Boys Individual
This is an interesting battle that we will see this year. There are 3 very intriguing names that stick out as the potential favorites, but all three of them have questions marks. First off we have the top returner by PR, who is Guy Mastrion. Mastrion ran a 17:33 at Wingfoot last year which is a very impressive place to get your season PR. However he did not run the state meet for some reason and only ran one event at the state track meet where he placed 7th. Right behind him in terms of PR is his teammate, or maybe I should say future teammate, William Wickstrum. Wickstrum ran a 17:34 at RunningLane last year, but he's a rising freshman. He put up some solid times at the middle school state meet, but other than that RunningLane performance nothing sticks out as lightning quick that can win it all, especially for a rising freshman who will need to get used to the challenges of high school as well. And finally we have the rising sophomore who could be the heavy favorite now that he's a little bit older in Julian Council. Council only placed 15th at the state cross country meet last year, but he has the fastest time among all returners in the 1600 and the 3200 after placing 3rd and 4th in those events at the state track meet. He's clearly coming into his own here and could be ready for a big jump this fall.
If it's not one of those three runners then I would expect to see the likes of Donald Short, Christian Baldridge, or Zay Lewis mix it up with he leaders for the potential win this fall. Any of these are within striking distance for sure based on track performances. It'll probably ultimately come down to whoever had the best summer and is the most ready for this season as there is now heavy favorite at this point. Others in the mix could be Eli Walker, Zach Edge, or Brandon Hernandez.
Boys Team
Unfortunately we don't have a ton to go on in trying to guess what will happen this season on the team side. We have last year's cross country times and that's it. But on paper it looks to be a close battle between Georgia Military and Atlanta Classical. Atlanta Classical could have the 1-2 punch to get the low sticks in early, but Georgia Military not only has depth, but a history of success. They won five titles in seven years from 2012-2018 but haven't won since. They're always in the mix though. Atlanta Classical on the other hand will be looking for their first title and could definitely be motivated by some fast youngsters they can rally around. If either of them is off their game or not quite ready to rise up, then you could see this race won by Lake Oconee Academy, Aquinas, Telfair County, or Atkinson County. Lake Oconee has a tight 1-4 pack with their 5th not too far behind. If he closes the gap and they work together they could be dangerous. Aquinas has a couple of potential front runners that could possibly contend for the title, but appear to lack the depth needed to contend. That being said it only takes 5 and you never know who could come out for them this year. Telfair has the smallest 1-5 split in the group so they could use that to their advantage and train hard together while Atkinson is much more like Aquinas when it comes to the team race.