Boys 4A Midwest Region
Teams to Watch
This has become arguably the most difficult region for boys' teams - witness the fact that last year's 3A champions are ranked 5th here. With the transfer of Nelson Russ (which is not reflected below), Mount Tabor is the favorite to win the region and a contender for the state title. East Chapel Hill also has a loaded returning team, and they had better team 1600 results than Mount Tabor (although the Spartans lead the team 3200 rankings). Cardinal Gibbons is almost always better than expected, as evidenced by the fact that they have the best returning 1600 results in the region, and that will make it hard for Page and Jordan to advance to the state meet.
Athletes to Watch
Kenny Kneisel (Mount Tabor) has the top returning time in the region, but he has a lot of support from Nelson Russ and Ian Foley - any of the three could run #1 for the Spartans in any given race. The same may be true for East Chapel Hill, with Ethan Ready and James Gildard, as well as for Cardinal Gibbons, which has Connor Lane and Connor Peoples up front. With all that talent, it may be hard for a "sleeper" candidate to break into the top 10, let alone the top 5. If anybody is going to make a big step forward, it could be Daniel Watts (Parkland), who clocked 9:37 to rank 3rd among returning 3200 runners in this region.
Top 5 Returning Teams (Full Rankings)
| # | Team | Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Chapel Hill | 47 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 24 | - | - |
| 2 | Mount Tabor | 53 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 20 | - | - |
| 3 | Page | 126 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 35 | 44 | - | - |
| 4 | Jordan | 137 | 23 | 26 | 27 | 30 | 31 | - | - |
| 5 | Cardinal Gibbons | 139 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 49 | 62 | - | - |
Top 10 Returning Individuals (Full Rankings)
| Place | Athlete | Yr | Team | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Kneisel | 11 | Mount Tabor | 15:31.50 | 1 | |
| 2 | Ethan Ready | 11 | East Chapel Hill | 15:44.50 | 2 | |
| 3 | Connor Lane | 10 | Cardinal Gibbons | 15:45.90 | 3 | |
| 4 | Ian Foley | 11 | Mount Tabor | 15:48.69 | 4 | |
| 5 | Connor McDonald | 11 | East Chapel Hill | 15:50.30 | 5 | |
| 6 | James Gildard | 11 | East Chapel Hill | 15:52.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | Connor Peeples | 11 | Cardinal Gibbons | 16:00.59 | 7 | |
| 8 | Nelson Russ | 11 | West Forsyth | 16:02.59 | 8 | |
| 9 | Daniel Watts | 11 | Parkland | 16:04.09 | 9 | |
| 10 | Chris Hassel | 10 | East Chapel Hill | 16:04.72 | 10 |