It's a first: dual-meet championships

For the first time in its history, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association will crown regional and state dual-meet champs in addition to the regular tournament champions this season.

On Feb. 16, the MPSSAA will conduct quadrangular meets with the top four teams in each region, with four regions at the 1A-2A level and four in the 3A-4A. Three days later, the winners of each of the four regions will wrestle a quadrangular meet at Westminster High, crowning separate 1A-2A and 3A-4A dual-meet champions.

The sites of each regional will be determined as the season develops, but Ron Belinko, Baltimore County's coordinator of athletics, said the county's regionals will be at Randallstown (3A-4A) and Owings Mills (1A-2A).

The season ends with the regional (Feb. 25-26) and state tournaments (March 4-5), which crown individual and team champions out of a bracketed format.

For those tournaments, the 3A-4A West regional is at Sherwood (Montgomery County), the North at Randallstown, the South at Eleanor Roosevelt (Prince George's County) and the East at Meade.

In the 1A-2A, the West is at Boonsboro (Washington County), the North at Pikesville, South at Lackey (Charles County) and the East at Cecil County Community College.