The Teams
Palatine High School (Palatine XC)
Coming off a second place finish at their State meet, Palatine looks to qualify for Nationals again this year. They finished second in last years meet, but return six out of their top seven.
Carmel High School (Code Red)
Carmel is coming off winning the Indiana State Championship with 73 points, placing two girls in the top ten. They return their top six of their runners from last year. Look for them to improve on their fourth place finish from last year
Magnificat High School (Blue Streaks)
They finished fifth last year at Nationals, but they lost five of their top seven. Magnificat won Ohio Division 1, averaging under 19 minutes for 5K. They might not be as powerful as they were last year as regionals, but they still will be a team to watch out for.
Wheaton-Warrensville South (Tiger XC)
While they finished third place at State, York (Kroy) showed last year that it can be reversed. They finished only 12 points back of the State Champs, who are not in the entry list, and only three points behind Palatine.
Geneva High School (Geneva XC)
Finishing fourth place, Geneva was still close to other teams that are contending for the two automatic spots. They were led by third place finisher, Kelly Whitley. Geneva was still only 17 points behind Palatine at State.
The Individuals
Michelle Thomas (MS #17)
The Ohio Division 1 State Champion has only one loss this year. She beat the field by 12 second last week at state. Thomas came in third last year but beat last years regional champ last week.
Samantha Nightingale (MS # 19)
Like Thomas, Nightingale comes into Sunday with only one loss. She had her revenge at State, beating two of the girls who beat her to claim the Missouri Class 4 title. She ran the challenging Missouri course in 17:59 to win by ten seconds over a competitive field. While the course was changed a bit, to put it in perspective, Emily Sisson ran a 17:56 last year.
Hannah Neczypor
Also a returning regional champion, Neczypor has a few hurdles in her way before she can take back her title. She finished 11th last year at Nationals. She is coming off a third place finish at State, but she is very capable of winning the race Sunday.
Waverly Neer
Neer lost only one race this year by only 1 second. She is coming back after finishing sixth last year. She won the Indiana State Championships with a time of 18:18, which was held at the same course that the race will be at on Sunday.
Kayla Beattie
Of the races on Milesplit, she has lost to one girl this season, Milesplit top ranked Aisling Cuffe. She powered over the field to win by 49 second in Davison 2A in Illinois. Her time of 16:22 was the fastest on the day by 10 seconds. After finishing 33rd last year, she should be someone challenging for the win this year.
Other State Champions
Katie Landwehr – Ohio
Courtney Rogers – Missouri
Ariel Michalek – Illinois
Waverly Neer - Indiana