This year's state championship meet marked a couple of firsts for Glenelg's Robby Creese.

It was the first time he'd ever run in the season-ending race and it was the first time he'd ever competed on Hereford High School's course. Although, at the end of the day, none of that kept the Gladiators' junior from earning his first state title.

With a time of 17:30, Creese finished first and completed a post-season sweep of counties, regions and states. He also was the only individual or team from the county to finish first in the 2A classification Nov. 14.

For more results see High School Wrap-Up.

Creese said the strategy heading into his race was to go out as fast as he could and then try to hang on.

"I was trying to run the first mile at a really high speed, I think it was something like 5:10, and hopefully tire out everyone behind me," Creese said. "Some of my best races have been like that."

Creese had a 5-meter lead at the mile marker and opened up a 25-meter lead heading into the dip for the first time. He managed to maintain that cushion for the most part all the way until he made his way back into the dip.

The fast pace, however, was slowly beginning to take its toll.

Over the final half mile of the race Creese's lead began shrinking and, with 400 meters left, Bel Air's Tyler Muse pulled himself within a few feet of the Glenelg junior. But just as Muse appeared ready to pull ahead, Creese found an extra gear.

"I didn't know how close he was, but I didn't want to look either," Creese said. "My dad always tells me not to look back because if the other guy sees you then he's going to go faster because it looks like you're fading."

Creese ended up beating Muse by two seconds. Glenelg senior Austin Clark finished third, making up time on the hills to post a 17:35 and give the Gladiators two runners in the top three.

"I tell you what, Robbie Creese ... I mean I owe him everything," Clark said. "It's his first year running and he pushed me every day in practice. I'm a senior and he's a junior, but I learned so much from him even though he's younger than me.

"This, today, was what I trained for and I felt like I left everything out there."

Even with the strong top two guys, Glenelg fell just short in the team competition. The Gladiators (second place) posted a team total of 90, which was 22 points behind first-place Winters Mill.

In the girls race, Oakland Mills freshman Sarah Brand (fifth, 21:16) was the only county runner in the top 10.

Brand, who was second at regionals, said she couldn't have asked for a better way to close out her first high school season.

"I'm really shocked that I did so well," Brand said. "I was dead coming up the hill the last time, but I tried to keep thinking positive thoughts. I kept saying, 'I'm almost done, I can do this.' "

Brand's teammate, Tiffany Lang, finished 12th and the two of them helped the Scorpions take fourth as a team with 132 points. Century was first with 39.

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