Editor's note: Mocorunning conducted a poll before the release of the meet entries and inevitably missed the mark on a few of the "best guess" options. Here is who received the most votes among athletes actually entered in the event.
Below you will read the poll results compiled and written before the release of the meet entries.
Between April 30 and May 4, MoCoRunning.com conducted an online poll to find out the county championship fan favorites. Participants were instructed to select their favorites in each event and rank the top teams for the outdoor county championship meet. 80 valid submissions were received, but voters were not required to vote for every category.
Below you will find the results. The county champion favorites are listed with the percentage of votes received.
How many individual records (boys and girls) will be tied or broken?
3.9
Rk
Boys School
Poll Points
1
Northwest
230
2
Paint Branch
125
3
Quince Orchard
90
4
Richard Montgomery
80
T-5
Gaithersburg Clarksburg
53 53
Avg Answer
Tie Breakers
Winning Boys Team Score
95.7
Analysis
Northwest's Jalen Walker finished first in the voting for the 100, 200, and 400 meter dashes. He has only lost twice in all of those events combined this outdoor season (both second place finishes). However, if he does not run one of the sprint events, expect a battle between Rufus Settles (Sherwood), Jaron Woodyard (Wootton), Jabari Butler (Churchill), and Justin Sorra (Quince Orchard) for the top spot.
Challengers to Walker in the 400 will probably include Clarksburg's Tavis Holland, Paint Branch's Oliver Lloyd and Springbrook's Mayen McClain, as well as the aforementioned Sorra and Settles.
While fans seem pretty confident in Zarate in the 1600 after his 4:09 mile at Penn Relays, the 800 meters should be interesting. Paint Branch's Oliver Lloyd currently holds the top county time (1:54) and Whitman's Evan Woods could be right in the mix.
The 3200 has the potential to be very interesting this season. After back-to-back uncontested wins for Poolesville's Chase Weaverling in 2013 and 2014, the field has opened up. At the top of the class sit Zarate and Woods, but whether both, one, or neither of them run the event is at large. If not, the race could be another tightly-contested showdown between the trio from the indoor season: Walter Johnson's Itai Bezherano, Richard Montgomery's Rohann Asfaw, and Whitman's Amir Khaghani.
Northwest's Shyheim Wright was the top vote-getter in the 110 and 300 hurdles. He will probably be eyeing the meet records of 14.30 and 39.00, respectively. Quince Orchard's Dorian Jones, Watkins Mill's Michael Bonds, and Wright's teammate Andrew Daniels will probably be Wright's top challengers.
None of the top vote getters in each of the three jumps lead the county in the event, surprisingly. The jumping events tend to be rather unpredictable, especially this year, and the voting reflects that. Athletes to watch include Northwest's Aaron Beidleman, the Quince Orchard duo of Dorian Jones and Dylan Bikim, Paint Branch's Uche Osuji, and Seneca Valley's Donovan Beckett-Simms.
In the throws, Noah Vernick of Quince Orchard won the fan voting, but he has some stiff competition in the discus. Two weeks ago, Watkins Mill's Billy Emerson threw a ridiculous 171 feet in the discus - a repeat effort would give him a new county record.
And, of course, the pole vault (which at this point is probably already over), should be a competition between Clarksburg teammates, Chris Spiess and top vote-getter Timothy Santosa.
Northwest was the popular choice for first place on the boys side, and their dominant indoor season justified that. Second place will most likely be a battle between Paint Branch and Quince Orchard, who flip-flopped positions throughout the indoor season, and a strong Richard Montgomery team.
Editor's Choice: Walt Whitman boys to crack the top 5. Distance running alone does not win a track meet, but the Walt Whitman distance boys turned in an historically dominant performance at the Viking Invitational. The Vikings put up two sub-1:58 800s, a sub-4:27 1600, and two sub-10:00 3200s - with five different runners. Only one team in the last ten years has ever replicated this feat in an entire outdoor season. The 2010 Walter Johnson Wildcats ended up achieving this feat over the course of the entire season.
Name
Comments
Monday, May 04, 2015 09:12:10 PM
Whitman had two sub 4:27 1600 runners at viking. Evan woods at 4:18 and alex roederer at 4:26
Monday, May 04, 2015 09:32:44 PM
Diego came 3rd in Penn so we all know who is the better runner here! 😊
Diego Zarate
Monday, May 04, 2015 10:11:26 PM
we got out the vote :)
SAM BAKER
Monday, May 04, 2015 11:10:20 PM
FACE OF STEEL
11
Tuesday, May 05, 2015 12:01:53 PM
Daniel singer is such a gentleman!!!
Alex Roederer
Wednesday, May 06, 2015 01:52:06 AM
Fran motivates me to run. I envision her while I run. We hooked up. I'm a senior. She's 14.
Wednesday, May 06, 2015 07:32:04 AM
If your going to Blaspheme get your facts straight… shes 15
Whitman
Wednesday, May 06, 2015 01:03:35 PM
Preston scherr salty af that he got removed from the track team.
