Let's start with the most impressive group of performances of the meet: boys jumps. Renaldo Smith of Sherwood wants a slow clap and it's about time that we gave it to him. Kicking off the season with a 45 foot triple jump in the first week of December is rare. Only two other MoCo athletes have recorded 45 foot jumps in the month of December in the last decade (Donovan Beckett-Simms and Carlos Vanzego) and they were both seniors when they did it. Smith is a junior. Robert Gicheru of Northwest High School spends a moment centered in front of the bar before each big jump. With all other competitors eliminated, he had a moment in front of the bar with head coach Robert Youngblood and proceeded to clear a new personal best 6-foot-4-inches. Sticking with the same analysis as Smith in the triple jump, Josh Netterville of Northwest High School was just the third MoCo athlete in the last decade to jump 22 feet in the long jump in the month of December. His leap of 22-01.25 was just 0.75 inches off his all-time personal best. It's a shame that Maryand does not contest the long jump at the indoor state championship. It appears like Netterville is primed for an all-time great indoor campaign by a MoCo athlete. Netterville also opened up the season matching his personal best in the 55-meter dash with a mark of 6.47. He was already the fourth fastest MCPS athlete in the 55-meter event in the last decade, but this performace made him the fastest ever in the month of December with one caveat: the use of fully automatic timing (FAT) in MCPS meets in the month of December is still a relatively new development. The final heat of the boys 300-meter was won by Netterville but only after a final burst across the line. Northwest's Khaloni Mganga, the defending county champ at 400- and 500-meters, ran furiously from an outside lane like this summer's Olympic champ, Wayde Van Niekerk. He fought to hold off Springbrook's Alvin Mukisa with a time of 36.24, but Netterville took the win with a burst in 36.20. Mganga and Mukisa are shown above. Netterville also anchored the winning 4x200-meter relay to complete his four victories on the day. Blair's Thierry Siewe Yanga could not be beaten last spring and it does not look like he can be beaten early this winter. He ran out front to win the 500m and 800m in 1:08.03 and 1:59.39 respectively. His closest competitor in both events was Ngoy Jeriel Yamitshi who ran 1:08.72 and 2:02.42, although he ran out of a different heat in the 800m. Siewe Yanga is third best in the 500-meter and fourth best in the 800-meter in the month of December by a Montgomery County athlete in the last decade. B-CC's Adam Nakasaka notched the double victory in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs. In the 1600, Nakasaka employed a sit and kick tactic and defeated Northwest's Chase Osborne 4:38.12 to 4:39.83. In the 3200, Nakasaka took the lead early and ran away from the field with a final time of 9:50.54. The top returning MCPS 110-meter hurdler (15.11) is now the top ranked MCPS 55-meter hurdler early this season. Blake's Brian Dennis registered a sub-8-second performance (7.99) in his first official attempt. Welcome to indoor track, Brian Dennis. Seneca Valley's Olawola Layeni improved by more than a foot from where he left off last spring to register the top performance of the day in the boys shot put. His best mark of 45-11.50 beat out the defending indoor and outdoor state champ, Jabari Bennett of Blake. Northwest High School swept the three relays with impressive times of 1:33.07, 3:30.93, and 8:14.94. The 4x2 was the fastest by an MCPS team in the month of December since 2008, the 4x8 was the fastest by an MCPS team in the month of December since 2011, and the 4x4 was the fastest by an MCPS team in the month of December in more than a decade. Northwest topped the team scoring with 130.75 points. Blake was the next closest with 41 points.