This week was probably (knock on wood) the FINAL week of summer weather, as temperatures dropped toward more fall-like levels over the weekend. The result was a Saturday filled with some unbelievably fast performances. Here's what happened this week in Moco:

- The Walter Johnson/B-CC girls matchup on Tuesday was as advertised. WJ's Abigail Green did not run and B-CC's Virginia Brown did not finish, leaving both teams still very evenly matched. Walter Johnson's Katriane Kirsch pulled out the individual win, leading the Wildcat girls to a narrow 26-29 victory over their Bethesda rivals. Get your popcorn ready for this year's county meet. On the boys side, Richard Montgomery's Rohann Asfaw did not run, opening the door for the B-CC boys to go 1-2-3 and secure easy victories over Walter Johnson and Richard Montgomery. They certainly have looked like one of the top teams in the county in the early going.

- Gaithersburg unveiled this year's brand-new 4A West Regional course (not the same as the county course) against a bunch of 3A teams. Poolesville's Andrew Lent and Ryan Lockett finished 1-2 for a much-improved Poolesville boys squad that is looking to win Division 3. On the girls side, Nandini Satsangi beat Damascus' Heather Delaplaine in a matchup of two of the top runners in the 3A classification, leading the Poolesville girls to a team sweep as well. Read Kevin Milsted's recap of the meet and the new course here.

(Photo Credit: Dustin Whitlow with permission from Runwashington) - This weekend was an exciting one in the county. The biggest meet of the weekend, the DCXC Invite, featured some of the top performances of the season to date. Moco individual champions included Churchill freshman Nicholas Karayianis and Whitman sophomore Aaron Bratt, the latter of whom tied with Wootton sophomore John Riker (second place) for the fastest Moco time of the meet at 15:37. WJ's Abigail Green finished second in the junior race with a time of 17:14, finishing with the second-fastest time overall on the day; unfortunately, she happens to be in the same grade as George C. Marshall's Heather Holt. NOTE: the meet director, Desmond Dunham, says the course is officially 3.07 miles.

- Another one of the large meets in the state this weekend was the Spiked Shoe Invitational where Paint Branch, Gaithersburg, Blair and Sherwood were present (all in the morning session). Paint Branch's Yasmine Kass finished fourth in the girls varsity morning race, running 19:08. The Blair girls were the top Moco team, finishing ninth overall; the Paint Branch boys also finished ninth in the boys race. The top boys performer was Gaithersburg's Peter Antonetti, who ran 16:57.50 and was the only Moco boy to crack the 17 minute mark.

- Coach Addison Hunt and Landon hosted the annual Landon Invitational, in what ended up being one of the largest field's in the meet's history. Landon's Wesley Feldman (1st, 17:15) led his team to a win on their home course in the Brown division. Read Kevin Milsted's meet recap here.

- Einstein was the lone Moco representative at the Westminster Invitational this weekend. Junior Simeon Mussie placed second overall in the boys race, running a new personal best of 16:26.90. Overall the Einstein boys finished third; the girls, fifth.

What's Next: This week is the second-to-last week of divisional action. A couple quad meets highlight the schedule: Gaithersburg, Northwood and Blair will visit Blake on Tuesday, while Sherwood hosts Einstein, Northwest and Whitman. Richard Montgomery, Churchill and Wootton should be a good one on Wednesday. This weekend will feature mostly out-of-state meets, including Octoberfest in Virginia and the Paul Short Invitational in Pennsylvania. One of the few Maryland invitationals this weekend will be the Urbana Invitational, a popular meet among teams in Western Moco.