Hurricane Francine has certainly had an impact on this 2024 Southern Showcase. All of Friday's races were moved to Saturday. Saturday's race schedule will not change. The boys and girls junior high races will be added to the end of the meet on Saturday. Athletes entered in the Open 5K races on Friday will be placed in the Saturday 5K divisions and HS athletes were asked to be placed in a Saturday race. The remnant bands of the hurricane may be lingering on Saturday and it may be a wet, muddy, sloppy day.
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The race conditions may not be ideal for this year's races, however, scheduled to run are two of the nation's top-ranked teams in the COROS MILESPLIT50 PRESEASON BOYS and GIRLS TEAM RANKINGS. Belen Jesuit out of Miami is the nation's #5 ranked boys team. Brentwood, out of Brentwood, TN is the #18 ranked girl's top team. In the championship individual races, 8 girls have run sub-18, with an additional 14 having gone sub-18:20. Individually on the boy's side, 5 boys have run sub-15 and 39 have gone sub-16. Three boys,
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GIRL'S INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
The meet record 17:16.44 was set in 2022 by Mountain Brook's Reagan Riley and in this year's championship race, 10 girls are scheduled to run who have run sub-18. Of course, the weather and course conditions may play into the girl's ability to challenge the record.
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The top-seeded girl is Sophomore Sarah Tole of Auburn. She was 8th last year in 18:14.24 and has run 17:37.19. Tole is a two-time and the defending AHSAA 7A XC State champion.
Tole's teammate, Jr. Abby Merner is the number 2 seeded girl. with a 17:50.85. She was 3rd in last year's Southern Showcase in 17:50.85 and was 2nd to Tole in the AHSAA 7A State XC championships.
The #6 seed goes to Jr. Brynn Balturshot of Station Camp in Gallatin, TN with a 17:55.20. She is the TSSAA D1-AA State runner-up. She was 11th last year in 18:19.37.
Jr. Maggie Slattery of Father Ryan High School in Nashville, TN. comes in with a 17:59.16. She ran her sub-18 in placing 2nd to her teammate Lydia Brunner in the TSAA D2-AA State Cross Country Championship.
Three other Top 10 finishers from last year are #6 Jr. Caroline Couch of Maclay in Tallahassee, Fl, #9 Sr. Emma Brooke Levering of Homewood HS in Homewood, AL and 10th place finisher, So. Lucy Cramer of Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge, LA.
Couch was 2nd in the FHSAA 1A State XC Championships in 2023 with an 18:17.50 and was the FHSAA 1A State 3200m Champion with a 10:56.20. Couch has a PR of 18:09..
Brooke Levering won her opener here in AL, taking the Chickasaw Trails Invitational last weekend with an 18:10.95. She won the AHSAA 6A State Cross Country Championships last fall in 17:46.27, the 4A-7A 1600 in 4:59.19, and the RunningLane Track Championships 3200 in 10:43.26.
Cramer is the LHSAA 3A State 3200m champion with a 10:50.50, the 3A 1600 State Champion in 5:00.31 and is the USATF National Junior Olympic 2000m Steeplechase champion running a 6:56.30.
#11 Jr. Brynn Balturshot Station Camp High School 18:19.37 10
#12 Jr. Lia Banovac Brentwood High School 18:23.80 11
#13 Sr. Annamaria Bacchetta Harpeth Hall School 18:26.27 12 (18:02.98)
#14 Sr. Zahara Bernal Pace Academy 18:26.72 13
#16 Sr. Lydia Cromwell Brentwood High School 18:29.38 15 (18:05.02)
#17 Sr. Abi Cobb Brentwood High School 18:30.47 16
#18 Jr. Lauren Banovac Brentwood High School 18:30.87 17 (18:16.79)
The Brentwood High School girls cross country team continues is the team to beat. The girls know the course. They are the Sothern Showcase defending Champions and the four-time defending Class AAA state champions in Tennessee. Watch for them to defend their team title. They were 3rd at the RunningLane Cross Country Nationals last season. They were 6th at the NXR Southeast Regional, and return all seven runners from that team. In the COROS MILESPLIT50 PRESEASON GIRLS TEAM RANKINGS, they are ranked #18 in the nation.
Brentwood opened the 2024 campaign with a strong performance at the Chick-fil-A Saturday Light Fever. Under the lights, they showcased their depth and competitive edge scoring 67. the girls went 2+6+9+24+26 (29+44) 1:35 1-5 Split | 19:21 Avg. At the Saturday Light Fever, the squad was led by individual runner-up Lauren Banovac, who clocked 18 minutes, 38.91 seconds, just seven seconds behind the first-place finisher, Leila Hailey of Rockvale.
The real battle will be for who joins Brentwood on the podium in the 2nd and 3rd Team spots.
Huntsville HS is currently the #1 ranked girls team in Alabama. Their top 5 scorers have an avg time of 19:29.21 and their strength is in their 1-5 split of just 32.73 seconds. They are led by AL #14 ranked Jr. Amelia Wilbourn 19:09.30. Wilbourn was 9th at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational last weekend.
Harpeth Hall out of Nashville, was 5th last year and are currently the #3 ranked team in Tennessee. The team has two standout leaders in Annmaria Bachetta who ran 18:02.98 and was 13th last year and Lily Bowen who is the #5 seed this year with a 17:53.97.
Another team to watch will be the Pensacola Christian Academy. The PCA girls are the #5 ranked team in Florida. They are the defending 1A team champions in Florida and are led by Jr.'s Jaimee Tutton and Reagan Smith. Their #3-5 scorers, however, will need to step up.