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While the Vikings were well out in front of everyone last spring, five other county teams — Churchill, Magruder, Northwest, Wootton and Walter Johnson — broke the 9:45 mark last season. All return solid 4x800 teams again this spring.

‘‘There are a lot of good distance runners in the county, and the 4x800 is just an exciting event,” Magruder coach Nathan Timm said. ‘‘Whitman’s even competitive on the national level. Every day, our girls are inspired. We want to go after them.”

Whitman is more than just a strong relay team, though. The girls finished fifth in the Class 4A state meet last spring. Middle distance and distance are also the strengths of a solid boys team.

They may have a gap to close in the 4x800, but the Churchill girls are very much among the favorites in the county, no less so after a team title at Saturday’s Cougar Relays. Led by Audrey Gariepy-Bogui — the reigning All-Gazette Athlete of the Year, both indoor and outdoor — the Bulldogs finished second in the state to Eleanor Roosevelt in both seasons.

‘‘Obviously, this is the best team we’ve ever head,” said Scott Silverstein, who along with co-coach Steve Bettis welcomed around 100 girls to practice this spring. ‘‘But there are a lot of good teams out there.”

The younger boys team isn’t quite as far along, but also has the advantage of depth.

What Gariepy-Bogui is to the girls, Walter Johnson junior Chris Moen is on the boys’ side. Moen, the All-Gazette Athlete of the Year during indoor season, wins every 1,600-meter race he enters in the state, and is a national-level miler.

But it’s not all about Moen. Triple jumper Ian Francis finished seventh in the state last spring, though it remains to be seen how he responds after a winter knee injury. The girls boast strength in the hurdles and middle distance, especially the county’s reigning 4x400 relay team, outdoor and indoor.

Defending county and 4A West Region boys champion Richard Montgomery lost some big guns to graduation, but coming off a strong indoor season, the Rockets will again be powerhouses in the sprints, field events and relays.

‘‘We’re not hurting or anything,” Rockets coach Matt Wheeler said. ‘‘We’ve got some younger runners and jumpers. They’re not ready yet, but hopefully by the end of the year they can fill in some of the depth you need in the bigger events.”

Twin sisters Ashley and Ashlyn Decruise, also indoor standouts, will make the girls a force in the sprints, as well.

Quince Orchard always fields a strong contingent in distance events, and this year should be no different, individually and in relays. But it’s about more than just that this season — coach Seann Pelkey said the team has welcomed an influx of new talent.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of new talent, boys and girls, who are just trying to figure out that running track is more than being fast and throws are more that being strong,” Pelkey said. ‘‘It’s tough in March to say realistically where you’ll be in May. But I think on both sides, we’re as good as any team in the county.”

Like the Cougars, Wootton has a strong stable of distance runners, also balanced between boys and girls. Chris Boyd took seventh in the boys 1,600-meter run in the 4A state meet last season, and Veronica Salcido was 12th in the same event for the girls. But in other areas, the Patriots are a work in progress.

‘‘I consider this a little bit of a rebuilding year,” first-year head coach Kellie Redmond said. ‘‘We have all new coaches on staff, and we have very few seniors this year. ... I think we’ll do very well individually and in some of the smaller meets, and then be very good in the county next year.”

At Magruder, Timm is playing the no-respect card. After both the boys and girls finished in the top five at the county championships last May, he sees this as a potential breakout year for the Colonels.

‘‘We’ve just been flying under the radar,” Timm said. ‘‘We’ve been right there. ... Before, we just had a lot of good athletes. You think of track as an individual sport, but I think it’s the ultimate team sport if you can get them all on the same page.”

As usual, watch out for Bethesda-Chevy Chase in any race longer than 400 meters. The Barons boast two All-Gazette first-team cross-country runners, Elias Tousley and Chris Bowie. They also have some strength in the field events, with twin brothers Roger and Gil Kirk manning the jumps for the boys and Eleanor Fitall doing the same for the girls.

‘‘We have to spread the wealth we have in certain events,” coach Chad Young said. ‘‘We’ve got a nice, solid core in place, and if we stay in shape and injury-free, we should be able to compete again this year. We’ve definitely got some of the top guns on the distance side.”

Despite fielding the largest team in his five-year tenure, Einstein coach DeShawn Anderson doesn’t have enough bodies to fill out every event. Knowing that means bad things for the dual-meet season, Anderson has boiled down the goal for his athletes to four simple words.

‘‘We’re trying to take our school bus to [the state meet at] Morgan State this year, so that’s our motto — ‘Get on the bus,’” Anderson said.

Longtime Walter Johnson coach Greg Dunston’s retirement from track and field didn’t last long; after a year off, he has resurfaced at Georgetown Prep, looking to improve on the Little Hoyas’ fourth-place finish in the Interstate Athletic Conference a season ago.

‘‘I kind of knew I wasn’t going to quit coaching; it was just a matter of finding what I was going to do,” Dunston said. ‘‘I want to improve on our performance in the IAC. We’re running a lot of new meets so the kids get composure to other competition. The last few years, I think they’ve been locked into the routine of running the same schedule every year.”

Addison Hunt is trying to keep his Landon team grounded after a surprise second-place finish in the IAC meet last spring. A number of top performers return, but Hunt knows that’s no guarantee that the Bears will repeat or improve that success.

‘‘The thing I keep trying to remind the team is that yeah, we were in second place, but St. Albans was nine points behind us and Prep was another 10 off that. As much as the kids want to be thumping their chest, I remind them that it’s not going to take much to upset the balance.”

In the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, Good Counsel is currently borrowing a track from nearby Sherwood, while its own is completed on its new site in Olney. But Buddy Crutchfield, who took the reigns of the program midway through last season, expects big things from the Falcons, home track or no.

‘‘We’re going to be competitive this year, especially, in the boys,” Crutchfield said. ‘‘We’re always strong in the long distance events. .... The attitude this year is what I’ve been so impressed with.”

Holton-Arms took second in the competitive Independent School League last season, and the Panthers expect to improve by one place this spring.

‘‘My goal this year is to win the ISL championships,” coach Jessie McCreary said. ‘‘We have come so close in the past, but this year I think we have the depth to win. We will score points in every single event because we have so many athletes who will place top six in several different events.”

Holy Child is also looking to move up the ranks in the ISL, behind a quartet of talented athletes — senior Gena Turner, juniors Elizabeth Warren and Vicky Arthur, and sophomore Vicky Arthur. If others can step up and score points, the Tigers should be in for a strong season.

Stone Ridge will be young this season under first-year head coach Jocelyn Fontaine, but a large squad and some unpolished talent could help the Gators make a splash in the ISL.

Fast Facts

B-CC Barons

State classification: 3A

County division: II

Head coach: Chad Young, 2nd year

Last boys state title: 1959 (1st)

Last girls state title: 2003 (2nd)

2006 boys county meet: 7th

2006 girls county meet: 21st

Boys athletes to watch: Elias Tousley (distance), Chris Bowie (distance)

Girls athletes to watch: Addie Tousley (distance), Hannah Richardson (200, 400)

Einstein Titans

State classification: 3A

County division: III

Head coach: DeShawn Anderson, 5th year

Last boys state title: 1981 (1st)

Last girls state title: None

2006 boys county meet: 9th

2006 girls county meet: T-12th

Boys athletes to watch: Salifu Champ (long jump, sprints), Alex Gary (middle distance), Terrell Pettis (sprints, throws)

Girls athletes to watch: Shaakira Raheem (hurdles), Sharon Forieta (sprints, hurdles), Sasha Waters (hurdles)

Georgetown Prep Little Hoyas

League affiliation: Interstate Athletic Conference

Head coach: Greg Dunston, 1st year

Last league title: 2004

2006 IAC meet: 4th

Athletes to watch: Mat Abernethy (distance), Derrick Pharr (throws)

Holton-Arms Panthers

League affiliation: Independent School League

Head coach: Jessie McCreary,1st year

Last league title: None

2006 ISL meet: 2nd

Athletes to watch: Bianca Williams (jumps, sprints), Abby Beehler (800, 1600)

Walter Johnson Wildcats

State classification: 4A

County division: II

Head coach: Tom Martin, 2nd year

Last boys state title: None

Last girls state title: 2003 (1st)

2006 boys county meet: T-5th

2006 girls county meet: 3rd

Boys athletes to watch: Chris Moen (distance), Charlie Grimsley (throws), Ian Francis (jumps)

Girls athletes to watch: Stephanie Alberico (middle distance), Jenny McCoy (hurdles), Jennifer Spencer (distance)

Landon Bears

League affiliation: Interstate Athletic Conference

Head coach: Addison Hunt, 6th year

Last league title: None

2006 IAC meet: 2nd

Athletes to watch: Allante Keels (middle distance), Jamie Gabriel (pole vault), Will Ruppe (middle distance)

Whitman Vikings

State classification: 4A

County division: I

Head coach: Steve Hays, 6th year

Last boys state title: None

Last girls state title: None

2006 boys county meet: 15th

2006 girls county meet: T-8th

Boys athletes to watch: Will Palmer (distance), Andrew Palmer (distance)

Girls athletes to watch: Leslie Morrison (middle distance), Morgane Gay (middle distance, distance)