At the start of the season, a group of Sherwood cross country runners banded together.

Their coach, Dan Reeks, had been at it for 55 years, the last 23 of which at Sherwood. At 78 years old, he’s a beloved fixture in the county cross country community. He’s sent runners off to college, helped create a county championship and influenced the lives of hundreds of teenagers.

But he’s never, in all this time, had a boys and girls county or state champion in the same year. His runners decided that this was the year it would finally happen.

On the boys’ side, sophomore twins Dimitrios and Ionannis Rementelas were the favorites. But on the girls’ side, Madeline Quirion, who made the switch to running after she didn’t make the soccer team her freshman year, wasn’t a sure thing. She has the speed, but she’s dealt with race anxiety and self-doubt.

In October at the county championship, they accomplished the first part of their quest, winning the boys and girls individual titles. Then, at the 3A State Championship in November, they took it a step further. Dimitrios and Ionannis Rementelas placed first and second in the boys race, while Quirion took the girls title.

A clean sweep of the individual titles at both the county championship and the state championship, just like they intended.

“That was stressful,” Quirion said. “The twins handled it better than me.”

The fall sports season officially ended on Friday for Montgomery County after Quince Orchard won the 4A State Football Championship. As the focus turns to winter sports, The Banner is looking back at the best sports stories of the fall season. And these runners, who went on a quest to accomplish something for their beloved coach, top the list.

Reeks, Quirion said, was nonchalant about this accomplishment, but that’s just who he is as a coach. He prioritizes grades and the athletes’ well-being over titles, and makes an effort to get to know every runner personally.

To have longevity in the sport, he’s had to change his tactics over the years. In the 1970s and ’80s, Reeks and his athletes ran 60-70 miles a week together. Now, with research showing the impact of overtraining, that number is down to 30 to 40 miles for most athletes, or 50 to 55 miles for higher-level athletes like Quirion. He lets the juniors and seniors have a say in their training because, to him, that’s a key part in helping them grow as young adults.

Reeks can no longer run — his knees don’t allow it — but he still feels the same way about coaching as he did when he fell in love with it while competing at American University.

“This keeps you young as well,” he said. “You’re being challenged — you can’t just sit back on your laurels. I try to avoid being in what I call the ‘I remember when.’ I’ve literally coached kids who have grandkids who are teenagers, and I try not to say, ‘Well, as I told you, your grandparents ran 70 miles a week.’ If you do that, what are you doing? You have to be current and so that’s what you do.”

John F. Kennedy’s Cinderella story

The John F. Kennedy football team won just one game across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. After losing its first two games of the 2025 season, it was starting to look as if 2025 might track in the same direction.

But then they beat Watkins Mill in week three, followed by Springbrook in week four. They won the next two, over Northwood and Einstein, and ended the regular season 5-4.

In the first week of the postseason, they accomplished something that they hadn’t done since 2006: They won a playoff game. And while Kennedy’s season ended a week later, against Sherwood, who finished as the runners-up in the state, Kennedy’s turnaround was an expected bright spot of the county football season.

Stone Ridge wins girls field hockey title

In 2023, Halie Slidell scored the winning goal in overtime of the Independent School League field hockey title game to give Stone Ridge the title.

Two years later, her sister, Anna, did the same thing. Her goal, the only one of the day, led Stone Ridge to a 1-0 win over Holy Child. It was Stone Ridge’s fourth title in six years.

The run continues for Quince Orchard football

The Cougars won the 4A State Championship for the second year in a row, holding off Wise 26-21. Quince Orchard has dropped just one game since 2021.

Clarksburg goes back-to-back in flag football

Two years ago, most of the members of the Clarksburg flag football team had never played the sport before. Now they are back-to-back champions. Clarksburg won the second Ravens’ flag football championship, beating Whitman 19-0.

Zoe Cusack ends high school career with a bang

Churchill senior Zoe Cusack won 3A/4A title at the State Championships, ending her high school golf career with a second title. Cusack, who also represented the U.S. at the Junior Ryder Cup in September, is signed to the University of Virginia.