Montgomery Invitational Preview

LANDOVER, MD - Many of the top Northern Region teams as well as a few from other parts of Virginia are venturing across the Potomac River to compete in this weekend\'s Montgomery Invitational at the Prince George County\'s Sports and Learning Complex against some strong out of state competition.

The boys\' 4x800 meter relay should be one of the more competitive meets on the day as some of the state\'s top returning relays will be competing. West Springfield has the top seed time at 7:58, but has yet to run a loaded 4x800 this season. They return nearly all of their members from last year\'s squad that ran 8:04 at the indoor state meet as that team includes Jeff Day who recently did a 4:25 1600 meter and 9:38 3200 meter double two weekends before on the same track. Also entered is last year\'s runner-up at the indoor state meet who also clocked a sub 8 time last spring in Colonial Forge, which features one of the top 800 meter runners in the state in 1:55 800 runner Sean Leyh. Currently having the fastest time in the state at 8:12 is T.C. Williams as they will look to continue to hold onto the state best with a win here and a improve upon their current best.

The West Springfield girls\' 4x800 team, a state runner-up in indoors and state champion in outdoors last year, aims to continue their success in the event as they are top seed of any Virginia school as they are caught in a mix of other talented out of state teams. The Lady Spartans will be led by senior Huma Husain, who recently popped a 2:18 in the open 800 at the Metro Run & Walk Invitational a few weeks ago. Also figuring to be in the mix will be the girls from Thomas Jefferson, who will be aiming to go under 10 minutes here after already running a 10:02 this season.

The sprints should be very hotly contested on the boys and girls sides as early bragging rights are up for grabs with many top sprinters entered to compete.

The boys\' 55 meter dash features Centreville junior Daniel Bailey, who currently is the state leader at 6.44. He will out-of-state and in-state competition breathing down his neck in Landover over though as last year\'s state runner-up in 55 meter dash, Potomac\'s Joe Robinson (6.48 season best) and the Washington-Lee pair of Juron Williams and Sean Somlar all want to be the best in the state.

Last year\'s state runner-up in the 55 meter dash and an outdoor state champion in the 100 meter dash, Tosin Oluwole of Western Branch comes into the meet sharing the state best time at 55 meters with a 7.26 clocking. Potomac sophomore Kharya Brown (7.36 season best) and Bayside junior Joy Clark (7.40 season best) could challenge the Western Branch junior as far as being the top Virginia finisher, but Oluwole is stiffest challenge in winning the meet will come from out-of-state competition as four other athletes are entered at the same seed time or faster than Oluwole.

Another current state leader from the Tidewater making the trip to compete in Maryland is currently the state\'s best at the 55 meter hurdles in Menchville\'s Dwight Porter. Porter\'s 7.55 clocking this season puts him nine tenths of a second ahead of anyone currently in the state as he enters the contest as the top seed.

One of the top female hurdles in the state, Gar-Field\'s Afua Amponsah, a transfer from Annandale, figures to be a favorite in a race that finds herself mainly against some tough out-of-staters.

Thomas Jefferson boys could quite possibly be loading down a strong Distance Medley Relay team as they are seeded second in the event at 10:48. If that is the case, it would be mostly likely to see all-state distance runners Christo Landry and Keith Bechtol on that team.

The boys\' 400 meter dash will have a few of the top quarter horses in the Northern Virginia area with two sub 50 second 400 meter runners in T.C. Williams\'s Timothy Nunn and Centreville\'s Josh Burns entered.

The girls\' 400 meter dash could be interesting to see which Virginian will have the faster time between middle distance star Huma Husain of West Springfield and sprinter Kharya Brown of Potomac. While Husain is primarily a middle distance specialist who boasts personal bests of 2:15 for 800 meters and 3:00 for 1000 meters, she also has the range to drop down and be competitive at the lower distances as she has gone sixty seconds for 400 meters and 1:19 for 500 meters. Brown is currently the state leader at 300 meters (41.24) and is primarily a 100 and 200 meter runner in outdoor track, so the 400 meter dash will be a slight step up for her. With both meeting at a middle ground distance between the two, it should be interesting to see who will come out on top.

Colonial Forge senior Sean Leyh will be a strong favorite to win in the boys\' 800 meter run as he is one of the top seeds in the event and last spring clocked a 1:55 at the distance. As for the girls\' race, another Virginian looks to be the pre-race favorite in Shylan Bumbrey from the small Group A school of James Monroe. Bumbrey will be looking to be the best in the state this spring at the distance as she hoping to match her freshman year performance where she clocked a swift time of 2:13 at 800 meters.

The boys\' 1600 meter run should be an exciting race with two Northern Region stars in West Springfield senior Jeff Day and Thomas Jefferson junior Christo Landry. Day currently has the state best time at 4:25, while Landry has yet to race individually this season, but did run a 4:18 at the outdoor state meet last spring. The girls\' 1600 also features the current state leader as Hickory\'s Jennifer Boyd enters the meet as the top seed with a season best time of 5:04 so far.

Thomas Jefferson appears to have the top two harriers in the boys and girls\' 3200 meter run with 9:13 runner Keith Bechtol on the male side and sub 11:30 runner Sarah Levine on the female side as both figure to be in the mix with the race leaders.

Three of the currently top seven fastest 4x200 meter relay teams in the state will be in attendance at Prince George with Washington-Lee (2nd state fastest, 1:32.82), Gar-Field (4th, 1:33.64), and Centreville (7th, 1:34.89) to make for one exciting contest. The Western Branch girls bring with them into Landover the state\'s fastest time at 1:44.38 as they will face some heavy out-of-state competition.

Tiffay Evans of Gar-Field will see if any of the out-of-staters can give her competition because as of right now no one is giving her much of a fight in the shot put as she has been dominating the event all season.