Official results for MCPS #1 will be posted as soon as possible, but in the mean time, let me share with you what I saw with the naked eye.

We had a great race right off the bat with the girls 500m. Northwest's India Knight drafted behind Springbrook's DeeDee Akpaete as the two pulled way ahead of the rest of the field. Akpaete controlled the race to the line and finished with a time of 1:18 with Knight about a half second back.

The fastest boys 500m could have come out of one of the last two heats. Blake's Darius Oxley charged past Malik Keels of Paint Branch in the last 50m to finish in about 1:09.4. Similarly in the final heat, Northwest's Andrew Kyeremeh charged past Watkins Mill's Sterling Cadeau on the final curve and won the heat in about 1:09.4.

In the girls 55m hurdles, WJ's Laura Dally pressed Wootton's Gwen Shaw and nearly pulled even on the second to last hurdle, but Shaw powered through to win in 8.4h.

Some of the top boys hurdlers were spread out among the many heats. Kaifa Boyce of Gaithersburg won the first (slowest) heat in 8.2h, and Seneca Valley's Darius Lewis won the second heat in 8.2h. Javier Nieto from Magruder won the final heat.

In the first 55-meter matchup between Northwest's Camry Torian and Bethany White, Torian had a fantastic start and got out to an early lead. White closed hard and may have caught Torian at the line. Both girls clocked about 7.0h.

William Yougnia of Watkins Mill won the final heat of the boys 55m in 6.5h. In the previous heat, Einstein's Elijah Thomas won in about 6.4h. We will have to wait and see what the FAT cameras say.

In the girls 1600m, B-CC's Ava Farrell pushed the early pace. A pack of three formed early with Farrell, Abbey Daley, and Naomi Sheppard running through 800m in 2:38. At 1300m, Daley threw down a kick which broke the race open. Daley won the race in 5:17 with Sheppard and Farrell a few seconds behind.

Like with the girls 1600, a pack of three leaders formed almost immediately in the boys 1600m. Evan Laratta led Will Bertrand and Josh Ellis through 800m in 2:13. With a lap to go, the pack remained tight, but Ellis moved from third past Bertrand on the first curve, and then he moved past Laratta on the second curve. He kicked home ahead of Laratta. Each of the seniors ran about 4:26 while Bertrand clocked 4:30.

The girls 300m played out differently from the 55m despite involving many of the same athletes. Bethany White created a lead early, but Camry Torian closed on the final turn and pulled away for the win. DeeDee Akpaete actually finished second. I missed the final time, but I think Torian's time was fast. It might have been under 41 seconds.

I missed him in the scrimmage meet, but Whitman freshman Rio Chiba is a legitimate star. He outkicked Watkins Mill's William Yougnia in the 300m to finish in 36.5, which is by far the fastest 300m time by a MoCo freshman since Mocorunning.com was built six years ago. Chiba is the son of a Japanese diplomat and has lived in Japan and China. He will move from this area next year, so we will enjoy watching him while he is here for a short time.

As for Yougnia, he only began training last week after a long soccer season. He knew how fast Chiba was from summer track, but he had never lost to him.

Clarksburg's Barry Solomon also ran about 36.5 in an earlier heat.

Coming back from the 500m, India Knight controlled the girls 800m from start to finish. She split 74 seconds through 400m to open a gap on the field. B-CC's Ava Farrell changed gears and started to close the gap on Knight. Northwest's Naomi Sheppard followed and eventually passed Farrell. Knight took first in 2:27. Sheppard and Farrell each ran about 2:28.

Darius Oxley of Blake pulled the 800m race out in 30 seconds. Sherwood's Nick Johnson took over the lead through 400 meters in 61 seconds. After 1:32 on the third lap, Oxley charged back into the lead and held Johnson off to finish in 2:04.

Clarksburg's Abbey Daley split 5:44 for the 1600 enroute to her second victory of the day. She won the girls 3200m in 11:40. Poolesville's Chelsie Pennello was second in 11:58 and B-CC's Laura Nakasaka held off her freshman teammate, 12:08 to 12:10.

Which B-CC McFreshman ran 12:10? That would be junior varsity soccer player Caroline Beakes, or should we say "McBeakes?" That's right. In addition to the four B-CC girls who landed on Mocorunning's All-Freshman XC Team this fall, B-CC landed a fifth talented freshman, a JV soccer player, who ran 12:10 in the first meet.

Clarksburg's Will Bertrand ran a pretty evenly-paced 3200m race following his third place performance in the 1600. He hit the halfway mark in 5:02, and then created separation from WJ's Will Delay and Poolesville's Chase Weaverling with splits of 37-38 seconds. He ran 2:25 for the last 800m including a 33 second final lap to win in 10:00. WJ's newcomer, Delay, was second in 10:07 and Weaverling finished in 10:09.