MoCoRunning.com conducted an open online poll between August 14 and August 29 for anyone to rank their top teams in the county. 45 valid boys team votes were collected and tabulated to form the ranking you see below.

1. Walter Johnson - 4A West
Poll Points: 415
2009 County Finish: 1st
2009 State Finish: 1st
Walter Johnson returns four of their top six runners from their 2009 state championship team. In a preseason time trial, their fifth man, Robert Brown, ran 10:21 for two miles. They will be pursuing the threepeat at counties, regions, and states after sweeping the post season meets for the last two years. In this poll, they received 24 of the 45 first place votes.

Tie Breaker: The tie breaker question asked the voters to predict the winning score at the county championship meet regardless of who they thought would win. The average answer for the boys was 54.2 points. Last year the winning score was 46.

2. Winston Churchill - 4A West
Poll Points: 397
2009 County Finish: 2nd
2009 State Finish: 2nd
Winston Churchill returns five of their top six runners from a team that placed second at the state championship and sixth at the NXN Southeast Regional Meet. Plenty of fans believe that Churchill can win the county title this year. They received 19 first place votes in this poll.

3. Sherwood - 4A West
Poll Points: 292
2009 County Finish: 9th
2009 State Finish: 14th
Dan Reeks's teams don't stay down for long. Sherwood was only ninth in the county last year but returns all but two scoring members and showed good improvement during track.

4. Quince Orchard - 3A West
Poll Points: 222
2009 County Finish: 7th
2009 State Finish: 2nd
QO finished second at the 3A state championship and returns two big guns in Conor Spaulding and Evan Laratta.

5. Northwest - 4A West
Poll Points: 195
2009 County Finish: 6th
2009 State Finish: 6th
Northwest returns its top three runners and five of its top six from the sixth place team at states.

6. Richard Montgomery - 4A West
Poll Points: 191
2009 County Finish: 5th
2009 State Finish: 5th
Richard Montgomery graduated three of its top five runners from last year. Their cross country outlook is good, but their 4x800 relay looks great with Sam Martin, Jacob Cantor, and David Hamilton returning.

7. Damascus - 3A West
Poll Points: 187
2009 County Finish: 3rd
2009 State Finish: 1st
The perception is that Damascus has completely unloaded, but they still return three of the top six from the state championship squad.

8. Einstein - 3A West
Poll Points: 150
2009 County Finish: 14th
2009 State Finish: 9th
Einstein has not finished in the top ten at the county championship meet in at least fifteen years and probably even longer. You heard it on mocorunning that this year's Einstein team will contend for the 3A state title.

9. Wootton - 4A West
Poll Points: 106
2009 County Finish: 10th
2009 State Finish: DNR
Wootton has not qualified for the state championship in six years, but several consecutive strong freshman classes make Wootton a competitive team this year.

10. Bethesda Chevy Chase - 4A West
Poll Points: 80
2009 County Finish: 11th
2009 State Finish: DNR
B-CC had injuries and other issues last year, but they will have a good pack of four or five runners if they stay healthy.