Hannah Spears' post race interview at 2021 Garmin MileSplit Inv.
Class 3A
The Region 1-3A girls race will will be a re-do of last year's race. There are only four of the top 20 girls who graduated meaning 16 of last year's top finishers are back.
Last year's regional champ Hannah Spears is one of those many returners. The Texas Tech commit will be running for another individual title. Her teammates Simone Mouras and Jaycee Lyons are also top individuals and make all three under 12:00 minutes. The main threat to their sweep is Allie Brown (Nocona) who checks in at 11:57 for the season.
Braylen Lusby (Spearman) and Yvonne Legaretta (Friona) are big race runners. Last year as freshmen, Lusby was runner-up to Spears and Legaretta was fifth. At state, the two finished third and eighth.
Team wise, Holliday should run away with the title, but the race for the next three spots will be a free-for-all and there will be many teams in the shopping spree.
Muleshoe (13:32), Crane (13:23), Idalou (13:34), Wall (13:37), Jim Ned (13:33), Canadian (13:34), and Ballinger (13:36) all have team averages within seconds of one another make seven teams who will be gunning for three qualifying spots.
Muleshoe (29 seconds), Idalo (36 seconds), and Wall (31 seconds) all have 1-5 splits that are impressive making it even more desperate for teams to have a good race day.
Crawford Kiser (Amarillo River Road) is the top runner in the region based on season resumes. He was all-conference and all-state runner last year and has been impressive all year long. His 15:36 gives him a leg up on the rest of the region, but the Tornillo duo of Daniel Romero (15:44) and Angel Torres (15:58) aren't far behind him.
There are five other runners in the region who have run sub 16:30 and could still push Kiser, Romero, and Torres.
Presidio, Jim Ned, and Tornillo made it to state last year and will all be in contention again. However, Comanche and Dublin join Jim Ned as the top teams heading into regionals.
Comanche is led by Omero Arredondo (16:38) and their two and three runners and their four and five runners are tight. Dublin has the fastest average and a good first three runners.
The team race will go down to the third and fourth qualifying positions. Presidio (1:30.08), Eastland (1:29.14), Crane (1:30.41), and Henrietta (1:30.52) could be some of the teams in contention for qualifying spots.