Annapolis runner Maria Coffin found herself in an unusual position late in a race Friday night — trailing.

Coffin needed a strong late kick in the final 11/2 laps to take the lead and then pull away to win the Class 4A state title in the 3,200 meters at Morgan State.

It was her third state title of the school year. The junior also won the state championship in the 1,600 during indoor season after winning the cross country title last fall.

Coffin often sets the pace, but against a tough field that included Ciciely Davy (Einstein), Abby Green (Walter Johnson) and Bethlehem Taye (Paint Branch), she held back a bit.

The heat and humidity also factored into Coffin's decision. The temperature on the track at Hughes Stadium was estimated at 90 degrees, so Coffin was cautious.

“I knew I'd be really tired with the heat and all,” Coffin said. “Normally I go out and [lead]. It was different. I didn't know I'd be behind them for that long, [but] I felt pretty good.”

Coffin trailed for much of the race but made her strong move on the next-to-last lap. Coffin took off about halfway through as Davy began to fade, and she grabbed the lead with about 100 meters left in the lap.

Coffin broke away from the pack on the final lap to win easily in 10 minutes, 45.90 seconds. Green took second (10:51.14), and Davy was third (10:55.86).

Dulaney's Eric Walz also won state Class?4A titles in the fall (cross country) and winter (1,600 and 3,200) and wanted to repeat that double but came up short.

Walz used a strong late kick on the last lap to pull into second behind Rohann Asfaw, but the Richard Montgomery runner held on to win the 3,200 in 9:24.05.

Walz, who will return today for the 1,600, finished second in 9:27.48.

The heat “definitely affected me; I had a tough outing today,” Walz said. “I could have raced much better. I've got a race tomorrow, got a job to do there, and I'll just have to sweep this under the rug and reflect on it later.”

No metro-area teams were in the lead after the first day for the Class 3A and 4A schools. Northwest (Class 4A boys), C.H.?Flowers (Class 4A girls), South Hagerstown (Class 3A boys) and Urbana (Class?3A girls) were in front heading into today's final day of competition for all four classes at Morgan State.

The closest local teams were the No.?2 Howard girls (second in Class 4A), the No.?2 Dulaney boys (tied with C.H. Flowers for second in Class 4A) and the No.?7 River Hill girls (second in Class 3A).

Overall, local athletes didn't fare as well as their Class 1A and Class 2A counterparts did Thursday. With Montgomery County and Prince George's County schools often ruling the day, there were not as many local winners.

But there were some: Elijah White of Centennial finished a strong postseason with his victory in the Class 3A high jump (6 feet, 2 inches). White also won the Howard County and the East region titles.

Also in Class 3A, William Henderson of Poly won the long jump (24-0.25). In Class?4A, Dami Adekunjo of Glen Burnie took the long jump with a leap of 22-6.5. Jaren Baluyot of Broadneck won the pole vault at 12 feet.