BOYS:
West Potomac is the defending champion, having won the indoor title last year by a rather healthy margin of 27 points with their total of 113.
This year West Potomac is one of four teams with a legitimate shot at the team title as it appears that maybe no more than 10-15 points will separate West Potomac, Lake Braddock, West Springfield and South County.
West Potomac looks capable of building a lead of anywhere from 5-20 points in the field events over their trio of challengers and will probably need that, as the other three squads may all be able to outscore the Wolverines in the running events.
West Potomac's top scoring event in the field needs to be the shot put where they have the number two and number three seeds in seniors John Jordan and Josh Weaver and the Wolverines will also be counting on senior Neal Hardie in the horizontal jumps and junior Nick Schaum in the pole vault for additional points.
In the running events, West Potomac looks capable of mustering points in every event with Neal Hardie and senior Rashon Colbert hoping to give the Wolverines an edge in the 300 dash over everyone else.Colbert is also the top seed in the 500 dash and they will also look for points from junior Chris Newkirk in the 55 hurdles and additional sprint points from senior Arthur Williams.
West Potomac will also look to keep things relatively close in the three relays since their challengers may have a bit more depth in spreading things out in both the individual events and relay duty.
It would also not be a surprise if Lake Braddock was the team to come out on top in what projects as a very closely contested competition.
In the field events, the Bruins have senior Jacob Hedrick capable of scoring in four of the five events, the long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault.
On the track the Bruins are always tough in the relays and are looking to match West Potomac in the 300 dash with junior Chris Letson and senior John Ramos; put some distance on the chasing group in the 500 dash with Letson and senior Scott Taylor and score well in the 55 hurdles with sophomore Michael Santano.
South County looks ready to make some noise near the top in just their second year of varsity competition.
The Stallions big point producer in the field events needs to be senior Chris Bartholemew, who is top seeded in both the triple jump and also the high jump, where he is the defending champion.
South County will need to stay within striking distance of West Potomac and ahead of Lake Braddock and West Springfield in the field events to have a shot when the running events roll around.
The Stallions should be able to hold their own in the relays and will look for good days from sprinter Nobel Iyebote; junior Alvin Hayes in the hurdles and senior Jeff Miller as the top seed in the 1,000 run and as the anchor of both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.
West Springfield will be looking for a solid showing from senior Andy Adell in the high jump and triple jump but could still be in just fifth place after the field events.
However, the Spartans are capable of putting quite a few points on the board in the running events, with their main strength in the distance races.
Senior Mike Spooner will look to be leading the Spartans on the track as the top seed in the 1,600 run, the defending champion and top seed in the 3,200 run and as part of West Springfield's top seeded 4x800 relay.
The Spartans will also be looking to stockpile additional distance points with seniors Alex Martis and let's go Leo Walker as well as grabbing a few more points from senior Willem Gardner in the hurdles and from senior David Dubin and junior Bobby Tillet in the sprints and relay duty.
T.C. Williams has senior Ricardo Simons as the top seed in the shot put, junior Tommy Clark as one of the favorites in the pole vault and junior Brad Kenimer as one of the top competitors in both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs with Kenimer already having state auto qualifying marks in both of those events.
Annandale senior Alvin Siv is one of the top seeds in the pole vault with his state auto clearance of 13 feet this season and the Atoms should score in the running events with senior Josh Miller in the hurdles and seniors Brandon Williams and Reid Runolfson in the sprints.
R.E. Lee's point total would project higher except that senior sprint sensation Sean Holston will only be running the 55 meter dash at the district meet.
After wowing everyone around with his various marks in the 300; 400 and 500 meter dashes in the past few weeks, capped off with the number two all time performance ever in the 300 dash at 33.21 in New York last Saturday, Holston will only be defending his title in the 55 dash where he is the meet record holder at 6.45.
However, according to the Lee coaching staff, at this time Holston is slated to run the 55 dash along with the 500 and 300 dashes at the Northern Region Championships in two weeks and is also scheduled to compete in all three of those events at the AAA state meet the following week.
R.E. Lee also has senior Josef Tessema entered in quite a high quality 3,200 run at the district level along with Spooner of West Springfield and Kenimer of T.C. Williams and Tessema should also score in the 1,000 run; even though his best time in the event thus far this year did not make the fastest seeded section.
Hayfield comes in with the top seed in the long jump with senior Jordan Brooks and should score in the pole vault with junior Benjamin Hall and the 3,200 run with senior Phillip Mlinarcik.
Girls:
Lake Braddock had a truly dominating performance last year in scoring 196 points to win by well over 100 points. The gap has certainly closed somewhat this season, but the Bruins still remain a strong favorite to yet again, capture another district championship.
Lake Braddock may not simply overpower everyone else in the field events as they have done in year's past, and then methodically get the job done in the running events, but they should still be able to at least match their opponent's scores in the field events this year.
The Bruins have horizontal jump points from juniors Melanie Akwule and Zoie Seay along with senior Allison Jones and also pole vault points led by senior Brooke Durbin. In addition, Allison Jones could also score in the high jump and is the number two seed in the shot put at a healthy seasonal best of 41-3.75.
Lake Braddock's strong suit in the running events will be the distance races as they could score close to 50 points combined from the 1,000; 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs from their array of seniors Shelley Presley and Hayley Sullivan; juniors Anna Corrigan, Christine Moore and Erin Landy; sophomore Taylor Moore and freshman Liana Epstein.
The Bruins are also expected to at least hold their own in the relays and have one of the region's top hurdlers in Melanie Akwule.
West Potomac finished second last year at the indoor meet, but appears to be able to make the difference in scoring much tighter this year.
The Wolverines have one of the region's top all around performers in Kat Lee. The West Potomac junior comes in as the top seed in the long jump (18-7); triple jump (36-11); pole vault (10-6) and 300 dash (41.29), in addition to also competing in the 55 hurdles and also the 55 dash, in which she is the defending champion.
West Potomac may not be able to dominate a couple of events as Lake Braddock is capable of, but the Wolverines can score in all fifteen events with their other top scoring threats senior Kelly Jemison in the 1,600 and 1,000 runs; junior Elizabeth Heath in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs; junior Brooke Regensburg in the 500 dash and senior Delphine Woodman in the high jump.
West Springfield cannot match some of the other squads in the field events but should do well in the horizontal jumps with senior Alesha Luzzi, who has focused much more on the long and triple jumps this season after concentrating more on the sprint events in previous years.
The Spartans come into the running events with very good marks in the relays and will rely in the individual events on senior Trish Friederich, the defending champ in the 300 dash and also the 55 hurdles where she is the meet record holder; junior Rosemary Barber in the 500 dash and with solid relay duty, along with freshmen Emily Ellis in the 500 dash and Paige Kvartunas in the 3,200 run.
T.C. Williams could very well hold the lead after the field events with senior Samella Koroma the top seed in the shot put, sophomore Tynita Butts top seeded in the high jump and Butts among the top seeds in the long jump along with junior Eva Baker among the top seeds in the pole vault.
In the running events, Tynita Butts is also top seeded in the 55 dash at 7.40 and sophomore Erika Weidman is the defending champion in the 1,000 run and will probably also anchor the 4x800 and 4x400 relays for the Titans.
Hayfield looks like they will pick up the majority of their points from junior Jasmine Jones in the 55 hurdles and 300 dash and with junior Shanna Akanbi in the shot put; R.E. Lee has senior Arianna Berger as a factor in the high jump and 300 dash and Annandale is looking for points in the field events from senior Shakia Branch and sophomore Emily Koppelman in the shot and junior Katie Janssen in the high jump.