Girls Preview
Individuals:
With states right around the corner, let's take a look at who has the best chance to win a title, maybe pull off an upset, or possibly even set some new records. Starting with the 1A girls, expect to see a battle up front with Holy Trinity senior Samantha Folio and Oak Hall junior Grace Blair who finished third and 16th respectively at last year's Cross Country Finals.
Folio comes into Saturday's meet fresh off a 1A Region 3 Championship in 19:11.80, the best time of the week. The Holy Trinity senior is the only runner in the field who has broken 18 minutes, a feat she has accomplished three times, including a new PR of 18:34.18 at districts. Now with a two race winning streak behind her back, can Folio, who is running in her sixth Cross Country Finals, continue and be crowned the 1A state champ?
Let's not forget about Grace Blair. The junior is coming into states with a two race winning streak. Blair won her 1A Regional 2 race by finishing with a time of 19:15.30 and set a new season's best on a very difficult Holloway Park course. Now, even though Folio ran in the 18s this year, Blair has pretty much dropped time in every race since the start of the season. Her PR was actually at the Pre-State race last year on the Apalachee Regional Park Course where she ran a time of 18:34.10 which is just a few milliseconds faster than Folio's PR. She is the top returner in 1A after Rebecca Clark, the 2015 runner-up transferred this season, and will have a great shot for her first individual championship.
Others to watch include Jasmine Hincapie of Westminster Academy who was the district and 1A Region 4 Champion, Sinkenesh Parker of Circle Christian, the 1A Region 2 champion, and Caroline Willis who won 1A Region 1. Hincapie was sixth last year as an 8th grader for Boca Raton Christian before transferring this season while Parker led the Centurions to the team title in 2015.
Teams:
As far as the team battle goes, Grace Blair's individual finish will definitely help Oak Hall's quest to be at the top of the podium again after a disappointing 4th place showing in 2015. Coach Caulfield's Circle Christian squad looked very strong in the 1A Region 2 championship and was one of two teams to score under 100 points at the regional meet joining Oak Hall. Don't count out The First Academy and Maclay who will try to sneak into those top two spots.
More Coverage
- 1A Individual Rankings (Based On 2016 SB): Girls l Boys
- 1A Individual Rankings (Based On Region Results): Girls l Boys
- 1A Team Scores (Based On Region Results): Girls l Boys
- 1A Team Scores (Based On 2016 SB): Girls l Boys
- 1A Top 2015 Cross Country Finals Returners: Girls l Boys