5A Girls
The Austin area schools will go to Huntsville looking to take all of the qualifying spots to the state meet. Nothing new here, but Cedar Park is one of the best teams in Texas. They are back to being a house hold name in the sport and new head coach Chance Edwards has picked up the program whose progression arrow was already pointing upwards and has it going through the roof.
More ATX area reinforcement will converge on Huntsville as Georgetown and Georgetown East View expect to challenge Cedar Park and qualify for state. Foster and Magnolia West aren't going to let teams come to their area and take things that easily. They both have good leaders as well as good enough squads to take advantage of mishaps by other teams.
The team to watch is Marble Falls. They qualified for regionals without running their number one runner Bailey Goggans. Without Goggans they are a really good team. With Goggans, they are a force and a threat for the qualifying spots.
Girls Team Predictions:
1. Cedar Park
2. Georgetown
3. Georgetown East View
4. Marble Falls
The individual race will come down to some very good runners. If Goggans runs, expect her to be in the front. She runs the 5K exactly like she runs the 800m -- Hard. She isn't afraid of challenging the clock and that puts her in a winning position of just about every race.
She will have a familiar foe and an unfamiliar foe to race against on Monday. Mia Rowe has one of 5A's top runners over the last several years. Then there is McKenzie Bailey, Georgetown's freshman who can flat out run.
But that's not it for the girls individual race. Peyton McQuillan, Abigail Wilson, Emma Little, Emma Ellis, and a gang of Cedar Park girls can all be present in the front pack and are all capable of a regional championship.
5A Boys
Cedar Park is the clear favorite in this region and there isn't much that could go wrong to keep them from winning. They run tough and they run a good team race. They have hopes to taking on the Eastwood and Lovejoy types in 5A for the state title.
Boys Team Predictions:
1. Cedar Park
2. College Station
3. Georgetown
4. Tomball
Jack Woods is going to be the man in this race. He should be running alone for most of the race and will be the regional champion. Joseph Benn, Dan Arnold and Mario Ruiz will run for the runner-up spot.