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by Matt Bryant
1A Boys: The individual title should be an easy win for
Izudin Mehmedovic, last year's returning champion. The question
will be "Can Izzy break 16?" as he runs alone to try and
break the course record. The team title will be much closer. Oakland
Mill's, led by Izzy, Westmar led by Sid Bittinger, Loch Raven led
by Paul Hugus and Poolesville led by Brad Baird all have closely
matched teams. It will come down to who wants it more, who has more
heart and who gets their 4-5 in first.
2A Boys: Much "weaker" than in earlier years due
to Linganore and Urbana moving up to 3A. Middletown has been fighting
injury with their top 3 all season and have the ability to win if
they all come through on race day. If not, Towson, led by Steve
Beck and Dan McMenamin or Glenelg, led by Ben Adams, should take
over the 2A title from a long string of Frederick County teams.
Ryan Cartwright of Eastern Tech should be able to run away with
his first state title.
3A boys: Probably the hardest boys race of the meet. You
have Mt Hebron with a strong top 3, River Hill with a great #1 and
pack, Dulaney with a great top 2, Northwest a good, young team and
Linganore with a great pack. Dulaney's combo of talent in the front
and tight pack should be enough to fend off the rest of the teams
while River Hill's Shane Stroup will most likely outkick Billy Duffy
and/or Fanuel Chageza on his way to his first XC state title.
4A boys: Easiest race to call. C Milton Wright will destroy
the field and the only competition their #1 Pat Bailey has is the
clock, as he tries to improve his best Hereford time by 15s and
break the state and course records.
1A Girls: Three freshman against one senior. Freshmen Rachel
Hawes, Jen Patton and Rachel Armstrong are running their first state
championship races against senior Laura Stouffer in her last. Hawes
didn't run a smart first race at Hereford's bull run but has since
"learned" how to race HS XC and should be able to win
this race. But Laura Stouffer won't be handing her last HS XC race
away easily and Hawes' freshman counterparts won't want to be shown
up. As for a team Smithsburg has won the last few titles and will
most likely continue to dominate.
2A girls: North Hagerstown has an amazing top 4 runners
leading them. But they have struggled all season to find a #5 and
that will hurt them the most at a large meet like states. Middletown
was not too far off of them in the MVAL meet and although Emily
Buzzell attempted a comeback it doesn't look like Middletown will
have that gun to use. But Middletown's depth could still prevail
and with great runs from Rocky Morgan and Catherine Rohland could
make a run for NH. Glenelg is the dark horse of the race led by
star Carrie Selmer and with a good 2-4 pack that could mix up the
points.
3A Girls: Four of the top five teams in the state are in
this race. But I think that Dulaney has the race won. Dulaney's
Tenke Zoltani has to fight the clock while Dulaney's Christine Myers
has to fight North Carroll's Tarynn Barker for 2nd place. Dulaney
should come out on top on both occasions. The depth of North Carroll
could take a blow in a very low score Dulaney could achieve. But
your have to throw Walter Johnson in the mix as well as Mt. Hebron
and Urbana. WJ and Urbana both have proven front runners that could
get in the mix and shake up the scoreboard. Each team will only
be able to sit and pray as the final team scores come out.
4A Girls: This race is a battle of comebacks as an injury-ridden
Quince Orchard tries to make a successful comeback led by a comeback
of last year's state champion Karen Pulliam and tries to hold off
defending champions C. Milton Wright while they are in a rebuilding
year. Morgan Little has been running strong races and could lead
her team over QO and continue the string of CMW state victories.
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