IHSAA 2018 Cross Country Regionals Previews



REGIONAL #15 - CRAWFORD COUNTY

FEEDER SECTIONALS: CRAWFORD COUNTY AND JASPER


BOYS PREVIEW


Boys Teams that Advanced: Floyd Central, Tell City, Christian Academy of Indiana, New Albany, Jasper, Heritage Hills, Forest Park, Southridge, Providence, Borden


Boys Individual Race: Mitchel Hopf was able to upset Nate Kaiser last week on a slow course at the Jasper Sectional.  Throw in all-stater Caleb Futter who easily won his Sectional and this should be a great race between the three for the win.  Any one of the three could be potential all staters later on in the tournament. The rest of the race could be tightly packed and led by Spencer Wolf as he has the next best season best time of 16:18.


Boys Projected Top 5 Based on Season Bests:

1st - Caleb Futter (12) - 15:23 (Christian Academy of Indiana)

2nd - Nate Kaiser (12) - 15:30 (Tell City)

3rd - Mitchell Hopf (12) - 15:41 (Heritage Hills)

4th - Spenser Wolf (9) - 16:18 (Forest Park)

5th - Kaden Chestnut (10) - 16:31 (Tell City)


Boys Team Race:  Floyd Central and Tell City both won their own respective Sectional meets and will likely clash for the Regional Title.  Floyd Central has a solid pack of their 5 scorers in the mid 17 minute range while Tell City will likely rely on their low stick in Nate Kaiser to guide their team to a possible victory.  Heritage Hills is projected to score 152 in a hypothetical meet with Forest Park and Southridge not far behind.


Boys Projected Advancing Teams Based on Hypothetical Meet*

1st - Floyd Central - 62 points

2nd - Tell City - 66 points

3rd - Christian Academy of Indiana - 83 points

4th - New Albany - 114 points

5th - Jasper - 151 points

*If everyone ran their season best times at the Regional


GIRLS PREVIEW


Girls Teams that Advanced: Floyd Central, Forest Park, Jasper, Heritage Hills, Corydon Central, Perry Central, Tell City, New Albany, Christian Academy of Indiana, Crawford County


Girls Individual Race: Interestingly Sydel Liddell of Floyd Central was able to overcome McKenna Cavanaugh of CAI by over 35 seconds at the Crawford County Sectional last week.  Cavanaugh has a season best time that is 20 seconds faster than Liddell. Liddell also beat her last year at the state finals where she placed 41st and Cavanaugh was 54th.  With both having aspirations for all-state this year the battle this weekend should be one to keep an eye on. Claire Mehling also should provide some competition as she easily won the Jasper Sectional in presumably abysmal course conditions.


Girls Projected Top 5 Based on Season Bests:

1st - McKenna Cavanaugh (12) - 18:19 (Christian Academy of Indiana)

2nd - Sydney Liddell (11) - 18:39 (Floyd Central)

3rd - Claire Mehling (12) - 18:59 (Forest Park)

4th - Sydney Baxter (10) - 19:23 (Floyd Central)

5th - Jaelynn Etienne (9) - 19:25 (Perry Central)


Girls Team Race: Floyd Central was helped last week by Liddle's Crawford County Sectional Championship as they destroyed the rest of the competition by finishing 64 points ahead of the second place team from New Albany.   Forest Park beat Jasper last week at the Jasper Sectional by only 6 points which should set up a close race for runner-up. The last two advancing spots will be close and will most likely come down to the squads of Heritage Hills, Corydon Central, Perry Central, and Tell City.


Girls Projected Advancing Teams Based on Hypothetical Meet*

1st - Floyd Central - 30 points

2nd - Forest Park - 60 points

3rd - Jasper - 92 points

4th - Heritage Hills - 138 points

5th - Corydon Central - 150 points

*If everyone ran their season best times at the Regional




REGIONAL #16 - PIKE CENTRAL

FEEDER SECTIONALS: EVANSVILLE MATER DEI AND SOUTH KNOX


BOYS PREVIEW


Boys Teams that Advanced: Evansville F.J. Reitz, Gibson Southern, Castle, South Knox, Evansville North, Evansville Mater Dei, Evansville Memorial, Pike Central, Barr-Reeve, Princeton Community


Boys Individual Race: Travis Hart has the best time of the two feeder Sectionals from last week as has the season best time going into the Pike Central Regional.   Winning this race will be a good step forward for him to make his first state meet as a Senior. Jackson Krieg will likely lead the heard close behind as the runners in this Regional should be fairly packed together which should allow for an unpredictable top 20 for All-Regional honors.


Boys Projected Top 5 Based on Season Bests:

1st - Travis Hart (12) - 15:54 (Gibson Southern)

2nd - Jackson Krieg (12) - 16:01 (Princeton Community)

3rd - Tanner Schickel (12) - 16:13 (Evansville Mater Dei)

4th - Dean Schmidt (11) - 16:19 (Evansville North)

5th - Joseph Russler (11) - 16:23 (Evansville Memorial)


Boys Team Race: The boys team race for the Pike Central Regional might be one of the best in the state despite the lack of top state caliber teams.  The top two teams of Evansville F.J. Reitz and Gibson Southern both won their Sectionals last week giving them both momentum going into this week. top 5 projected teams to advance listed below are separated by ONLY 31 points in a hypothetical meet.  Evansville F.J. Reitz has the lowest score but Gibson Southern has the lowest 5K team average at 17:11. Evansville North is listed at 5th but they actually have the 3rd best team average at 17:23. The team battle for the win and order of the top 5 will ultimately come down to whoever performs the best Saturday morning.


Boys Projected Advancing Teams Based on Hypothetical Meet*

1st - Evansville F.J. Reitz - 87 points

2nd - Gibson Southern - 104 points

3rd - Castle - 108 points

4th - South Knox - 114 points

5th - Evansville North - 118 points

*If everyone ran their season best times at the Regional


GIRLS PREVIEW


Girls Teams that Advanced: Evansville Memorial, Barr-Reeve, South Knox, Gibson Southern, Castle, Evansville Mater Dei, Pike Central, Evansville North, Signature, and Vincennes Lincoln


Girls Individual Race: Clare Vogel ran away in the Mater Dei Sectional as she will likely repeat that trend this week at the Pike Central Regional.  She will look to make it to the state meet once again this year improving upon last years 107th place finish. Freshman Makenna Pruett comfortably won her Sectional last week and has the second best time in the field going into this week.  The rest of the top runners are up in the air depending on the conditions of the course and efforts put forth by each individual.


Girls Projected Top 5 Based on Season Bests:

1st - Clare Vogel (11) - 18:28 (Evansville Memorial)

2nd - Makenna Pruett (9) - 19:03 (Barr-Reeve)

3rd - Mykayla Couchenour (11) - 19:17 (South Knox)

4th - Melissa Wagler (12) - 19:45 (Barr-Reeve)

5th - Allison Morphew (11) - 19:54 (Evansville Memorial)


Girls Team Race: Barr-Reeve and Evansville Memorial won their Sectional meets in a dominating fashion scoring 19 and 21 points respectively.  Both schools look like they have the potential and are on the edge of making the state meet this year. South Knox should be in a comfortable position to advance as they have a 33 point and 37 second team average over the next squad from Gibson Southern.  The last ticket to the Brown County semi-state may come down to several teams that are close in competition. These teams include Castle, Evansville Mater Dei, Pike Central, and Evansville North.


Girls Projected Advancing Teams Based on Hypothetical Meet*

1st - Evansville Memorial - 32 points

2nd - Barr-Reeve - 45 points

3rd - South Knox - 97 points

4th - Gibson Southern - 130 points

5th - Castle - 160 points

*If everyone ran their season best times at the Regional