6A Girls
The Region 3-6A Girls race will be GOOD! There are three teams who are all capable of winning regionals. Kingwood, Seven Lakes, and Tompkins are all used to going to the state meet and it won't change this year. The desire to win regionals is what we will be watching. Kingwood has been good all year. They run very tight and that is what can win it all for them They are capable of running a 23 second 1-5 split, there aren't many teams who can do that.
District rivals Seven Lakes and Tompkins will be lurking around. They have good low stick runners but their key will be how strong their 3-5 runners can run and how close they can stay to the chase pack.
The teams to watch are Houston Stratford and Katy. Those teams will potentially be battling each other for the fourth and final qualifying spot. In the virtual meet, they are separated by a mere three points. Katy has a strong 1 - 2 punch, but their 3 - 5 runners is where Stratford can exploit the race and earn their trip to state. Things could be pretty even with things coming down to the fifth runner. Their number fives could be separated by a few place. This is the race to watch in the 6A girls meet.
Girls Team Predictions:
1. Kingwood
2. Katy Seven Lakes
3. Katy Tompkins
4. Houston Stratford
The individual race will not have Heidi Nielson in it for the first time in two years. Nielson is out for the season due to an injury.
However, that doesn't mean that the Cinco Ranch still won't come out with the win. Sophie Atkinson can run just about anything. She is a state meet qualifier in cross country and on the track she qualified for state in three individual events last year. Yep, this kid is mentally strong, physically strong, and fast.
Avery Clover started her season off on a good note at the Friday Night Lights meet and then won the Chile Pepper Inv a couple of weeks ago. A sleeper to look out for is Addison Stevenson, she is a tough runner and isn't afraid of going out hard.
This region isn't short of fire power!
6A Boys
The boys race in this region could be the best of the day. Katy Seven Lakes has run themselves into being the best team in the Houston area. All season long they have continued to develop and run strong to and through the district race.
Strake Jesuit is a clear and close second and will challenge for the win if Seven Lakes should slip up. The third spot should be just as clear with Tompkins looking for their third consecutive state meet.
The fourth position is where it will get interesting. Cinco Ranch has a good squad and two good front runners. However, Houston Stratford has the ability to run tight. Their first three runners can be within second of one another and the same goes for their four and five. They'll have to stick all five of their runners ahead of Cinco's four this could get very interesting.
One team to keep an eye out for is La Porte!
Boys Team Predictions:
1. Katy Seven Lakes
2. Houston Strake Jesuit
3. Katy Tompkins
4. Katy Cinco Ranch
This race will go to Ryan Schoppe, hands down. However, he will have some company through the first two miles. Nick Majerus, Cole Lindhorst, Gavin Saacke, Noah Haileab, and Erick Lara all have the capability to run with Schoppe at least through the first half of the race, but expect him to drop the hammer in the last 1.5 miles.