Flashback to 2007:

Neal Darmody of Quince Orchard High School outkicked Atlee's Ben Dejarnette in a thrilling finish at the Glory Days Invitational. Darmody went on to break the county championship course record and win a few state titles on the track.

On that same day, young Chris Miller, a small freshman with hair down to his shoulders, won the Glory Days freshman-only race by 15 seconds. In his next three races, he placed 12th in the county, 12th in the region, and 11th in the state.

Fast Forward to 2010:

After a haircut and three years of steady improvement, today Miller became the first Maryland boy to win the Glory Days invitational since Darmody did it in 2007. He often led the race, but was also in second place at times allowing Handley's Thomas Delaney to lead the way. Over the final half mile, he said that Delaney must have just died and another runner reappeared that he did not know (it was Abraham Yacob of Robert E. Lee). He said he just ran his best and came up with the win in 15:35, a new Montgomery County best 5k time this season.

When asked if he remembered that day in 2007 when he won the freshman-only race, he said that it felt like only just a minute ago.

The fast and furious four years of high school fly by so quickly, but when your blood can transport oxygen like Chris Miller's, you don't have to stop to catch a breath. Not only does he have his eyes set on the state championship meet in November, he is working towards completing his Eagle Scout Board of Review and applying to the US Naval Academy.

The Good Counsel boys were the top placing Montgomery County team with a fourth place finish led by Jack Riely in 15:59.

Conor Spaulding of Quince Orchard was one place ahead of Riely with a time of 15:58.

The Northwest freshman Naomi Sheppard had another big day to boost the Northwest girls to fourth place in the seeded race. Sheppard had a big personal best time of 20:32 and was only 11 seconds back of their #4 runner, Kai Santangelo. Coach Muehl says that Sula Ndousse-Fetter will be out for the season so she is thrilled to see someone stepping up into that fifth spot.

Britt Eckerstrom led the entire seeded field for about half the race before the strong Virginians took over. She placed 9th in 18:58, which is the second fastest 5k by a Montgomery County girl this season. The trio of Christine DiNardo, Kai Santangelo, and Sarah Sekscienski finished in 19:51, 20:10, and 20:21.

The Northwest girls won the MCPS division title by one point over Whitman, but have recently lost to Whitman in three major invitationals. When asked about this, Muehl said that she was enjoying the competition between two strong programs in Montgomery County. Does she want to win the county title in two weeks? Heck yes, she does.