PARKTON — The rigorous course at Hereford High School presents one final challenge to the state’s top high school cross country runners today in the Maryland State Championship Meet.

State champions will be decided in all four classifications. The Class 1A girls race begins at 1:30. The 1A boys will run at 2:30.

Cross country has produced more local state champions in the past 10 years than any other sport, and runners from Allegany, Fort Hill, Mountain Ridge and Southern Garrett hope to add their names to a list that boasts five state champion teams and 12 individual state champs in the past decade.

Three of those 12 champions were repeat winners, bringing the number of individual state championships won by local runners in the past 10 years to 16.

The Southern girls enter today’s state meet as West Region champions, having edged Williamsport by 11 points in the regional last week.

Also qualifying as a team by finishing among the top five in the region were the Mountain Ridge girls, the Allegany boys, the Fort Hill boys and the Mountain Ridge boys.

Among the individual qualifiers was Fort Hill’s Amanda Twigg, who was second overall in the girls regional. Local runners competing today, according to the entry list posted at MPSSAA.org, can be found on today’s Scoreboard page.

Local girls who have won state championships in the last 10 years are: Lauryn MacFawn of Allegany (2007, 2006, 2005); Rachel Armstrong of Beall (2002); Jennifer Patton of Westmar (2001), Nori Sams of Allegany (1999), and Erin Davis of Allegany (1998).

Local boys who have won state titles in the last 10 years are: Northern’s Ryan Bowser (2006, 2007); Mohamed Khelalfa of Fort Hill (2005); Dan DeWitt of Beall (2003, 2004); Jordan Davis of Allegany (2002); Justin Faith of Fort Hill (2001); Ryan Foster of Beall (1999), and Zach Bittinger of Westmar (1998).

Area teams have also brought back their fair share of hardware from the state meet. In the last 10 years, there have been five state champions and six second-place finishers.

The state champion teams were the Beall boys in 2003 and 2004, the Southern girls in 1999, the Westmar boys in 1998 and the Allegany girls in 1998.

Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. Contact Mike Mathews at mmathews@times-news.com.