The top storylines from the 2024 Washington County Indoor Track & Field Championships

The 2024 Washington County Public Schools Indoor Track & Field Championships were held Friday night at Hagerstown Community College. Two meet records were set, and both team champions turned in top-10 all-time point-scoring performances.

Here are the top stories from the meet:

Leopards' girls remain untouchable

Smithsburg's girls, the reigning Maryland Class 1A state champions, are looking like the team to beat again. Fresh off their Central Maryland Conference small-school team title, the Leopards easily three-peated as county champions, racking up 178.5 points for the third-most points scored by a girls team in county meet history.

Smithsburg scored 180 points, second-most all-time, in winning the championship last year. Boonsboro holds the record with 185 points in 2014.

This year's Leopards scored victories in seven of 13 events. They came from junior Jenna Howe in the 55 (7.61 seconds) and 300 (42.75), junior Grace Ellis in the 500 (1:21.03) and 800 (2:25.45), junior Cora Gentzel in the 1,600 (5:28.41), junior Emma Joyal in the 55 hurdles (10.08 seconds) and the 4x800 relay team of Ella Fisher, Jordyn Davidson, Caylee Oliva and Adalynne Shifler (11:24.41).

Ellis' performances were especially noteworthy. The 2023 county indoor track and field girls athlete of the year posted the second-fastest 500 and fourth-fastest 800 in meet history.

Hubs' boys reclaim county throne

North Hagerstown's boys won their first county title since 2020, accumulating 154 points to defeat Smithsburg by 27 points. The Hubs' points total tied for the eighth-most in meet history.

North won five of 13 events. The victories came from senior Odin Desir in the 55 (6.74 seconds), senior Ryder Johnston in the 300 (37.49), junior Donovan Baldwin in the 500 (1:12.11), sophomore Walker Mason in the 1,600 (4:36.48) and the 4x400 relay team of Johnston, Dishaan Patel, Desir and Baldwin (3:43.25). Baldwin pulled away from Smithsburg on the anchor leg of the relay, which was the final event of the meet, to put the icing on the championship.

North's Stine dazzles in girls 3,200

North Hagerstown junior Lauren Stine showed she is ready for the upcoming region and state meets with a dazzling performance in the girls 3,200, stopping the clock in a meet record 11:17.24. The previous meet record of 11:18.52 was set by Boonsboro's Caroline Matthews last year.

Stine's time also moves her into the No. 4 spot among county athletes all-time indoors in the event.

"(The meet record) was definitely the goal," Stine said. "I didn't know what shape I was in. When I got my mile split, which was 5:37, I knew it was possible and I dug in. … That definitely makes me feel better going into (regions and states). There's a lot of tough competition in 3A this year."

South's Troxell raises the bar in pole vault

South Hagerstown senior Riley Troxell wrapped up the girls pole vault title when she was the only competitor to clear 8 feet, 6 inches. She was far from done.

Over the next 10 minutes, she made 9 feet, 9-7 and 10-1 all look relatively easy. She then had the bar set at 10-4 — one inch higher than the meet record of 10-3, set by Smithsburg's Emma Gerhold in 2014.

This one wasn't as easy. Troxell hit her elbow on the bar as she went over it on her first attempt. But the bar stayed up, and Troxell had the record.

"I definitely felt that, so that was a nice surprise," said Troxell, who failed on three attempts at 10-7, which would have set a new personal record (she cleared 10-6 in the outdoor state meet last spring). "I try to treat a meet as practice. It's just another day of practice, except the bar is up there."

North's Mason, Smithsburg's Wynkoop duel … sort of

The boys 1,600 came down to North Hagerstown sophomore Walker Mason and Smithsburg sophomore Michael Wynkoop, but not in typical fashion.

Mason had not run a 1,600 this season, so he had to compete in the first of two heats. Wynkoop, who entered the meet with the county's top time this season, ran in the second heat.

Both Mason and Wynkoop essentially raced the clock after putting away their competition in their respective heats early. Mason stopped the clock in 4:36.48 — a personal record and the ninth-fastest performance in meet history. Wynkoop did his best to beat it, but settled for second in 4:40.72, which also was a personal record.

"I went into it expecting I wouldn't have anyone to race against," Mason said. "I knew I had to race my race, and Michael had the same thing so we were both in the same spot."

"My coaches told me (Mason's) time and my dad was giving me the splits," Wynkoop said. "I had to go all-out every lap and leave it out there. It was a weird circumstance, for sure, but it was a great race."

Mason, who won the Central Maryland Conference overall title in the 3,200 in 9:57.64 last week, carried that momentum into the county meet.

"That gave me a good bit of confidence, knowing I could run two sub-5 (miles) back-to-back," he said.

As it turned out, Wynkoop's big day was just starting. He went on to win titles in both the 3,200 (10:24.86) and 800 (2:10.21).

Hubs' Chamberlin makes the leap, literally

Prior to Friday, North Hagerstown sophomore Anna Chamberlin had competed in the high jump in a significant meet only once before — in the outdoor county meet last spring.

"It didn't go well," she said of her 4-foot performance that day. "I had one practice and just went for it."

Chamberlin, who spends most of her time on the track as a distance runner, returned to the high jump for the first time indoors, and surprisingly, she emerged victorious with a jump of 4-10 — the best by a county girl this season.

"I could not believe it," she said. "That was crazy for me. The highest I got in practice was 4-7, so I was not expecting that."

Every second (or less) counts

The relay races produced a couple memorable finishes.

In the boys 4x800 (the first boys race of the day), Smithsburg sophomore Camilo Mellott's final kick sent him surging past Boonsboro's Nathan Montgomery right at the finish line for a win by eight-hundredths of a second. The Leopards' team of Lucas Reyes, Luke Gentzel, Charles Higgins and Mellott clocked 9:28.76.

"I have three more races. I wanted to take it slow," Mellott admitted. "Then I realized I could catch (Montgomery) so I just put it all out there."

Four of the five teams in the boys 4x200 remained in contention for the victory into the anchor leg. Ultimately, senior Deontae Blake delivered the win for South Hagerstown, which held off Clear Spring by less than a second in 1:39.69.

North Hagerstown and Smithsburg were in different heats of the girls 4x400. The Hubs' team of Stine, Chamberlin, Jayla Kaplan and Ella Hajel won the first heat in 4:51.59. The Leopards won the second heat, but their time of 4:51.77 trailed North by 18 hundredths of a second.

In field events, it's inches (or less) that can make the difference, and it did in the boys shot put. Hancock senior Waylon Leach earned the county title by three-quarters of an inch over Clear Spring junior Nick Cullember. Leach's best effort went 42 feet, 11 inches. Cullember's top throw was 42-10 1/4.

Going for the gold

Other champions crowned Friday were:

• Richard Sanon, Williamsport, boys 55 hurdles, 8.21

• Kailyn McCauley, Clear Spring, girls shot put, 33-6 1/4

• Jacob Faith, Clear Spring, boys high jump, 5-10

• John Flint, Smithsburg, boys pole vault, 10-6

• Clear Spring girls 4x200 relay (Madi Dyer, Dana Hammond, Brielle Enow and Grace Shoemaker), 1:56.78

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: The top storylines from the county indoor track & field Championships