Here are The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro boys cross country teams for the 2024 season:

Runner of the Year

Tsedeke Jakovics, Old Mill, senior

If you ask Tsedeke Jakovics, his best races weren’t his championship runs.

He cruised to victory in the Class 3A state championship race, finishing in 15 minutes, 52.04 seconds — 12 seconds ahead of North Hagerstown’s Walker Mason. It was a good performance for most, but just OK by Jakovics’ standards.

Without a true challenge in the race, it didn’t have the same victorious feeling for him as when he beat St. Vincent Pallotti’s Caleb Tenney in the Bull Run elite race or Southern’s Eric Penkala at the Anne Arundel County meet, who were both champions in their respective conference and classification.

“I love competing against more competitive guys and more competitive races, even if it’s not for a state title. I definitely enjoyed those meets a lot more,” Jakovics said. “It’s putting me to the test, pushing me mentally and physically a lot more.”

The state championship did complete a special accomplishment. Jakovics has now won state titles in outdoor track, indoor track and cross country — the triple crown of distance running.

“I definitely see it as achievements that have been met, for sure,” he said. “That’s the goal everyone has, I’m sure. Getting that triple crown is huge — but I wouldn’t say I’m done.

“I’m looking forward to improving my times [during] indoor and outdoor and competing in bigger meets and continue building as growing as a runner.”

While he has an affection for both disciplines and cross country brought him to the sport of running, he gives track a slight preference.

“Cross county is what got me into the sport and it created a love of the sport,” he said. “I came in freshman year not knowing what sport I wanted to do. I tried cross country and I loved the sport. The teammates, the culture, everything about it is fantastic. You’re running along and people who don’t even know you are cheering for you and pushing you.

“As I got better, I got better in track, it’s a little more enjoyable because it’s a quicker race, and it’s a lot easier to track. It doesn’t matter what track you’re on, you can track your times. It’s very structured, which I like.”

A big part of what made Jakovics such a strong runner is knowing his strengths and how to game plan.

“I know I’m more of a speed guy, that’s not really surprising, so I have to play to my strength and I understand I have to play to my strength,” he said. “There are guys who are a lot stronger and guys who run a lot more mileage. So some races, I understand I have to be a little bit smarter with how I attack a course.”

Jakovics estimates he runs about 50 to 55 miles a week during the offseason to train for the season. This summer, however, he’ll take a 150-mile run up I-95 to New Jersey, where he plans to run for Princeton.

Coach of the Year

Eric Baranoski, Harford Tech

Baranoski guided the Cobras program to a state sweep, winning both the boys and girls Class 1A state championships. He said part of the fuel for the effort was the desire to avenge what the team felt were subpar performances during the 2023 postseason.

“Just overall, we had a bunch of kids, especially on the boys side, that really wanted it,” Baranoski said. “They really wanted to avenge the loss last year at the regional championship and the not-so-great performance at the state championship. We knew we had a tough region with Bo Manor and Patterson Mill. We thought if we could win that, that would get the monkey off our back.”

It did — and the Cobras kept the momentum going through states.

Baranoski took his team this fall to the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh to prepare for the bigger end-of-season races, saying, “It was a big environment, 40, 45 teams. It really helped us mimic the schedule of the state meet.”

Harford Tech’s boys didn’t have a standout runner to carry it to a championship; the Cobras’ first runner at states finished in 12th place. But what they did have was a strong group that ran well together as a pack. The top runners finished within six places and 16 seconds of each other.

“There’s a bunch of ways to win,” Baranoski said. “The boys, we just didn’t have that low stick to go out and compete in the top three, top five for us, but it didn’t matter because we have plenty of people around the same pace and we knew the plan. We told our No. 5s, start out slow, then gain momentum with every person you pass going up and down the hills. They all made a plan and told each other, we’re all going to stay together. We’re going to run as a pack and hold each other accountable.”

First team

Theodore Brown, Towson, senior

Brown finished fourth at the Class 3A state meet (16:09.35). He won the Baltimore County and 3A North Region championships.

Rayyan Dheini, Howard, senior

Dheini was ninth at the Class 3A state meet (16:25.27) and was Howard County runner-up. He won the 3A South Region championship.

Jemmel Green, Gilman, senior

Green was Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion, finishing in 15:52.2 at the league meet. His best time was 15:14.44 at South River’s Seahawk Invitational.

Ryan Hartranft, Century, senior

Hartranft won his second straight Carroll County championship this season, won the Class 2A West Region title and finished third at 2A states (15:58.45).

David Herzberger, Centennial, senior

Herzberger was the driving force behind Centennial’s Class 2A state championship team. He finished fifth there in 16:37.56.

JD Hughes, Calvert Hall, sophomore

Among a strong team, Hughes had a couple of standout performances, leading the Cardinals by finishing third at the Maryland Private School State Championships. His best race was at the Virginia XC Showcase (15:32).

Oliver Katz, Dulaney, junior

Katz finished second to Brown at the county championships but beat him to the line at states, finishing third in Class 3A (16:08.1)

Colin McGuinness, Wilde Lake, senior

McGuinness ran his best races at the end of the year, winning the Howard County championship in a personal-best 15:30.4. He finished fourth in the Class 2A state meet.

Elliot Palmer, Calvert Hall, senior

Palmer was the top finisher for the MIAA champion Cardinals at the league meet, finishing second to Green in the A Conference in 16:07.7.

Eric Penkala, Southern-AA, senior

Penkala won his second straight Class 2A state championship. His time of 15:37.37 was the fastest among all four state races.

Greg Schellberg, Liberty, senior

Schellberg claimed his second straight individual Class 1A state championship, finishing in 16:19.22. He was also Carroll County runner-up.

Caleb Tenney, St. Vincent Palloti, senior

Tenney was 1-1 racing against Jakovics this season, including winning the Seahawk Invitational in 14:53.25. He won the MIAA out of the C Conference, running 15:34.6. He also won the Maryland Private School championship.

Second team

Josh Fields, Towson, senior

Campbell Gelineau, Crofton, senior

Aidan Heinbaugh, Calvert Hall, sophomore

Owen Infante, South River, senior

Max Larcher, Calvert Hall, senior

Caden Lazzor, Severna Park, senior

Conrad Mlynek, Catonsville, senior

Chris Novak, Patterson Mill, junior

Kevin Roeder, Harford Tech, junior

Thomas Sewell, Century, junior

Darian Walters, Edgewood, senior

Contact Anthony Maluso at amaluso@baltsun.com, 567-230-6024, x.com/TonySunSports and instagram.com/TonySunSports.