Girls Individual
Oh boy (or girl) do we have a battle on our hands here! There is no way to accurately predict the outcome of this race. Just gonna have to pull up a chair and enjoy the show in November. This appears to be a duel meet between Shari Brown and Margaret Wade but....you gotta throw in Lyric Olson as a huge wild card who could end up winning it all. I'll start with Brown who came alive right away last year in the fall and was consistent all year. She ended her season in 4th place at Carrollton last fall. But then she grabbed two state runner up titles in the spring and put up PR's of 5:06 and 2:14. She's got the wheels to go with her strength and is basically the whole package. If she makes any kind of jump this year she will be dangerous. Wade on the other hand got a more low key start to her season but show up big when it mattered most at the state meets. She placed 3rd in cross country and then ran 10:56 and 4:55 in the 3200 and 1600 to take 1st and 2nd respectively. the problem she faces is going up against two 800 runners who most likely have more speed. So it'll be up to her to do the work from the front to try to drop them both if she wants to get her win. And that brings us to Olson. She had a strong state cross country meet as well, but she really came alive on the track. Her 1600 was very good running 5:06 to take a strong 4th place in a tough field. But her 800 was out of this world. Not only did she score a monster upset at state in beating the eventual state record holder, but she then went on to win Wingfoot in the 11th fastest time in state history. She showed last year she has enough strength to run cross country too, so with that sort of speed you really have to get away from her well before separation slope.
There are two other very strong runners who look likely to round out the top five. Elizabeth Shaylor and Sarah Harrison are two runners that can handle themselves in a big race. Shaylor was 5th last year in cross country and then placed 2nd and 4th in the state track meet running 11:37 and 5:15 for the 3200 and 1600 respectively. Harrison is a little up and down at times, but she's got the talent to contend for sure with PR's of 5:18 and 11:37 to her name. Other runners who could be in the mix are Turner Guerard, Ava Coffey, Alexia Sokolowski, and Alicela Pacheco.
Girls Team
Savannah Arts Academy has never won a team cross country title. This is their year to finally get the big one. They are the favorites for the 2A crown this fall unless another team makes a huge jump. They have front runners with Wade and Olson who could possibly go 1-2 and then another runner in Coffey who is good enough for top 10. They've also got depth and are very strong at 4-7 as well. They will be incredibly hard to beat. Last year they almost snuck up on Westminster to steal the team title in 3A. There will be no sneaking this year as they'll have a big target on their backs.
If there's any team that could possibly knock off Savannah Arts, it's Landmark Christian. Landmark has just as good of a top 3 as Savannah, but they do lack the depth. However, this is a program that has won 11 total team titles over the years so they know how to show top for the big race. Their last win was in 2017 so they'll be hungry to find something more this year and climb up to the top of the podium. Athens Academy and North Cobb appear the most likely to round out the podium, but both teams have potential depth issues that could keep them off of it. the talent is there for sure, so if they can put it together on race day, they're likely to go home with a trophy. Other team contenders include Fellowship Christian, Jeff Davis, and Mount Paran.