by Noah Corman ‘19

 The Sherwood boys and girls cross country teams competed at the Montgomery County Championships in muddy course conditions at Gaithersburg High School. In spite of the inclement weather, the meet took place as scheduled on Saturday, October 27. The city of Gaithersburg almost canceled the entire meet due to mud and rain, but a compromise dictated that just two JV races would be cut in order to keep the varsity races. The boys placed 9th out of 23 teams, and the girls placed 3rd out of 22 teams.

 Both teams exceeded expectations. Led by freshman Katie Kaneko who finished 2nd in the race, the girls had their best performance since 1979. Back then, the Montgomery County Championships had an almost non-existent reputation, and most teams did not even show up. Sophomore Jack Anderson and junior Sean Enright placed 6th and 11th respectively, helping the boys to a 9th place team finish, which is their best since 2012.

 The 4A North Regional Championship, the one race that decides whether or not Sherwood will qualify for states, takes place this Friday, November 2, at the Baltimore County Agricultural Center. The girls look poised to easily punch their ticket as they are ranked 3rd out of 10 teams in the region, but it is more of a coin toss for the boys.

 “We ran well as a team and beat our region rival Blair [at counties]. We’re looking to qualify for states as a team and finish top 10 there,” said Enright.

 The top half of teams at the region meet move on to the Maryland 4A State Championship on Saturday, November 10 at Hereford High School. The boys are ranked 6th out of 10 teams, and if that result holds, then they will not make it to the state meet. The good news is they beat the 5th place team, Blair, at counties. The bad news is Blair was missing one of their key runners, and it is unclear whether he will run this Friday.

 All things considered, the boys finished 4th at the region meet last year, and they are even better this year. They almost always qualify, so a top-half finish is an expectation.