1A State Meet Preview

1A Preview

For the mens team race it looks as if it will be a battle between Hayesville and Gray Stone Day.  These two teams were only separated by one point in the last poll, look for a close race.  Last year Gray Stone finished a close second, so they have some extra motivation in trying to win this year.  Hayesville has the second fastest runner in 1A, Tyler Breedlove, and if he can run well then Hayesville can claim a victory.  For third and fourth place look for Hendersonville and Murphy to fight for these spots.  The West region appears to be the toughest region, and look for this region to be well represented on Saturday.

For the individual race Tyler Breedlove, Josh Downey, and Eric Blackburn have all run times that are about the same.  John Spencer Wolfe of Polk County should be another individual to watch in the 1A race.  Since there are a bunch of guys that have times that are similiar to each other, look for a nice pack of runners taking it out.  It will probably be a winner that will suprise most experts.

Hayesville (7) Tyler Breedlove is Hayesville’s top runner, whose fastest time this year is a 16:53, but at regionals he ran 18:33, so it will be interesting to see how he is at the state meet.  Even with Tyler having an off day Hayesville was still able to win.  Freshman Mark Anderson stepped it up running 16:59 to be the individual champion in the West regional.  Hayesville will need Breedlove to run better if they want to win the 1A title.

Hendersonville (9) Another team that could end up winning the state meet, Hendersonville was competitive with Hayesville at the regional meet, but was hurt by their lack of depth.  They have the runners to compete with Hayesville and Gray Stone Day, they just need to be firing on all cylinders

Murphy (8) Their top runner was a bit off at the regional, and if he could run to what he should do then this team could be close to their fellow West regional teams.

Robbinsville (5) They just barely beat Polk County to get the automatic bid to the state meet, squeaking past them by just three points.  Robbinsville has a nice pack of runners and they could get another top five finish at the state meet.

Gray Stone Day (2) Another title contender Gray Stone Day has looked good this year, competing in the Rocky River conference they almost beat 2A West Stanly at their conference meet.  They nearly won the state meet last year, only losing by three points to East Wilkes.  At the regional meet they won by over fifty points.  They may have the most complete team in 1A.

West Wilkes (-) They were able to secure a second place finish at regionals thanks to a steady pack, but they need to improve on the five runner if they want to get a top five finish.

South Stokes (6) With the pack that this team has they could beat West Wilkes and some other teams.

Bishop McGuinness (4) Like South Stokes they are a pack team, but their times are not as fast as South Stokes.

Raleigh Charter (10) Raleigh Charter has the fastest runner in 1A, Josh Downey who ran 16:52 at his conference meet.  Raleigh Charter was able to get spots one through three at their regional meet, they should be a team trying to get a top five spot.

North Carolina School of Science and Math (3) They could be closer to Raleigh Charter at the state meet than they were at the regional meet.  They seem to match up to them well, it will just depend on what they do on Saturday.

South Robison (16) They probably won’t finish in last place at the state meet, they seem to have gotten better from last year.

Spring Creek (-) I haven’t seen any results from them all year, and at the regional meet they didn’t have times posted for the guys race, so it makes it tough to judge this team.

Lejeune (11) They had the top two runners at the regional meet, but outside of that they need to improve on their depth.

Topsail (12) They lost to Lejeune by six points (since the 1A East regional didn’t send in team scores, that’s just from my calculations), Topsail has a nice pack and had their fifth in before Lejeune’s.  They should try to get a top ten finish.

Northside (15) They have a good one through three, but their depth falls off after that.

Rocky Mount Prep (-) Don’t really know that much about this team, they appear to be the fourth team that is going to the state meet from this region. 

1A Women’s Preview

For the Women's team race Robbinsville was a team that many thought could be the top team, then they finished third at the West regional.  Now it looks like Bishop McGuinness is the team that could run away with the title.  Robbinsville did look good when they raced at Tanglewood earlier this month, look for them to do it again.  But Bishop seems to be running well at just the right time.  The other two teams from the West, Hayesville and Hendersonville, could sneak up on both teams and be champions.  But let's not forget last years champs, Topsail. They haven't been at that many big races, but the won big at their regional meet, and that could be a springboard for a good race on Saturday.

The individaul race should be appealing, Topsail's Zatha Loewen has won two individaul titles already and has to be looking to get her third.  But there are a bunch of other runners who will have a say in that.  Faith Trammell of Robbinsville has posted the fastest time with a 19:10 at Hagan Stone, that time is about twenty seconds better than everyone else.  Carol Blankenship of East Wilkes has run a 19:31 and Kristen Stout of Hendersonville have also broke twenty they should be ones to look out for as well.  This race good go to Trammell is she goes out and establishes her own pace, if that happens then it doesn't look as if anyone can stay with her.

Hayesville (4) They edged out Hendersonville for the regional win, the race between those two schools was extremely close and it will probably be close at the state meet as well. 

Hendersonville (3) Lead by Kristen Stout Hendersonville should be a team that should contend in the 1A meet.  They have a nice pack of runners who could put them over the top.

Robbinsville (5) This team was briefly ranked number one in the coach’s poll towards the end of the year.  They ran well at Tanglewood and that race put them on the top spot for a week.  But they finished third at the regional meet, even though the Trammell sisters ran well.  Robbinsville is going to need the rest of the team to repeat what they did at the Tanglewood Invitational.

Murphy (-) Murphy can contend for a top ten spot after competing in one of the toughest regionals in 1A.  Look for them to continue to improve at the state meet.

Bishop McGuinness (2) They were very close to winning it last year, they go into this meet as the overwhelming favorite according to the coaches.  They just need to improve on what they did at the regional meet, and they could lay claim to a state championship.

East Wilkes (7) They had the top two runners at the regional meet, Carol Blankenship and Anna Hayes, they just need to hope their depth will get better.

South Stokes (-) They edged out South Stanly for third place they should try and aim for a top ten finish.

South Stanley (-) They have a nice pack of runners, one worry is that their number five runner ran a 25:33 at the regional meet.

North Carolina School of Science and Math (10) It will be hard to gauge how hard everyone was trying in the Mideast regional, when all the teams that competed were automatically assured of going to the state meet.  NCSSM just beat Princeton by a few points, what will hurt them in a bigger meet are the questions at the number five.

Princeton (13) They had five in before NCSSM had four in, that type of running should help out this team at the state meet.  They could probably do better than what the coaches have them at in the last poll.

Raleigh Charter (-) They had the regional individual winner in Mackenzie Neighbors, what will hurt them is their number five runner.

North Johnston (14) They finishes fourth at the Mideast region.  They didn't have that much pressure on them, seeing that they were going to the state meet no matter what.

Topsail (1) The defending champions almost got a perfect score at their regional meet.  They are going to need some big time performances if they want to repeat.  Zatha Loewen is the defending individual champion as well, and if she was to repeat she is going to have to run better as well.  This team should be in the mix for the title, but questions about their number five might haunt them.

Northside (11) If they want to get a top ten finish then they will need to work on their depth.

Manteo (12) The same thing that was said about Northside can be applied to Manteo.