Who will come out on top in the new-look 3A classification? Westminster has been dominant on the boys' and girls' sides for the last five seasons-the last non-Westminster school to win an XC title in 3A was East Jackson for the boys in 2016 and Blessed Trinity for the girls way back in 2013. However, the Wildcats are gone to 4A now, opening an opportunity for many schools to win their first title. Schools that are new to 3A this year include former 4A programs Columbus and Pickens County, Bremen moving up from 2A, and Wesleyan and Hebron Christian from 1A Private. Gordon Lee is also making the leap to 3A all the way from 1A Public. North Hall, Cherokee Bluff, and Southeast Bulloch will join Westminster in 4A, and Savannah Arts Academy and the aforementioned East Jackson are moving down to 2A. Greater Atlanta Christian is also jumping up to 5A. Now, let's make sense of the individual and team battles that are promising to be quite interesting this season.
Girls Team
Let's begin with last year's 1A Private state champions, Wesleyan. They pulled out the victory despite not having any runners in the top 15 at the state meet. That shouldn't be an issue for the Wolves this season. Eva Murphy is actually the top returner by PR in all 3A with a 20:10 last season. Julie Anne Bush was Wesleyan's top finisher at state last season and ran a 5:27 during track season. Ansley Voss, Kyra Brubaker, and Abigail Glover all have the potential to go sub-21:00 this season as the Wolves should have a strong 1 through 7. Not to be discounted, though, is Mary Persons, who followed the same script as Wesleyan at state last year. They return five of six from their 4th place finish in 3A in 2021. Alanna Wood leads the way with a 21:00 PR, and Madelyn Causey was their top finisher at state in 21:48, quite a good time at Carrollton. Abbey Stembridge had the best track season for the Bulldogs, running 2:33/5:49/12:55. They also have a strong rising freshman in Kolbi McBrayer. It will be quite interesting seeing Wesleyan and Mary Persons going "strength against strength" next year with both teams focused more on depth than top-end speed.
Oconee County will be a team to look out for as well. They have come up just short of their first state championship a few times in recent years. Sydney Matthews and Kensley McConnell will be moving on, but the rest of their third-place team from last year remains. Molly Meeks will likely lead the way after a great track season saw her finish in the top 7 in the 1600 and 3200 at 3A state. She will be joined by fellow senior Emma Champer (20:46 PR). Dawson County missed the state meet last year but could also surprise this season after adding some key reinforcements from Dawson County Middle School this year.
Girls Individual
I can't remember a time when the individual race was so wide open, so I'll spend a little extra space going over the contenders. About a dozen individuals have a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing. Eva Murphy owns the best PR with 20:10, but she isn't too far ahead of the contenders and only owns a PR of 5:51 in the 1600. Bekah Wise of Pickens County and Haley Heard of Columbus finished in the top 20 at the 4A state meet last year and could contend for the victory moving down to 3A. Nealeigh Broadwell of White County is the top returner from the 3A state meet whose team will stay in 3A. Champer and Meeks of Oconee County rank in the top eight based on PR. Bush of Wesleyan owns the second-best 1600 PR (5:27) and teammate McSweeney is only a few seconds behind (5:30). Bella Fields of Bremen had a great track season, running 12:27 in the 3200, and she was 16th in the 2A XC state meet last year. Finally, we have a very strong group of rising freshmen who could immediately contend. Hayden Hand of Dawson County was tremendous as an eighth grader, running a 5k time in the JV race at Region 7-3A that would have ranked fifth in the Varsity race. McBrayer of Mary Persons and Kaela Kearney of Pickens County are also freshmen to watch.