3A Girls
The headliners here are Randolph's Sophia Bendet and Aubrey Milam. Bendet is the defending champion after running 11:13.00 last year and she has run faster than that on multiple occasions this year. In fact, the only time she has not beaten that time this year was at the Region meet that ran longer than two miles according to many of the runners. Milam finished fourth last year and it would not be a shock to see the teammates take the top two spots.
Poth is the top team from the Region and they are led by Brooklyn Albert who was the State runner-up two years ago. They are ranked #7 in the State. Heading into Regionals, Lytle was ranked #2 in the State but suffered a pair of injuries that kept them out of the meet this year.
3A Boys
Last year, Great Hearts Northern Oaks and Lytle took the top two spots at the State meet. It is probably unlikely that would happen again, but I can see a chance for both teams to get back to the podium. Lytle has had an outstanding season and their top five posted a 1:12 split at the Region meet. Johnny Rey Alvarez has been their top runner all season long and he finished third while Lucas Salazar has been a consistent #2 runner. However, it is Bryan Montes-Rodriguez who had their best performance among returners at last year's State meet which could be very important. Their top five runners are all juniors and seniors and have lots of experience running at the State meet.
GHNO graduated their top two runners from last year but seem to be peaking at the right time. Krish Vijayvergia had a huge race at last year's championships and finished fifth in the Region. Look for him to make some noise individually and I would not count the team out either.
Individually, San Diego's Jose Barrera and Hebbronville's Gary Custer are two names to watch. Barrera's running history is a little spotty with very few races posted to Milesplit, but he took the Region title and improved by 40 seconds from the Islander Splash just three weeks earlier. Custer finished eighth at the State meet last year and is the #3 returning runner from a year ago. He finished less than a second behind Barrera and both should be in contention for a podium spot. Whether either can challenge Holliday's Noah Strohman for the State title is anyone's guess.