Waking up this morning was a strange experience for me. As I am sure most of you can relate, saturdays in Spring are usually devoted to track and track alone. I felt a little empty on the inside as I ate two bowls of Lucky Charms cereal rather than the standard peanut-butter bagel I usually force down on race day. Even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 could not fill the emptiness I felt, so I figured the only solution would be a track meet. Seeing as the WCAC championships were a lot farther from my home than the Montgomery County "B" Championships, I promptly hopped in my car to rush and see what the "B" of MoCo had to offer.

I pulled up just in time to see the final three laps of the last section of the boys' 1600m. Scott Sheehan of WJ seemed to have pretty dominant control over the race, but a late-charging Adam Rosenberg of Churchill provided some competition for the sophomore in the final 200 meters. Sheehan won over Rosenberg 4:43 to 4:44, and Dan Spencer of Walter Johnson placed 3rd in 4:45. The fastest freshman in the race was Adam Tolnay of RM in 4:47.

After catching my breath following the excitement of the 1600, I took a look around the Whitman stadium. About half of all athletes at the meet were wearing compression shorts. They really are becoming epidemic. The overly-loquacious Jennifer Spencer then took the time to fill me in on highlights of the morning. She also demanded that I write this article instead of her. Thanks, Jennifer.

The girls' 100m was won by Morgan Stickler of Clarksburg in around 13.2h. The sophomore also placed second in the long jump to freshman Marilyn Rodriguez of RM. In the boys' 100m, both Langston Caldwell of Watkins Mill and Stephen Ucheommu of Kennedy ran under the meet record of 11.4h. The two ran 11.1h and 11.4h, respectively.

In the girls' 100m hurdles, Noella Anyangwe of Clarskburg won by over a second in a commanding 16.6h. Her teammate Amanda Neff finished not too far behind in 18.0h, but long jump champ Marilyn Rodriguez of RM managed to break up the possible 1-2 sweep by Clarksburg in 17.7h. Adding an extra ten meters on the boys' side, Abdel Ndam of Kennedy won in 16.6h while Jalen Muse of Northwest placed second in 16.9h, narrowly outrunning Kenneth Hunsley of Damascus (16.95h).

B-CC showed dominance in the girls' 4x800m relay by placing both first (10:24.9) and second (11:06) in the race. Their "A" squad recently ran 9:47 for 4th place at the MoCo "A" Championships, so expect big things from this deep group of 800m runners in coming years. The WJ boys won the 4x800m by almost 20 seconds in 8:40. Freshman Ben Crites jumped out to an early lead with a 2:08 split, while junior Nicky Fowler widened the gap for the final two legs with a 2:07 split.

In the girls' 1600, Sarah Sekscienski of Northwest was able to fend off Madeline Rico of Wooton 5:30.1 to 5:30.3. Jennifer tells me that this was perhaps the race of the day; perhaps if I hadn't been so absorbed with pwning n00bs in Call of Duty I might have been able to see it.

Jumping forward a little bit, I admittedly got pretty into the final heat of the girls' 4x200m. Clarksburg barely held off Churchill, winning by less than half a second: 1:56.5 to 1:56.9. In the boys' race, Watkins Mill flexed its sprint muscle just as it did at County "A's" by setting a meet record time of 1:34.6. This time would have placed the relay 7th place against the "A" teams of the county.

Northwest senior Michaela Gramzinski won the girls' 400m in 62.4 over Ali Schumacher of Wootton (62.6). Schumacher is listed as a 7th grader in the results; if this is true then more power to her. Nicky Fowler of WJ ran 54.3 in the first heat of the boys' 400m, but was later pushed to 3rd in the final heat by Matt Carlson of Kennedy (53.0) and Spencer Williams of Watkins Mill (54.0).

Out of a 36-person field, Wootton sophomore Karen Cohen took the girls' 3200m in 12:12 over freshman Lottie Nalls of Whitman (12:17). The boys' side showed a little more depth with Scott Sheehan taking off in the last 600m from a large group of runners to win in 10:16. Freshman Vik Siberry of Sherwood also unleashed over the final portion of the race to finish second in 10:22, narrowly outkicking Justin Rheingold of Churchill (10:23).

Marilyn Rodriguez of RM left her mark again in the 300m hurdles, placing first in 51.8. Only a freshman, she showed great versatility today between the jumps and hurdles and will be an athlete to watch out for in the near future. Peter Schalch of Whitman won the boys' race in 42.8 over Kenneth Hunsley of Damascus (44.0).

The top three spots of the girls' 800m were swept by freshmen. Caroline Leuba of BCC placed first in 2:30.8, Kirsten Schroeder of Wootton placed second in 2:34.3, and Catherine Panasenkov of QO placed third in 2:36.2. Nick Hahn of Wootton controlled the boys' race from the start and won by almost 3 seconds in 2:06.2. Freshmen Dewayne Johnson of Clarksburg and Adam Tolnay of RM each ran 2:09 for second and third respectively.

Last year's 4x100m meet record of 53.3h by Paint Branch was broken by the girls' 4x100m squad of Clarksburg in a speedy 53.0h. Watkins Mill replicated the feat on the boys' side, outrunning QO 2009's 45.9h with 45.4h. The WJ squad that placed second in 48.5h proceeded to cry uncontrollably on the infield.

The 4x400m "B" squads of Northwest and Watkins Mill appeared to be channeling their county champion "A" counterparts in the final races of the day, with the Northwest girls running 4:29.3 and the Watkins Mill boys running 3:36.9.

I will admit to not seeing any of the field events (too lazy to find them at the meet) or the jumping events (arrived too late), but the results seem to tell enough of a story. Jennifer Nguyen of Paint Branch won the girls' shot put by a foot over Christyna Falden of Blake in 28'7". Xiomara Portillo of Seneca Valley won the girls' discus in 78'8" over Stefanie Minto of Paint Branch. Sophomore Sean Liu of QO won the boys' shot in 38'6 over Kevin Toula of Gaithersburg. Nate Betts of Damascus won the boys' discus in 123' over Patrick Schlosser of Watkins Mill.

In the jumps, Sarah Leaman won yet another event for Clarksburg by high jumping 4'8". Morgan Stickler also brought home another gold for the C-Burg by triple jumping 30'5". Patrick Schlosser of Watkins Mill, who also placed 2nd in the discus, won the boys' high jump in 5'8". But just like their female counterparts, Joseph Paul and Jared Thompson of Clarksburg won the boys' triple jump and long jump in 39'1" and 18'7" respectively.

A few closing thoughts: Watkins Mill is seriously deep this year. The boys' "B" squad won the meet by almost 20 points. The same goes for Clarksburg girls, who won the meet by almost 30 points. Also, Jennifer Spencer is seriously a lazy person. Finally, who is to blame for the spread of compression shorts? If you have an answer please leave it in the comment section.