team.
3A Coach
Thursday, November 05, 2009 12:22:09 PM
Thanks for all the work that you put into this site.
Time changes for the starts of todays' 4A/3A:
3:00 4A girls
3:30 3A girls (5 minutes earlier)
4:00 4A boys
4:30 3A boys (15 minutes earlier to avoid darkness with a 5:03 sunset)
