Region 1-3A
Girls Team Race Preview:
The Holliday program is a mainstay when it comes to standing at the top of the Region 1-3A podium. This is another year they should take the girls crown. The CCCAT No. 1 ranked squad should get a push from No. 5 Dalhart, No. 9 Canadian, and No. 10 Tuscola Jim Ned.
Holliday can run a sub 12:10 team average and do it with a sub 60 second split. They almost went 1 - 6 at the district championships. Dalhart has proven to run tight this year and Canadian and Jim Ned both have solid team averages.
Henrietta could crash the party as they had impressive stats at the District 7-3A meet. They ran a 0.23 second split with a 12:59 team average.
Favorites: Holliday, Dalhart, Canadian, Jim Ned, Henrietta
Sleepers: Compass Academy, Alpine
Girls Individual Race Preview:
Another year and another opportunity for a Holliday runner to win the Region 1-3A girls individual title. After Hannah Spears and Jaycee Lyons captured the previous couple of regional title, it appears to be Kenli Atwood's turn.
Atwood has the top performance on the season at 11:38 with teammate Simone Mouras with the second fastest at 11:52. Both Atwood and Mouras possess good speed and that will make it difficult to beat them. Also, don't be surprised to see five or more HERO jerseys in the top-10 finishers.
Konnar McClendon and Rylan Raschke had good runs at last year's state meet and McClendon was a state track meet qualifier last spring.
A final runner to look out for is Friona senior Yvonne Legaretta. She was fifth at last year's regional meet, but got up for third at the state meet. Legaretta was runner-up at the Canyon Inv. two mile in 11:52.
Favorites: Kenli Atwood, Simone Mouras, Lillian Rumbo, Chloe Granado, Konnar McClendon, Yvonne Legaretta
Sleepers: Rylan Raschke, Mia Morris, Circe Johnson, Anahi Machuca, Sammi Kirkland
Boys Team Race Preview:
It's Region 1, we already set the precedence, so you expect. There are several CCCAT ranked teams who will look to hopefully ride that out to Round Rock.
CCCAT ranked No. 3 Presidio, No. 5 Lubbock Roosevelt and No. 9 Canadian, and No. 10 Tuscola Jim Ned all have a chance to punch their tickets to the state meet.
With all of that said, the District 8-3A boys from Eastland and Breckenridge aren't ones to overlook.
Eastland has four boys who can run tight like they did at the Midway Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational. Even though it was only three miles, they ran a 17:10 team average with a six second compression between the number one through three runners in the mid 16s.
Breckenridge wasn't too far behind Eastland at their district meet and they have a good low stick runner in Chance Stewart and then the two through four runners are tight together. If they figure the five spot out, watch out!
The five runner will be of utmost importance next week as each of the ranked teams seem to have a low stick runner and fairly tight two through four runners. Whoever wins the five spot should grab state meet qualifiers.
If Noah Strohman is able to come back and join the Holliday squad, they immediately figure to be in the mix. He didn't run at district and hasn't since August, the 7-3A champs would get an instant jolt with him.
Favorites: Presidio, Lubbock Roosevelt, Canadian, Jim Ned, Eastland, Breckenridge
Sleepers: Holliday, Dalhart, Ingram Moore
Boys Individual Race Preview:
The reigning defending UIL 3A state champion Noah Strohman has been out and didn't compete at the district meet. The Holliday boys still handled business at district and they won the title to advance to the regional round. That still gives Strohman a chance to defend his title.
However, other boys in the region are ready to lace em up and win a regional title. Kenny Pritchard from Jim Ned, Sammy Herrera from Eastland, and Dylan Strand out of Brock have all run under sixteen-minutes this season.
However, not too far down the totem pole of this season's rankings are three other boys who had success at last year's state meet.
Andrew Hicks (Eastland), Ryder Strohman (Holliday), and Samuel Bryan (Tuscola Jim Ned) finished 12th, 13th, and 14th last year at state.
Favorites: Kenny Pritchard, Sammy Herrera, Dylan Strand, Andrew Hicks, Ryder Strohman, Samuel Bryan
Sleepers: Aiden Mansell, Chance Stewart, Bodee Cato, Jacob Soto