The somewhat unique format for the meet will have each school allowed to enter two people in each individual event with their marks representing their \"team\" total for that event. Scoring for each team in each event is through six places on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis and the meet\'s team champion is determined by adding the combined scores together for both the boys and girls teams.
The top teams represented on the girls side look to be among Gar-Field, Lake Braddock and Largo (MD) with Centreville, Lake Braddock, T.C. Williams and West Potomac looking strong on the boys side. T.C. Williams is the defending champion from last year after scoring 80 points on the boys side and 79 on the girls for their winning total of 159 points.
The meet begins at 9:00 a.m. with field event finals beginning in the girls shot put, boys discus, girls high jump, boys pole vault and both the girls and boys long jump. The running events begin at 9:00 a.m as well with the non-top seeded sections of the girls and boys 800; 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs. The running event finals will start at noon with the meet thereafter on a rolling time schedule.
In the girls field events, some of the top entrants set to compete include India Ransom of Largo in the long jump, Tishika Ferguson of Woodbridge in the triple jump, Westfield\'s Kathryn Pettine in the pole vault and high jumper Ashley Haislip from Lake Braddock. Tiffany Evans from Gar-Field also returns to defend her titles from last year in both the discus throw and also the shot put where Evans has a good chance at getting the meet record of 40 feet 7 inches set by Hayfield\'s India Odum.
The boys field events has Laurel (MD) as the top seeded long jump team with Aaron Brewer and Thomas Dunn with Gar-Field\'s Derek Liggins the top seeded individual. The triple jump has one of the best matchups of the day in pitting the Gar-Field duo of Tyree Carr and Larry Evans against the Lake Braddock team of Carl Hunter and Korey Gross. Gar-Field also has a stong squad in the high jump with Evans and Larry Watson while Obi Oliguibo of Episcopal leads the shot put field.
In the girls running events, India Ransom of Largo is back to defend her title in the 100 dash and Ransom is also entered in the 200 dash where she was the runnerup last year to her teammate Lakisha Brooks, with Brooks back to defend her title in that event. Gar-Field also has a strong sprint duo in the 100 and 200 dashes with Kharya Brown and Latesha Coulter with Junique Morris of T.C. Williams also one of the top sprinters entered.
Largo\'s Lakisha Brooks is also the favorite in the 400 dash with Largo, which posted the top girls team score of 116 points last year, the top seed in both the 4x100 and 4x800 relays. Largo is also one of the favorites in the 4x400 relay along with Laurel, Gar-Field and Lake Braddock with Lake Braddock\'s Alexandra VanHueven expected to compete for the Bruins in both the 4x100 and 4x400 as well as being the top seed in the 100 hurdles.
In the individual distance races, West Springfield is the event favorite in the 800 run with Mo Hagan and Huma Husain as they battle Laurel\'s Keiona Frenche for the individual title as well. The 1,600 run matches up Centreville\'s Dacia Barr and Joanna Rodgers of Robinson while Lake Braddock\'s Kelly Swain is the favorite in the 3,200 run.
On the boys side in the running events, Lake Braddock junior Craig Gallimore is the solid choice to capture both the 110 meter high hurdles and 300 meter intermediate hurdles. Centreville\'s Kenneth Tynes is the top seed in the 100 dash with Robinson\'s Kevin McHale the fastest entrant in the 1,600 run.
The 3,200 run looks like a duel between juniors Bryan Buckland of Westfield and Jeff Day from West Springfield while the 800 run features Westfield\'s David Groff and Gilbert Elston of Lake Braddock versus the top seeded West Springfield team of Jason Havinga and John Cook.
In relay action, Woodbridge comes in with the top time in the 4x800 relay, Centreville and West Potomac are the top picks in the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay will feature Laurel, Centreville, Woodbridge and Lake Braddock in the fastest seeded section.