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Twice Thursday, Wootton senior Jessie Rubin had to watch the heels of Northwest's Britt Eckerstrom gallop away from her during the beginning of the 4A West Region girls cross country championship meet. The second time, Rubin had time to track her down.

The race's first start was aborted by thunder. The 4A girls then moved from the front to the end of a schedule at Watkins Mill High that also included the 4A West boys and 3A West boys and girls meets.

As twilight approached, Rubin eventually pulled away from both Eckerstrom and Walter Johnson's Anna Bosse to win in 19 minutes, 21 seconds. Eckerstrom recovered to finish second, 21 seconds back.

"It reminded me of counties and states last year, when she did that," Rubin said. "I knew it was a four-kilometer race and I had to make it my own. I couldn't react to what other people were doing."

It was a day of convincing individual wins. Whitman senior Andrew Palmer won the 4A West boys title in 16:04, nearly 40 seconds ahead of Sherwood's Jackson Reams.

In the 3A West, Quince Orchard senior Stephanie Joson won the girls race by 15 seconds, in 20:06, and Linganore's Braden Bruning took the boys title by 19 seconds.

But in the team races, pack running carried the day.

Walter Johnson swept the Class 4A team titles, just as it did at the county meet on Oct. 24. Damascus took both 3A titles.

The girls race played out much like the county meet, with the Wildcats edging Northwest, 60-72. This time, the Jaguars were missing Alyssa Henshaw, who finished second at counties.

Eckerstrom picked her up, but Bosse (third), Camille Bouvet (seventh) and Jenna Willett (eighth) gave the Wildcats too big a lead to overcome.

The boys' win was even more impressive, their 47 points bettering second-place Churchill by 23. Sean O'Leary (third) and Ishan Dey (fourth) finished together in 16:59, followed in 10-second increments by Nick Regan (seventh) and Josh Ellis (11th).

Pack running has been a religion at Damascus the past two years. The girls edged Quince Orchard by just two points, 42-44, by taking fourth (Alex Carroll), fifth (Emily McIvried), eighth (Karly Najaka), 11th (Kylee Patton) and 14th (Lakayja Alston), all within 1:37.

The boys put their top five within 50 seconds of each other: Thomas Arias (second), Charlie Ramirez (seventh), Alex Arias (13th), Ben Constantinides (14th) and Lorenzo Acosta (19th). Their 55 points were good for a 17-point cushion on second-place Quince Orchard.

Reproducing those efforts at the state championships will be even more challenging for the Wildcats at Hornets.

"It is harder at states," Damascus coach Robert Youngblood said. "We're trying to enforce that we have three No. 5 runners. Those three's job is to run together and stay ahead of other peoples' No. 5 runners. That's fewer points for the other teams' No. 5."

3A West girls

The lunch of champions must be an everything bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese.

That was the meal Joson enjoyed before capturing the girls 3A West championship. After crossing the finish line, Joson sat down in the grass and quite literally lost her lunch.

"That's the first time that's ever happened. I've never done that before," Joson said. "I didn't feel any [stomach problems] during the race. When I finished it hit me and I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is going to be embarrassing.'"

Despite the minor setback and a 30-minute rain delay that left her legs feeling stiff, Joson claimed the first major championship of her career.

"I knew my biggest competition was going to be Abbey Daley from Clarksburg because she finished in seventh, one spot ahead of me, at counties," Joson said. "I stuck with her for the first mile and when she kicked in on the hill over there she just went. I'm good on hills, but not great. ... Once I crossed over I just really wanted it and went after her."

4A West boys

Palmer continued his season-long dominance as he added the 4A West Region title to his resume. Palmer, the 2007 4A state champion, is the prohibitive favorite to end his Vikings career as a state champion again next week.

"I just wanted to separate myself early and cruise, said Palmer, who will attend Syracuse (N.Y.) University in the fall. "Last year I ran 16:30 here actually racing. Today I shut it down and cruised and ran [16:04]. I wanted to break Solomon [Haile]'s course record of [15:56.74] and coming up the hill I saw the clock and thought it said 16:40 so ... I shut it down. But when I got closer I realized it said 15:40. Oh well."

3A West boys

Quince Orchard sophomore Evan Laratta stuck to Bruning's back shoulder for a while, but the Linganore sophomore eventually pulled away for the only non-Montgomery County win Thursday. Damascus' Arias caught Laratta for second place before the tape, spearheading the Hornets' team win.

4A West girls

At last, it was the 4A West girls' turn again. With stragglers from the 3A West boys race still going past in the opposite direction, Rubin and Bosse worked together to reel in the quick-starting Eckerstrom. They caught up at around the mile mark, then Rubin opened some daylight as the runners passed in front of the largest knot of fans, along the school building.

"Recently I haven't had my best races," Eckerstrom said. "I figured I'd shake things up a little bit. Go out hard, see who comes with me."

She, and Thursday's other top individual and team finishers, will meet again at the state meet, Nov. 14 at Hereford High in northern Baltimore County.