Boys Picks
Sherwood over Northwest
Churchill over Walter Johnson
Churchill over Wootton
Walter Johnson over Wootton
Richard Montgomery over Damascus
Richard Montgomery over B-CC
B-CC over Damascus
Poolesville over Magruder
Rockville over Springbrook
Einstein over Clarksburg
Einstein over Blair
Clarksburg over Blair
Blake over Seneca Valley
Wheaton over Northwood
Wheaton over Kennedy
Wheaton over Watkins Mill
Northwood over Kennedy
Northwood over Watkins Mill
Kennedy over Watkins Mill
Girls Picks
Sherwood over Northwest
Churchill over Walter Johnson
Wootton over Churchill
Wootton over Walter Johnson
Richard Montgomery over Damascus
B-CC over Richard Montgomery
B-CC over Damascus
Magruder over Poolesville
Springbrook over Rockville
Clarksburg over Einstein
Blair over Einstein
Blair over Clarksburg
Blake over Seneca Valley
Northwood over Wheaton
Kennedy over Wheaton
Watkins Mill over Wheaton
Kennedy over Northwood
Northwood over Watkins Mill
Kennedy over Watkins Mill
Girls Standings
Quince Orchard
3-0
Churchill
1-0
Wootton
2-1
Sherwood
1-1
Walter Johnson
0-2
Northwest
0-3
Whitman
1-0
R. Montgomery
1-0
Damascus
1-0
B-CC
1-1
Magruder
0-1
Poolesville
0-2
Blair
2-0
Clarksburg
1-0
Springbrook
2-1
Gaithersburg
1-2
Einstein
1-2
Rockville
0-2
Kennedy
3-0
Northwood
2-0
Seneca Valley
3-1
Blake
2-2
Watkins Mill
0-1
Wheaton
0-3
Paint Branch
0-3
Boys Standings
Walter Johnson
2-0
Churchill
1-0
Quince Orchard
2-1
Wootton
2-1
Sherwood
0-2
Northwest
0-3
Poolesville
2-0
Whitman
1-0
R. Montgomery
1-0
Damascus
0-1
Magruder
0-1
B-CC
0-2
Einstein
3-0
Gaithersburg
2-1
Clarksburg
1-0
Rockville
1-1
Blair
0-2
Springbrook
0-4
Paint Branch
5-0
Northwood
2-0
Wheaton
3-2
Blake
2-2
Seneca Valley
1-3
Kennedy
0-3
Watkins Mill
0-3
Division I
Before diving into the meet of the week, let's review last week's meet at Quince Orchard. After talking to coaches and athletes from Quince Orchard and Wootton, it sounds like the boys and girls races both played out similarly. Wootton jumped out to an early lead and then had a meltdown in the final mile.
Alternatively, you could say that Quince Orchard ran brilliantly at home.
The Wootton girls should not have lost that race as deep as they are, but Catherine Panasenkov had a clutch performance, securing third place to guarantee a 1-2-3 sweep for Quince Orchard. Quince Orchard has not been crowned the division champion just yet because they still have to beat the Churchill and Sherwood girls and it is very unlikely QO takes a top-3 sweep over Churchill's Lucy Srour. Wootton is hoping to straighten out and defeat Churchill and WJ this week and then wait and see if Quince Orchard will falter next week.
David Levine and Joshua Trzeciak said that they were super-amped and super-pumped up for the Quince Orchard meet and that is why they ran a really hard first mile at the challenging Smokey Glen course. They will need to take a chill pill to stay calm for this major three-way matchup against Walter Johnson and Churchill, but getting out hard on this particular course is not a bad idea due to its narrow pathways.
Truly, its not up to Trzeciak and Levine to get the team win. It will be up to the fourth and fifth runners and from the Bull Run Invitational results, it seems Wootton doesn't have the depth to take down WJ or Churchill yet.
Zach Weinstein is out. The rest of Churchill should be ready to go. I personally think the dual meet between Churchill and Walter Johnson is too close to call, but I don't want wimp out so I'll make a few bold predictions. Churchill 26...Walter Johnson 29. Josh Ellis will pull away from Josh Trzeciak in the final half mile for the win, but Churchill will take 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 against WJ. A great race by Scott Sheehan or Ben Crites could easily tilt the score the other way in favor of WJ.
Division II
The Poolesville boys have really been stepping up with the big 4A schools this year which they showed with their second place performance in the large schools race at the Bull Run Invitational. I don't suspect Poolesville will be intimidated by Magruder's larger team this week. Both teams are working on bringing along their fifth man, but I think Poolesville is a little stronger up front so I think they should remain undefeated.
Division III
The Einstein boys should claim the division title with relative ease this week at Clarksburg. It will be the girls race that is a little more interesting. Blair was clearly the better team this weekend at the Bull Run Invitational, but Clarksburg was missing its usual #5 and may be unveiling a strong freshman girl for the first time this week.
Division IV
Northwood and Kennedy will race for the girls division title at Wheaton. This one could be just as epic as the boys matchup between WJ and Churchill, except not quite as fast. The two teams are pretty evenly matched, but it is not good timing for Northwood who just ran at Hereford last Saturday. Kennedy will be fresh and hungry for the win.
Northwood and Wheaton boys could potentially have a close matchup. Northwood would like to stay undefeated before their matchup with Paint Branch next week, but if Bull Run was scored as a dual meet, Wheaton still would have defeated Northwood.
