Girls
5A
At mid-season this class is working on producing an outstanding race this November in Carrollton. Brookwood is currently ranked #1 All-Classes after a phenomenal victory at the Swamp known as River "Brown" Parkway at the Gwinnett County Championship and a very respectable 5th place finish at Maymont in Virginia. Their forte thus far has been a tight pack led by Senior Carly Egan. North Gwinnett proved they could throw down a fast time at Westover winning impressively with 32 points with a team average of 18:53. Their top 4 ran in a tight pack having only a :07 spread. Harrison has continued to improve all season and made the long trek down into Florida and ran away from the field bringing home the team title at the Gulf Coast Stampede. Many still wonder though when will the Lady Eagles from Collins Hill swoop back in at full strength and really make things interesting. Nicky Akande has been very strong all season and Vicky Winslow may also be re-gaining her form as she turned in a 20:29 as a non-scorer at Great American. Walton is beginning to gain steam as we enter into Week 6 after their 13th place effort at Great American. These 6 very well coached teams may be the strongest teams with 4 weeks until Region begins. Coach Wood and Carrollton Last Chance may reveal which of these powers has began to peak at the right time. Other contenders looking strong are Roswell after winning Fulton County just barely edging out rivals Centennial and Alpharetta.
Sidney Marshall of Chattahoochee has been consistent all season with a pr of 18:18 at Berry and her other races this season has only been defeated in a 5K by #1 ranked All-Class Bret McDaniel who competes in AAA. Akande of Collins Hill cracked sub 18 at Great American and may have the best shot at running her down at State.
4A
After a breakout race at Great American. in the ROC, Marist looks to have put a slight gap between themselves and Lakeside-Evans. The Lady War Eagles raced to a 19:39 team average good for a 9th place team finish behind a smokin' 18:25 from Junior Sophie Harkins. Lakeside-Evans proved they can run the fast tracks as well as they can their tough home course laying down a blistering 19:19 at Clinton Farms. Their top 3 of Anna Bowles, Katie Townsend and Sarah Bowles had only a :13 spread between them. If LS-Evans 4,5 runners continue to improve it could be a great matchup at State with Marist. At this time in firm control of the 3rd position is Winder-Barrow. The Lady Bulldoggs have continued to improve over the past few seasons and in 2009 have come into their own. WB tested their wings at Westover and produced a 19:43 team average led by Rebecca Gregory's 19:09. Whitewater at this time seems to be in control of the 4th position, although Lakeside-DeKalb has been plagued by the flu and injury thus far and may be regaining their stamina heading into the last few weeks of the regular season. The next few teams seem evenly matched including Woodland-Bartow and Allatoona.
There is no doubt that the LS-Evans threesome including the Bowles sisters and Townsend are among the top runners thus far in 2009. Meghan Wetterhall and Freshman teamate Annie Kelly torched the Foot Locker South course in 18:20 and 18:25 for LS-DeKalb. Marist's Hawkins has also been very strong as exhibited by her race at Great American.
3A
At this point in the season I feel AAA is very much up for grabs and the coming weeks should be foretelling of what is yet to shake out on the course. As I write this, the Rankings are not ready for Week 6 so there could be a few teams and Individuals being put out here that will differ from them, so my apologies....
Currently, St. Pius holds the top spot after winning the Chattanooga XC Festival on a challenging layout. 800/1600 meter specialist Kathleen LaPorte has led the way for Pius X all season long. Flowery Branch has been consistent all season and after convincingly winning the Hall Co. meet ran at Wendy's and recorded a 20:44 team average. Heritage-Catoosa has only competed on hilly courses which may bode well for them at Carrollton. Riverwood placed last against some stiff competition at the Fulton County meet which may help better prepare them for what is to come at Region though they did have a very respectable team time of 22:11 but 1st year program John's Creek defeated them by a mere point. Creekview has not raced for 2 weeks and Oconee County has surged back with nice performances at Aubre Gundersen and Asics led by Anne Centner. Lambert has been the fortuitous recipient of school district rezoning in Forsyth County as Allie Schaich has helped propel another new program to prominence along with providing leadership. West Forsyth has in their very short existence, started slowly. But, watch out soon as I foresee them climbing the rankings soon behind the tutelage of Coach Clayton Tillery. I must mention that Woodward Academy may be on the rise after their performance at Asics.
Bret McDaniel from Riverwood has been very dominate her Senior season and her race savvy has been flawless as she has not blinked when top ranked competitors have taken the race out early and she has stuck to her plan and ultimately overcame them, leaving the back of her singlet for them to view as she pulled away. I am not positive any AAA competitor can overtake her although Schaich of Lambert may have the talent to push her to the end. Other runners that will make Bret work hard could be Kiara Woods of the Branch who has been raising her game slowly all season long. Anne Centner of Oconee cannot be discounted as she has recovered from the flu and will be a factor the remainder of the season. Freshman Allie Buchalski of John's Creek has proven she belongs in this bunch also after winning at Mill Run.
2A
It is going to be a war at the Region 6AA meet between Lovett and Westminster after their squads both tested out very fast, but different courses this past weekend. Westminster has continued to slowly improve as the season progressed and Freshman sensation Sahara Fletcher has far and away displayed her talent race in and out. Also, their 1st place team finish in the Asics "Red" race leap-frogged them over 4A LS-Evans into the All-Class Rankings this week. Lovett made their traditional trip down to Westover and the Lady Lions roared to a 2nd place team finish behind #2 All-Classes North Gwinnett with a swooft average team time of 19:29 putting them 1 spot above Westminster All-Class and in AA. It will be fun when the gamesmanship comes to an end at Region! Blessed Trinity has a firm, but distant hold on the third spot after turning on the after-burners at Clinton Farms clocking a 20:36 team average running heads up against Westminster. The next few teams in the mix are all very close with Dawson County holding the 4th postion based on NEGA and more recently the Eagle Run. Their ace is Maddie Waters with a pr of 20:00 at NEGA. Greater ATL Christian though could jump them by the Wesleyan meet on 10/17. Region 8AA has become very competitive with the top 4 squads including Dawson, Jefferson, East Jackson along with last year's 4th place Podium team North Oconee, which has struggled with varying issues this Fall, but looks to be stronger by Region
Fletcher of Westminster looks to be untouchable after her stellar effort at Asics in 18:00. Rebecca Greenwall of North Oconee had a season best effort of 18:53 in the same race along with her twin sister defending AA champ Rachel, who enjoyed by far her best race of the season clocking a 19:23 Lauren Kester has had some tougher courses to contend with a season best 20:01 at Wesleyan a week ago as she seems to be hitting her stride now. Also, the duo of Elizabeth Rucker and Alexandra Horst of Lovett are right there in that chase pack behind Sahara.
1A
OLM has been in control of class A all season long behind the duo of distance specialist Andrea Raville and 4 time defending 400/800 meter Track & Field Champ Megan Malasarte. But, once again in another very serious rivalry between Private Schools, OLM and Landmark have not ran head to head this season and probably will not meet until Region. I predicted in a pre-season article that Landmark Christian would return as a power and they are back with a vengeance now. The Lady Eagles had a breakout team performance at Asics recording a 20:41 team average paced by the duo of Freshman Lindy Long and Lana Hojeig. 3rd ranked Wesleyan has competed heads up against OLM at Berry and more recently at Wesleyan on 9/29 and was a distant 3rd to the Lady Bobcats who placed 1st. Athens Christian has been spurred by the infusion of National Champ Destiny Jenkins who has enjoyed her GHSA competition by obliterating all comers in class A. Look out for 300m Hurdle champ Mary Echols to make a difference later this month... Darlington may be on the rise following a 21:52 5th place effort as they hosted the Darlington Invite this past weekend. Pace Academy was at Westover and had their best effort thus far in 2009 with a team time of 21:17. Athens Academy has ran tough venues all season long and are harder to gauge at this point.
Destiny Jenkins from ACS has shattered 4 Time XC State Champ Whitney Bishoff''s course records and has been dominant in class A. However, there will be a cast of versed harriers up to the task of chasing her the remainder of 2009 including Raville and Malasarte of OLM, defending A champ Erika Ramsey of Wesleyan, Perhaps, a real darkhorse to give Jenkins a ride could be Long from Landmark Christian.....