Oakland Mills is favored to win the county boys cross country championship, but faces challenges from Atholton and Centennial.
Atholton is favored to win the girls title with Centennial and Oakland Mills considered the chief competition.
Atholton Raiders
The girls team finished third in the county, first in the region and third in the state and returns five of its top seven runners.
All-Metro first-team junior Dana Strickland is expected to be the county's top runner now that Glenelg's Alicia Adams has graduated. Strickland finished second in the county (19 minutes, 42 seconds), first in the region and third in the state (19:36). Strickland won the outdoor Class 2A state mile title last spring (5:13.4).
Joining Strickland are sophomore Amanda Lipscomb (16th in the county, 32nd state), sophomore Chelsea Hartz (31st state), senior Ammera El Sawi (19th county, 58th state) and Jessica Henry (28th county, 61st state). Sophomore Laura Smith is also promising.
The Atholton boys finished third in the county, second in the region and fifth in the state.
Junior Zack Tropf, (11th county, 24th state) is the top returnee, but junior Anthony Fleg (21st county, 29th state) won Atholton's first time trial this season. Senior Chad Boothe (35th county) and senior Brandon Hartz (25th county) give the Raiders four of their top seven from last season. Sophomore Travis Bradshaw has impressed so far.
Centennial Eagles
The Eagles return three of their top seven runners from the girls team that won county and region titles and finished third in the state.
All-Metro first-team junior Kari Meyer hopes to challenge Strickland at the county championship. Meyer finished third in the county (19:49), seven seconds behind Strickland, and was seventh in the state (19:48).
Joining Meyer are junior Meredith Brisco (15th county) and sophomore Allison Pople (10th county). Junior Jessica Tatania, senior Susannah Cox, sophomore Allison Tripp and junior Stephanie Hepburn round out the top seven. Junior Emily Winings also is expected to help.
The boys team won its first state title since 1980 and returns three of its top seven runners but none of its top four. County champion Kevin Hill graduated.
Junior Mike French (18th county) finished first in Centennial's time trial. Sophomore Eric Meyers (21st state) was second and senior Doug Jones was third. Sophomore Steve Gluck (29th county) and junior Matt Augustin are among the top seven. Others competing for spots are junior Brian Higgens, freshmen Erik Forni and Garick Hill (Kevin's brother).
Others who will help are junior Adam Gaydosh and senior Luke Thomas.
"We have a lot of competition on the boys team," coach Al Dodds said.
Glenelg Gladiators
The Gladiators girls team returns only sophomore Meggan Brown. The remaining seven girls are freshmen among whom the most promising are Beth Santelli and Elizabeth Dodmead.
The boys team returns four of its top seven from a team that finished seventh in the county.
Sophomore Chris Selmer (20th county) and junior Chris Seymour (34th county) are the two best. Sophomore Jason Habert (45th county) and sophomore Sam Bettien (53rd county) give the Gladiators experience. Senior Alex Sarau also adds experience.
Glenelg Country
The Dragons went 6-0 in dual meets last season and have another strong team of 23 runners.
Junior John Lamont finished among the top 20 at the Washington Independent Schools Cross Country Conference championship race.
Senior Nathanial Mack is another strong returning runner, as is junior Jack Keene.
Other runners include junior Mike Bullock, sophomore Jay Gordon and freshmen Dawn Vetal, Eric Greenberg and Patrick Dennison.
"We're hoping to join a Baltimore league next season," coach Trey Cassidy said. "We have some excellent runners in our eighth grade."
Glenelg finished seventh as a team in the WISCC championship last season.
Glenelg has only two girls on the team, sophomore Liz Kocourek and junior Ashley Baugh.
Hammond Bears
The Bears have only three girls on the team, sophomores Kim Loysel and Jill Feldstein and freshman Stacie Dayhoff. All three are new.
Hammond has 18 boys, The top two runners are seniors Peter Laanisto (41st county) and Jay Bussiere (49th county). Sophomore John Wallace shows lots of promise. Others are senior Steve Baldwin (32nd county), junior Andrew Stockham ( 54th county), senior Joe Filteau, senior Josh Sommers and junior Mike Loula.
Howard Lions
The Lions girls team has 16 runners but is young and still learning how to compete.
Top runners are sophomore Chau Lam, senior Dana Smith, sophomore Mindy Louri, sophomore Karen Hill, junior Sarah Brown (42nd county), sophomore Jen Walsh (35th county) and sophomore Haley Wicklein.
The boys team, sixth in the county last year, hopes to move up a few notches. The size of the team has nearly doubled to 36.
Four of the top seven runners are back, including senior John Goode (22nd county), senior Erin Chalmers (39th county), junior Martin Berlett (42nd county) and junior Adam Lessey (46th county). Berlett finished first in Howard's time trials.
Promising newcomers include sophomores Jeff Miner and Dave Patrick, junior John Corwin, freshman Eric Nawrocki and senior John Riggleman.
Mount Hebron Vikings
The girls team finished fourth in the county and returns three of its top seven runners, including senior Amanda Fleck (seventh in county, 15th state), senior Heather Mancini (11th county, 18th state) and junior Emily Phillips. Junior Kathy Emerich and German exchange student Melanie Volland should help.
The Vikings have only seven girls. Freshmen Casey McCormack and Carey Zinkart complete the team.
The boys team finished fourth in the county and returns three of its top seven led by junior captain Chris Williams (14th county, 42nd state). Junior Tim Sienold (44th county) and Joel Murray (47th county) are the other experienced runners.
The Vikings have three sophomores up from junior varsity, including Phil Folkemer, Paul Kwon and Brian Cudzilo. And they have a transfer from Indiana, Chip Fountain.
First-year head coach Craig Chasse thinks the Nos. 5, 6 and 7 runners should be much better than last season. "Our No. 7 man is running two minutes faster than last year's No. 7," said Chasse.
Oakland Mills Scorpions
The Scorpion girls team returns four of its top seven runners after finishing second in the county and region. The team will be young, with all juniors and sophomores, but has the potential to win the county.
"This is our strongest group in years," coach Steve Carnahan said. "There's a lot of unity and camaraderie."
Sophomore Lauren Drake (sixth county, 20:36) is the top runner, followed by juniors Rachel Nelson (21st county), Erin Morrow (29th county) and Ann Keast.
Next is sophomore Justine Lutterodt, a first-year convert from field hockey. Sophomore Dawn Strait (18th county) was running strongly at the end of last season. Junior Liz Ball and sophomore Mindy Wiltshire, a transfer from Florida, are competing for the seventh spot.
The boys team will try to win its 11th straight regional championship and its chances look good. Oakland Mills, which won seven straight county titles from 1984 through 1990, also appears ready to win another county championship.
The team finished second in the county and state last season and returns four of its top seven runners, including second-team All-Metro Greg Curtis (second county, first region, third state). Curtis, a senior, will be one of the two premier runners this year along with Wilde Lake's Faisal Hassan.
"Curtis looks as strong as ever," Carnahan said. "He's capable of winning states."
Returning with Curtis are junior Steve Petro (ninth county, second region, 13th state) and senior Brian Drake (12th county, 33rd state).
The rest of the top seven in order are junior Dean Menegay, sophomores Chris Oxford and Joseph Schoeny and junior Dan Brown (26th county). Senior Mason Ragan (42nd state) is injured right now.
Carnahan thinks that defending state champion Allegany is again the team to beat in Class 2A.
Wilde Lake Wildecats
The girls team has nine freshmen, four sophomores, no juniors and one senior, so it is inexperienced but the number represents a step forward. Wilde Lake did not field a complete team of five runners at last season's county championships.
The top girls are sophomores Libby George and Leah Mikkelsen.
A lot of excitement surrounds the boys team, which hopes to finish among the top three teams at the county championships. Last season the Wildecats were fifth at the county meet, second at regionals and fifth at states.
Junior Faisal Hassan has hopes of winning the county race. He finished fourth last year, but must overtake Oakland Mills' Greg Curtis. Hassan won the regional race and finished sixth at states. He also won the state outdoor mile- and two-mile races.
Other returning runners are seniors Ben Service (33rd county), Jeff Bird (28th county) and Chris McCollum and junior Paul Daddio (51st county).
New runners looking to crack the top seven are juniors Mike Brosenne and Mark Baron.