Boys 4A West Region
Teams to Watch
Providence dominates the virtual meet as they look to defend their title from 2014. The rivalry between them and Myers Park the last two years has been fun to watch. Last year Lake Norman was the favorite going into the regional championship, but Providence had a very good day and upset the favorites. This year Lake Norman will look to return the favor, and to our knowledge they haven't suffered the kind of critical transfers that their girls' program did over the summer. The program has become very strong the last two years, but they graduated a lot of key runners from last year. They'll have to develop a stronger 3-5 runner if they're going to take a jab at Providence. Myers Park returns a tight pack of 2-5 runners, if any of them can jump up with Chris Smith towards the front they'll be in the mix to take the team title.
Athletes to Watch
Jack Mastandrea (Lake Norman) won the 4A West regional 3200 last spring, so he may be the favorite coming into the cross country season. But Haywood Ferguson (South Meck) had a monstrous freshman track season, running 4:26 for the full mile and splitting 1:55/56 leading his team to the podium at the outdoor state meet. He has lots of closing speed and tough racer and is my pick to win the region this year. Chris Smith (Myers Park) was close to taking victory last year as he closed hard to almost reel in winner Tim Coffey. Cross country is his strongest season and I'd expect him to be in striking distance at the end of the race. Tanner and Logan Sutter (Providence) have a lot of room to grow if they can stay healthy this season. If the duo remain healthy you cannot count them out of being at the front. It will be interesting to see if Marquise McGee (Z.B. Vance) can turn his 4:29 1600 into something faster than his 17:23 5K PR (which was from 2013).
Top 5 Returning Teams (Full Rankings)
| # | Team | Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Providence | 43 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 17 | - | - |
| 2 | Lake Norman | 88 | 1 | 9 | 22 | 23 | 33 | - | - |
| 3 | Myers Park | 94 | 2 | 19 | 20 | 26 | 27 | - | - |
| 4 | Watauga | 140 | 16 | 18 | 25 | 34 | 47 | - | - |
| 5 | South Mecklenburg | 151 | 4 | 13 | 36 | 40 | 58 | - | - |
Top 10 Returning Individuals (Full Rankings)
| Place | Athlete | Yr | Team | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Mastandrea | 11 | Lake Norman | 16:03.00 | 1 | |
| 2 | Chris Smith | 11 | Myers Park | 16:05.00 | 2 | |
| 3 | Tanner Sutter | 11 | Providence | 16:14.00 | 3 | |
| 4 | Haywood Ferguson | 9 | South Mecklenburg | 16:15.00 | 4 | |
| 5 | Logan Sutter | 11 | Providence | 16:19.00 | 5 | |
| 6 | Sergio Adame | 11 | Robinson, Jay M | 16:21.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | Brandon Hernandez | 9 | A.L. Brown | 16:25.00 | 7 | |
| 8 | Hayden Blalock | 10 | Providence | 16:31.00 | 8 | |
| 9 | Jacob Ennis | 10 | Lake Norman | 16:33.00 | 9 | |
| 10 | Andrew Kiss | 9 | Providence | 16:34.00 | 10 |