Defending champion Blake Dodge, who has been battling an injury all season, faces a tough challenge in her quest to repeat.

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3A East Region (Gillette Athletic Complex, Wilson)

Girls Teams to Watch

West Carteret is in control of the team race, with a solid lead over second-ranked White Oak as the teams enter the meet.  Fike lurks in third place, ready to move up to second if given the opportunity.  Greatly-improved South Central currently occupies the fourth and final qualifying spot in the virtual meet, but they will have to fend off Havelock and Rocky Mount to make that a reality on race day.

Girls Individuals to Watch

Blake Dodge (West Carteret) is the defending 3A state champion, and she enters this meet with the best time in the region, as well.  Carmen Hilliard (South Brunswick) is an 11:30 two-miler, and has the potential to challenge Dodge for the individual title; however, Hilliard may find herself battling Emily Latimer (Currituck) and Katie Cease (West Carteret) to hold onto second place.  Micahela Williams (Nash Central) and MaryKate Helms (White Oak) have identical season bests of 20:20, and that pits them against each other in pursuit of the last spot in the top 5 overall.

Boys Teams to Watch

West Carteret's might no score quite as low as the girls' squad, but they still hold a sizeable advantage over everyone in this field.  White Oak ranks second, with Northern Nash and Currituck breathing down their necks in a three-team battle for the last piece of team hardware.  It seems those four teams are pretty safe as far as advancing to the state meet, unless Havelock or Nash Central has more firepower than we know about.

Boys Individuals to Watch

West Carteret also has the top male in the race in John Crossley, whose season best is 40 seconds faster than the next competitor.  Mason Holt (Rocky Mount) holds the second spot in the rankings, and he looks like the top individual to advance to the state meet (since Crossley will likely advance with his team).  J.T. Booker (White Oak) has his sights set on breaking 17 minutes (weather permitting), and that will put him right alongside George Corbin (Nash Central), who shares the same goal.  Nepolian Patel (Southern Nash) had a strong track season this past fall, and his PR of 16:50 from last season would put him in the hunt for a top-3 finish Saturday.  

Virtual Meet

(Using this year's times)

Girls  |  Boys

3A Mideast Regional (Hagan Stone Park, Greensboro)

Girls Teams to Watch

Cardinal Gibbons currently holds a narrow lead in the All-Classes Team Rankings, and they could put 6 runners into the top 10 in this regional.  The only team remotely close enough to consider beating them is Chapel Hill, but it's going to be an uphill battle for the Tigers.  Northern Guilford comes in as the third-best team, with only a little bit of breathing room back to the next two squads.  That would be Overhills and Ledford, teams that could wind up fighting it out for the final qualifying position if they can't get up into third place.

Girls Individuals to Watch

Mary Grace Doggett and Sophie Ebihara have been running side-by-side nearly the whole season for Cardinal Gibbons, with Doggett seeming to pull away at the end every time.  One of these days, Ebihara is going to take the final step and win a race, too.  Tristin Van Ord is the only runner in the field with a shot to match those two, and she needs to stay with them because there is a drop-off of nearly 40 seconds to the next runner behind her.  The second group should include Lauren Velasco (Cardinal Gibbons), Indy Reid-Shaw (Orange), and Emily Vance (Overhills), plus the rest of the Gibbons pack.  Don't be surprised if Reid-Shaw starts aggressively and runs much faster than she has all season; she has a PR of 18:42, but hasn't broken the 18-minute mark this year.

Boys Teams to Watch

Chapel Hill is positioned to win yet another regional title, and should be the favorite for the state title again, as well.  Conference foe Cardinal Gibbons will be the biggest threat to dethrone them, but it will take a tremendous race from the Crusaders to make that happen.  There could be a very interesting battle for third and fourth, as Orange, Ledford, Northern Guilford, and Eastern Alamance are all within striking distance of each other, with only two slots in the state meet on the line.

Boys Individuals to Watch

Chapel Hill runners hold the top 3 times in this region, although there is a good chance things won't play out exactly that way on race day.  Tima Karginov has led the Tigers all season, but Chris Reeder has been closing on him recently, and Bradley Viles is not far behind them.  If anyone breaks up that trio, it will be either Jimmy Hollingsworth (Northern Guilford) or Nick Tyrey (Cardinal Gibbons), with the former having struggled a bit this year but nonetheless possessing a sub-15:40 PR.  Anthony Hughes (Ledford) is a tough competitor, so don't be surprised if he comes in at the front of the second group and challenges for a top-5 spot.

Virtual Meet

(Using this year's times)

Girls  |  Boys

3A Midwest Regional (McAlpine Park, Charlotte)

Girls Teams to Watch

This could be one of the best team battles for any regional title in any classification.  Marvin Ridge comes in with a slight advantage, but has two teams within close striking range and will have to run well to claim the title.  Charlotte Catholic and Robinson are very evenly-matched; on a good day, either could challege for the championship, but at the very least they should have a great race for second.  Trailing them by just a small margin is a Weddington squad that has been really rounding into shape the last month, and they could make a move up the team standings.  It looks like those four teams are fairly certain to advance, but if there is to be an upset, it will come from either Northwest Cabarrus or Hickory Ridge.

Girls Individuals to Watch

Natalie Andrejchak (Robinson) is the cream of this crop, holding a 40-second advantage over anyone else.  There could be a fun race to watch between Margot Corcoran (Charlotte Catholic) and Mallary Price (Weddington), although if Price returns to anywhere near last year's for (sub-18:30 PR), she will be right with Andrejchak instead.  Youngster Melanie Hussey has been leading Marvin Ridge this season, while soph Morgan Garrett (Weddington) is the top #2 runner in the field.  Maddie Lowe (Northwest Cabarrus) and Ashley Herrin (Hickory Ridge) will likely be battling for the honor of being the top individual to advance to the state meet.

Boys Teams to Watch

Weddington lost a top-3 runner early in the season, but has been gradually improving with their adjusted line-up; now the Warriors find themselves in the driver's seat at the regional.  Familiar foe Marvin Ridge is the closest challenger, but would they face a pretty tough task iin catching up to Weddington.  Charlotte Catholic and East Rowan grade out almost dead even in the battle for third place, setting up an interesting battle.  Carson lurks behind them, but the loss of their former #1 runner Jacob Fink (injury) will get in the way of their chances to move up,

Boys Individuals to Watch

Matt Burns has recently taken the reins as the #1 for Weddington, and he will be looking to break 16 this weekend.  He should have plenty of push in a field with nobody that has accomplished that feat yet, as teammates C.J. Buck and McCann Sheridan (Robinson) should join with Burns, Evan Georges (Charlotte Catholic) and Tanner Glackin (Weddington) to form a solid lead pack.  The second group could be even larger and more competitive, with 7 runners between 16:30 and 16:40.  This will be an intriguing race to watch!

Virtual Meet

(Using this year's times)

Girls  |  Boys

3A West Regional (Freedom HS, Morganton)

Girls Teams to Watch

North Buncombe has the best team coming in, and it will be harad for anyone to upset them on Saturday.  Foard is the closest challenger, while they in turn maintain a solid advantage over third-ranked West Henderson.  East Henderson appears to be in position to claim the final spot at the state meet, but both Asheville and Hickory are close enough to make them work for it.

Girls Individuals to Watch

Patricia Callison has been running in the #1 slot for North Buncombe this year, but I'm waiting for her teammate Katarina Ruehl (and 11:37 two-miler) to lay down a fast time.  As things currently stand, Kaitlyn Rayfield (Foard) should be able to run with both of them, as could a trio of girls that are looking to break 20 minutes: Brittany Naef (West Henderson), Brooke Turner (Tuscola), and Ella Juerges (Hickory).  In particular, watch out for Turner, who clocked 19:06 on a slightly shorter version of this same course earlier in the year, and has beaten nearly everyone in this race head-to-head at some point this year.

Boys Teams to Watch

East Henderson comes into the meet with a slight advantage over Foard in the rankings, but the gap is narrow enough that it could definitely go either way.  Asheville lurks a little bit behind the two, but still close enough to be in striking range on a good day.  North Buncombe and Franklin also have good teams, which should make for an interesting race for the state meet qualifying spots.  Clouding these predictions is the variability of course difficulty in the western part of the state, as a team that has been running on exclusively hilly terrain could roll into Morganton and drop 15 seconds per runner.

Boys Individuals to Watch

Tanis Baldwin (East Henderson) is the clear favorite in this race, and he is on the short list of contenders for the 3A state title next weekend.  Andrew Crowell (Enka) and Vincent Comesana (Forestview) have both broken 16:40, while Broderick Bauguess (Foard) and Noah Green (Patton) are just over that same mark, with Travis Leppi (North Buncombe) close behind.  Zach Tacy (Asheville) is the only other runner in the field to have broken 17 minutes, although several will be gunning for that mark Saturday.

Virtual Meet

(Using this year's times)

Girls  |  Boys