Girls
Blake over Springbrook
Richard Montgomery over Magruder
Richard Montgomery over Sherwood
Sherwood over Magruder
Walter Johnson over Gaithersburg
Kennedy over Wheaton
Kennedy over Einstein
Einstein over Wheaton
Northwest over Clarksburg
Northwest over Quince Orchard
Clarksburg over Quince Orchard
B-CC over Whitman
Blair over Rockville
Watkins Mill over Seneca Valley
Damascus over Poolesville
Wootton over Churchill
Boys
Blake over Springbrook
Richard Montgomery over Magruder
Richard Montgomery over Sherwood
Magruder over Sherwood
Gaithersburg over Walter Johnson
Kennedy over Wheaton
Einstein over Kennedy
Einstein over Wheaton
Clarksburg over Northwest
Quince Orchard over Northwest
Clarksburg over Quince Orchard
Whitman over B-CC
Rockville over Blair
Watkins Mill over Seneca Valley
Damascus over Poolesville
Churchill over Wootton
Division I
Wootton and Churchill are taking the dual meet rivalry to the next level. This is not your typical Wednesday afternoon dual meet. This is "Friday Night Spikes," a rivalry meet beginning at 5:30 PM and contested under the stadium lights at Churchill. The event is being promoted via Facebook with special invitations to alumni and students at both high schools. An experienced track announcer will call the meet from the press box.
Churchill coach Dave Warren explains that the primary reason for the Friday night meet is to give the student bodies at the respective schools and the athletes' parents a chance to watch the track team compete. There won't be any other contests or practices going on at the time of the meet and it is more convenient for parents who work a typical weekday schedule so there are less excuses not to show up.
"I have seen the crowds for the Wootton vs. Churchill football and lacrosse games and they are huge. Why not for our sport?"
Wootton coach Kelly Redmond thought the Friday night rivalry meet was a great idea from the start.
"Wootton and Churchill definitely have a rivalry across many of the sports but with track there are also a lot of good friends between the teams, which just makes this that much more fun," says Redmond. "There is something very cool about a meet like this, it is more of an 'event' rather than just an after school dual meet."
The top storyline of the meet will by Will Conway vs. Joshua Trzeciak. Conway established himself as the MoCo middle distance king this past indoor season, but Trzeciak dethroned Conway with a breakout 4:18.8 mile performance at the Cougar Relays before spring break. This meet will be the first time either athlete has raced in 13 days, and if there are any doubters as to Trzeciak's legitimacy, this will be his chance to prove that his performances thus far this season are not flukes.
On the girls side, we are witnessing Gwen Shaw and Sylvia Deppen pushing the limits of what the all-time great MoCo hurdlers have accomplished. In fact, MoCo's greatest hurdler in history, Audrey Gariepy-Bogui, owns the Churchill stadium records in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.05 and the 300-meter hurdles in 44.57. Shaw and Deppen have both been under 44.57 already this year.
As for the team battle, the Wootton girls are competing like one of the strongest teams in the state and should get the 'W.' The boys meet is difficult to predict. In addition to the exciting matchups in the distance events, Justin Hassani has been sprinting well for Wootton this year while Micah Phillips-Spencer has been far from 100% healthy and unable to race 100's and 200's. Fans can also check out the throwing events where Churchill has the advantage with state champ Nadim Elhage.
The Gaithersburg boys can win the division with a win over Walter Johnson this week. Gaithersburg has cleaned up in the hurdles in every dual meet so far, but the hurdle points will not come as easily against Elad Covaliu and company. If WJ can prevent complete domination by Gaithersburg in the field events, it might have enough strength on the track to defeat Gaithersburg, but Gaithersburg is the favorite here.
Division II
It may not be on a Friday night under the lights, but divisional meets don't get much bigger than Wednesday's matchup between the three undefeated teams in Division II. Winner takes all as Northwest hosts Clarksburg and Quince Orchard just three days after the end of spring break.
Many thought that Clarksburg might take the boys indoor county title this winter, but it was Quince Orchard which put on the best all-around performance that day. Outdoor track has been a different story. Clarksburg made a statement by winning its home invitational by over 50 points, well ahead of Quince Orchard. Clarksburg was the strongest of the MoCo teams at the Cougar Relays, finishing ahead of QO and Northwest. Thus far this season, Clarksburg has looked like the undeniable top team in MoCo and this meet is a chance to truly stake that claim from now until the county championship in May.
Few people saw it coming when the Clarksburg girls competed with Northwest almost point-for-point at the indoor county championship. The Quince Orchard girls were not far behind with the emergence of Sierra Isaac in the jumps. QO and Clarksburg are also strong in the throws. While Northwest is re-writing the record books in the relays, pay attention to the points accumulating in the field events. The major difference between indoors and outdoors is that Northwest now has Kendra Meredith to offset Isaac and Bailee Freeman's points in the jumps, making Northwest appear on paper as pretty close to unstoppable.
Division III
The Richard Montgomery boys team spread its talent around to defeat Paint Branch by a narrow margin before spring break. With a similar performance, RM can defeat Magruder and Sherwood this week to improve to 4-0.
As for the girls, I was rather impressed after watching the RM girls defeat Paint Branch last week and I think they will win handily this week to also improve to 4-0.
Division IV
The winner of the Einstein versus Kennedy boys matchup will most likely take the Division IV title.
Kennedy has some fire power but Einstein has a nicely balanced team with some distance runners and throwers to add up points.
The Einstein girls are undefeated while Kennedy has one loss, but Kennedy has a few new athletes and is looking strong this outdoor season. If Kennedy's girls do defeat Einstein, Blair will have sole posession of first place in Division IV. If Einstein takes the win, it sets up a Division IV finale with Blair and Northwood at Einstein next week.
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Monday, April 09, 2012 02:42:07 PM
Sherwood over Magruder (boys)
Monday, April 09, 2012 03:05:56 PM
Don't down the worriors PLEASE!!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:06:43 AM
I'm a big Conway fan, but its always interesting to see an underdog emerge. Trzeciak vs Conway
