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Despite having several athletes under the weather, the county champion Gaithersburg boys were able to capture the 4A West Region indoor track & field title Wednesday at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex.

Owen Cain won both the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and 55-meter hurdles (7.8 seconds) while battling the flu. Two-time defending state shot put champion Sean Stanley had the throw of the day at 57 feet; Quince Orchard's Marcus Brown came in second.

The county champions were also victorious on the girls side, with Churchill racking up 83 points and a convincing regional championship.

Gaithersburg edged Thomas Johnson, 59-55, to take the title. The Patriots made it interesting late by winning the most thrilling race of the day, a photo-finish in the 4x400 relay that revealed a .02 second win over Northwest.

In the distance races, Sherwood's Solomon Haile was the star of the day. He won both the 1600 and 3200 with times of 4 minutes, 17.86 seconds and 9:26.00 respectively. Whitman's Andrew Palmer finished second in both races.

Quince Orchard's Wayne Bartholomew completed a rare sweep of the 500 (1:05.76) and 800 (1:58.54); he is the defending state champion in the 500. The Cougars, defending state champions, finished a disappointing seventh overall, however.

Northwest junior Hassan Dixon was the day's top sprinter; he won the 300 in 35.83 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than runner-up Jonathan Haughton of Blair. Dixon then won the 55 in 6.58.

While Churchill won the girls team title by 22 points over Thomas Johnson, individuall, the day belonged to sophomore Olivia Ekponé of rival Wootton.

Ekponé won the 300 Wednesday with a time of 39.34 and the 55 in 7.12. Her third regional title came in the 4x200 relay; Wootton won with a time of 1:47.43.

"Last year we had more seniors on our relay," Ekponé said. "Coming in here we had high expectations after finishing second at county. We're all excited and looking forward to state."

The Bulldogs took both the 4x400 (4:11.44) and 4x800 (9:46.48) relays. Maryam Fikri, who is also on the 4x800 relay team, ran a 2:26.11 to take the 800 regional title. She also finished runner-up in the 1600.

The 4A state championship meet will be held Tuesday, also in Land