Regional #5 - Elkhart Central
Feeder Sectionals: Elkhart Central and South Bend Riley
Boys
Teams: Penn, SB Riley, SB St. Joseph, Mishawaka, Bremen, Elkhart Memorial, Goshen, Wawasee, Elkhart Central, Concord
Feliz Perez-Diener looks to be the man of the meet this weekend. He holds a season PR of 16:05 and won last weekend by about 11 seconds. Jared Chapin's season best, may not be as close to Perez's but his ability level is right there with him. Chapin will put up a strong fight for the win. Both of these guys will be important parts to Goshen or SB Riley's chances of advancing.
This will be a tight battle between Elkhart Memorial and Penn as they come in off sectional wins and will be on the hunt to add the regional champions plaque to their trophy. South Bend Riley looks to be in a good place to take third. The battle for the 4th and 5th spots could be a close one between Goshen, Concord, Wawasee and Elkhart Central.
Girls
Teams: Penn, Mishawaka, SB St. Joseph, Bremen, SB Clay, Elkhart Memorial, Elkhart Central, Northridge, Concord, Wawasee
Dyer and Dibley will get to go after once again this week. With cooler weather this could really be a tight race down to the wire. Dyer got the edge last week, winning by 7 seconds and looks like she could repeat this weekend. But if Dibley wants to be sure her team is able to move on, getting the win will be crucial in making sure she scores the lowest possible points for her team.
Penn has a really strong 1-3 that will help lead them to a regional title this weekend. Mishawaka and Memorial will get together and battle for that 2nd place spit. Central and Northridge will be a super tight 4-5 for the final two advancing team spots it looks like.
Regional #6 - West Noble
Boys
Teams: Westview, West Noble, DeKalb, East Noble, Angola, Homestead, FW Concordia, FW Carroll, FW Snider, FW Northrop
This boys race is going to be an exciting one. Reece Gibson, Jesse Hamlin and Spencer Carpenter will be a tight front pack all looking to grab that regional title and this will be a weekend that those points truly matter and could majorly determine where their teams place.
Based on a virtual meet, the top 5 teams could all be separated by just 13.5 points. FW Snider looks like the team to beat on paper, but that may not be the case this weekend. In our mind, Westview should be the #1 or #2 team, with Concordia right there with them. Homestead and FW Carroll should be within just a couple points of each other for those 3 and 4 spots. FW Snider may be #1 on paper but based on last week's results, they will probably shake out to just making it our after things are all said and done. One team that could surprise us is West Noble, last week they took 2nd to a strong Westview squad. In virtual meets and most of this season they haven't looked like a team that would make it to semi-state, but they could have been just waiting to peak at the right time.
Girls
Teams: FW Carroll, Homestead, FW Dwenger, Leo, FW Concordia, West Noble, East Noble, Angola, Dekalb, Westview
This individual race looks to be one for Kayla Mcculloch and Erin Strzelecki to duke it out to decide which girl is the top one in the Fort Wayne area. Last week Meagan Hathaway pulled off a big win, coming across as the only sub-19 of the day and earning her first ever sectional title. Green didn't have the best race of her life last weekend, but should always be counted as a contender if she's racing.
Last week an exciting change came to the FW Carroll girls team, as Zoe Duffus raced for the first time in almost a year. In her first race back she ran a a 19:52, which is about 2 minutes from her PR but it is a start and a promising sign. Currently with that time, she sits as the #8 runner for the Chargers, but this weekend's weather could help propel her up and be a real impact for this squad. This regional is one for Carroll to lose. They hold a strong 55 second 1-5 split with all 7 having the ability to place in the top 15, and potentially top 10. It'll be interesting to see how low they can score, potentially 25pts or so. We'll look for FW Dwenger to take 2nd due to that average time of just under 19:20 and that low stick in Strzelecki. Homestead also appears to be a solid lock for 3rd right now. FW Concordia and Leo will take on each other just to determine who gets to say they were 4th and who gets to say they're 5th.