Arundel and Old Mill will be looking over their shoulders this fall in their quest of repeating as Anne Arundel County boys and girls cross country champions, respectively.
"I see five to six boys teams competing for the county title," said Old Mill coach Gary Bater, whose boys are in a rebuilding mode while his Patriot girls are primed to defend their title.
Arundel won its first county and region boys title in 17 years last season, and coach Ralph Luce expects his Wildcats to be every bit as good this fall despite graduating All-Metro Geoff Warren.
Class 3A Broadneck and 2A South River are projected as the main threats to 4A Arundel's county crown.
Old Mill's girls nosed out perennial champion Severna Park by a tiebreaker in last year's county meet, but the Falcons went on to win their eighth consecutive region championship. Each of the two teams returns seasoned runners that should have them near the wire again.
With defending county and state champion Kristen Nicolini, The Baltimore Sun's All-Metro Girls Runner of the Year, returning for her senior year, the Annapolis girls also rank as serious contenders.
Nicolini, who is being recruited by such schools as Nebraska, Georgetown, Indiana and Villanova, already has claimed the Griffin Tournament for a third straight year in Frederick and broke her own course record with a time of 18 minutes, 59.4 seconds.
Most of the county teams will compete in tomorrow's Spiked Shoe at Johns Hopkins University and in the highly competitive North County Knights Invitational Thursday at Baybrook Park in Brooklyn.
Those two meets featuring runners from all over the metro area should give the coaches a pretty good idea of the caliber of talent they possess.
Annapolis Panthers
Nicolini, a potential national champion, is into her final season. Another state title and subsequent high finish in national competition would be a fitting end to a brilliant four-year high school career.
"Kristen is most definitely the No. 1 girl in the metro area, and if she qualifies for the nationals again, she is capable of doing very well," said coach Brian Funk.
The national qualifier is set for Saturday, Nov. 26 in New York and those who make the cut advance to the nationals in San Diego, Dec. 10. Nicolini was 13th in last year's nationals.
Nicolini won the state 4A title last fall by eight seconds (18:26 to 18:34) over Perry Hall junior Krissy Jost after cruising to the Anne Arundel title with a time of 18:53, well over a minute ahead of Rebecca McDivitt.
For Funk's girls to contend in the county, the youth behind Nicolini, the team's only senior, has to come through. Alison Ross, sixth in last year's county meet as a freshman, juniors Becky Morris and Susan deWolff and freshman Emily Potter need to deliver.
The Annapolis boys are "a team of the future, but not to be taken lightly," said Funk.
Junior Ian Ross is the Panthers' No. 1 boy, and he is joined by sophomores Mike Krug, Jack O'Brien and David Manning and senior Todd Bruner.
Arundel Wildcats
Graduation took county champion Warren, but didn't dim the optimism of coach Luce.
"It's hard to say if we can repeat, but this team right now is as good as last year's," said Luce. "We don't have a No. 1 like Geoff, but we have depth."
Luce is counting on seniors Blair Morse (ninth in county last year), Tim Kelley and John Porter, who is coming off a leg injury. Soccer defect Adam Sayani and freshman Ryan Morse, Blair's brother, also are expected to contribute.
On the girls side, the Wildcats have only six runners led by sophomore Heather Barstch, and seniors Emily Sours and Tracy Thoma. Juniors Jessie Lescroart and Katie Kowley, and promising freshman Jasmine Rose make up the team.
Kowley blew a knee a year ago, and just came out two days ago.
Broadneck Bruins
South River coach Scott Baker said, "Broadneck [boys] is the favorite. Everybody knows that."
That "everybody" includes Bruins' coach Jerry Kiple, whose boys finished second in the county to Arundel and runner-up to Centennial of Howard County in the 3A Regional and sixth in the state 3A meet.
Juniors Dave Schilling and Jon Carnes, 11th and 13th, respectively in the county last year, will team up with seniors Mike Bangert (26th) and Justin Govar (27th). First-year junior Ryan Schmidt gives the Bruins a solid No. 5.
Nicole Weisburger and Mary Williams are the top two senior girls, but juniors Colleen Rossiter (18th) and Laura Stickles (24th) are the top two returnees.
Kiple also is excited about the potential of sophomore Amy Campen and freshmen Stephanie Hooper and Meredith Alig.
Chesapeake Cougars
Veteran Cougar coach John Maguire might have the sleeper in the boys race with potential county champion Ryan Stevens. Stevens, one of four returning seniors, was fourth in last year's county championships at 16:56.
"Ryan has to be one of the favorites for the county championship," said Maguire. "Our boys look good."
The other returning seniors are Jason Lester, Matt Howard and Jon Jordy with sophomore Justin Woolridge giving the Cougars five legitimate runners.
The Chesapeake girls team is only about half as deep with nine runners, one of whom is a senior in Kelly Lockner. Other top girls figure to be junior Stephanie Stevens (Ryan's sister), and sophomores Sarah Watts, Allison Coffman and Julie French.
Glen Burnie Gophers
Third-year coach Tony Benicewicz knows everyone is talking about Severna Park, Old Mill and Annapolis in the girls race, but he said not to count his team out.
The Gophers' top returnee is senior Becky McDivitt who could be a defending county and region champion were it not for Nicolini at Annapolis.
Other returning girls are senior Missy Hennessy, juniors Ann Kollar, Heidi Schneider and Nikki Wood.
Benicewicz is impressed with freshman Kristy Klima, who could end up being a key contributor.
Sophomore Steve Livingston is the top returning boy.
Seniors Mark Robinson and Brian Hemphill, and sophomore prospects Jason Giza and Asa Johnson will run with Livingston.
Meade Mustangs
Depth and experience are lacking at Meade where coach John Dockstader is expecting a middle-of-the-pack-type season.
The boys team has two seniors in Joe Goforth and Hans Winkler, and juniors Joey Singleton and Jeff Pitts while the girls are all sophomores and freshmen.
Amy Cronin, who finished seventh in the county (21:09) as a freshman, leads the girls squad that features two other sophomores in Bryn Tweedy and Harmony Wiltfong, and freshmen Lara Stanfield, Patricia Garner and Katie Garner (no relation to Patricia).
North County Knights
A senior-dominated boys team led by four-year runner Randy Hill has Knights' coach Ed Harte full of anticipation.
"Hill should be one of the top runners in the county, but our success depends on how well our No. 4 and 5 runners do," Harte said.
Senior Chris Connolly and junior James Rabbitt are expected to be Nos. 2 and 3, while the No. 4 and 5 runners will be sophomores Barry Scheitlin and Dave Kahler with senior Kevin Foster vying for a spot.
The Knight girls are down this year with junior Agnes Osinski and senior Kenda Johnson the best.
Northeast Eagles
Richard Orndorff was hired just this week as coach by athletic director Roger Stitt to revive the Class 2A Eagles' program. The first-year coach has only six boys and two girls, but is nonetheless in an up mode.
Susan Wheeler placed in last year's 2A state meet as a freshman and is joined by freshman Julie Scanlon.
Jason Thompson is the lone senior and broke 16 minutes this week, which has Orndorff excited. The other Eagle boys are juniors Pete Eubanks and William Dize, sophomore Mark Gaskin, and freshmen Mike Wrobel and Jason Hooper.
Old Mill Patriots
With two stellar fourth-year runners in Jessica Davis and Jennine Volcjak and three more with three years experience, the Patriot girls are ready to defend their county title.
Davis, All-Metro as a sophomore and second-team All-Metro last year after taking third (21:26) in the county meet behind Nicolini and McDivitt, is being pushed for No. 1 by Volcjak, who was 12th in last year's county race.
Old Mill also boasts three superb juniors in Kirsten Bolt, Bobbi Jo Ritter and Amy Kulesza.
"We've lost seven seniors in the last two years, including Jason Reckner, so it's a rebuilding year for the boys," said Bater.
Reckner, an All-Metro first-teamer last year, was third in the county and region meets, but won the state 4A title in 16:08 to cap his four-year career.
Chris Long, sixth in the county last fall, assumes Reckner's status this year and is joined by fellow senior James Tomlinson, sophomores Jon Mikeska and Michael Rafferty, and freshman Drew Wright.
"Hopefully the fellowship on this team will develop them into a good group," said Bater.
St. Mary's Saints
The Saints have a tough act to follow in only the second year of the program.
Last year's baptism resulted in both the boys and girls going 5-2 in dual meets, the boys taking 12th place in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association meet of A and B division schools and the girls placing fifth in the Maryland State Catholic Championships.
Once again the Saint boys of coach Ron Hunter will compete in the MIAA B Division while the girls remain an independent. The two teams also will take part in the Anne Arundel County Meet at Annapolis High on Oct. 1.
Senior Dave Carroll is the lone male returnee and will carry the load along with junior Ryan Barney, sophomore Paul Josey and freshman Erik Schmidt.
On the girls side, the Saints welcome back seniors Kristin Miller and Niki Shedlosky and sophomore Molly Lingoski. Lingoski will be the No. 4 runner behind junior Colleen Ruane (3), Shedlosky (2) and Miller (1).
Severna Park Falcons
The Falcons lost only one girl from last year's 4A region championship team and county runner-up and three of the returnees finished in the county top 10.
"We lost that tiebreaker to Old Mill in the county championships, which was tough, but the girls came back to win their eighth straight region title and expect to have a really good season this year," said coach Ed Purpura.
Juniors Stefanie Petr (fifth), Katrina Lee (eighth) and Katie Krehnbrink (ninth) are the top three returnees. Senior Jen Band and junior Julia Flaherty give the Falcons a loaded first five.
Returning seniors are Frank Norcross and John Downs who will run the first five with juniors Paul Mathieu, Blaine Dulin and Chris Heron.
South River Seahawks
Returning All-Metro county runner-up Jack Longley and fellow senior co-captain James Kinode anchor a Seahawk nucleus that coach Scott Baker said "should be in the money for the county title."
Longley, who Baker said "has a great work ethic and is a great leader," lost the county championship by three seconds to Arundel's Warren (16:35 to 16:38) and was also runner-up in the 2A state and region meets.
Sophomore Jeremy Schropp is expected to run No. 3 behind Longley and Kinode followed by juniors Jason Berger and Joe Herzig, and sophomore Eric Arnold.
South River has only four girls (all returnees) on its team, including junior captain and 2A region champion Colleen McLaughlin.