Wednesday the 25th featured the first series of Tri-Meets where all 12 teams competed at four different schools across the county. With some teams deciding to rest their athletes and other races having big performances, here’s an analysis of results posted from each race:

Wilde Lake, Atholton @ River Hill

The top seeded team in the county, River Hill, took care of business at home for their senior meet, with only Will Tripp of Wilde Lake able to break up the top 7 River Hill finishers. The senior trio of Nanjappa, Krein, and Rose were joined by junior Josh Galindo under the 17:00 mark for River Hill finishers. From other teams, only Tripp was able to make it under that time on the hilly 5k course in the heart of Clarksville.

River Hill ran away with the win boasting an impressive 18 point total over Athloton’s 55 and Wilde Lake’s 72.

Howard, Glenelg @ Mount Hebron

What promised to be an interesting matchup between these three schools became just a two team affair as Howard elected to rest their top athletes. Glenelg junior Dylan Jock lead the way for his team followed closely by senior Matt Leavitt and junior Matthew Finnan under the 18:00 mark over the 5,000 meter Mount Hebron course. The trio were unable to match the depth of a Mount Hebron team who has been getting better every week this season, managing to put 6 under the same milestone three Glenelg men were able to break.

Hebron defended their home course with a quality 21 point total to Glenelg’s 37. Both teams gapped Howard’s limited squad who put 78 points.

Reservoir, Oakland Mills @ Hammond

This tri-meet was one of the less interesting ones to take place, with multiple teams sitting their top athletes including Oakland Mills junior star Baidy Ba and Reservoir putting 8 athletes within two seconds seeming to indicate a workout rather than a full race effort. Hammond junior Charles Bierce got into the win column, being the only racer to creep under 19 minutes on his home course spanning 5,000 meters in distance.

Reservoir was still able to take the win over Hammond despite the previously indicated statline and both teams breezed past an Oakland Mills team without Ba leading the pack.

Long Reach, Centennial @ Marriotts Ridge

With Centennial sitting their top athletes this meet had one big storyline to follow, Hindle vs Crockett. The juniors have been leading their teams for seasons at this point and while Crockett seems to have a formula for beating Hindle in their head to head races, Hindle was able to take a faster time when it mattered last season during their biggest matchup in the Howard County Championships. The two finished nearly a minute faster than any other competitor on the 5,000 meter course of Marriotts Ridge, with Crockett edging out Hindle for a two second victory posting a time of 16:51.

Marriotts Ridge got the team win to compliment Crockett’s individual tally in the win column, squeaking out a 7 point margin over Long Reach. Both teams blew out a Centennial squad who was not at full strength.

– Ryan Rose

Student at River Hill High School