There are only two girls in Indiana that have run a 17:35 this year, and both are in the New Haven Semi-State. Delta Freshman Nicki Southerland and Carroll Senior Zoe Duffus have already met once this year at the Marion Invitational, where Southerland edged Duffus by one tenth of a second. Duffus did not compete at last weekend's Regional, but will look to perform strong after a weekend of rest.
Addison Wiley out of Huntington North has been impressive this postseason, including a 17:56 in the regional at Indiana Wesleyan University. Homestead's Addison Knoblauch won the West Noble Regional, and Hamilton Southeastern's Halle Hill finished just ten seconds behind Southerland last week. Look for those runners in the lead pack during Saturday's race.
Carroll will have to race with Hamilton Southeastern for the girls team title, as the Chargers look to take their sixth straight semi-state. Expect Penn and Concordia to advance, while Fort Wayne South Side, Fishers, Huntington North and Homestead fight for the last two spots in the state finals.
Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern have been racing each other all October, and this weekend should see the rival boys teams at the top of the leaderboard once again. Hamilton Southeastern edged Fishers for the sectional title, but it was Fishers that took the narrow victory in the regional.
Expect Concordia and Goshen to finish third and fourth, and there are at least six schools capable of taking the last two transfer spots. Huntington North, Penn, Homestead, Bellmont, Oak Hill, Westview and Bishop Dwenger should have a thrilling competition for the right to run again next week.
Angola's Izaiah Steury owns the fastest boys time in Indiana with a 14:51. Steury has won every race he has competed in this season, and will look to keep the trend going this weekend. Steury won his regional by thirty seconds last week, and is the heavy favorite in this semi-state
Steury's closest competition could come from Penn's Mariano Retzloff, who won the Elkhart Regional with a 15:45. Braden Sweet of Southwood has also had a good postseason, as he won the Marion Regional last week by two tenths of a second over Bellmont's Deion Guise.
The New Haven Semi-State will get under way at 10:00 AM Eastern Time.