Girls preview-
Carmel IN led by Maddie Dalton (#33) will look to defend their title on Sunday (Becca Atchley photo)
Carmel cruised to another Indiana State championship two weeks ago on the LaVern Gibson course. The Greyhounds love competing in Terre Haute and they went home with their seventh consecutive crown and 18th overall. The Greyhounds scored a scant 44 points and posted all five scorers inside the top 20. The objective again is to just survive and advance and move on to Portland. So finishing in the top two is a guarantee if the Greyhound pack led by Maddie Dalton (Jr.) can create another 35 second scoring split. Even if they don't Carmel is a deep enough team to move on.
Naperville North will be a good space looking to return to Portland. This year's top overall team from Illinois won the 3A state champion against heisty challenges put up by Minooka and Yorkville. The Huskies have a solid front runner in Sarah Schmitt who placed 6th at state. Behind Schmitt was a formidable group featuring throw other all state runners: Hannah Ricca and Alex Morris. Throw in mainstay and captain Claire Hamilton to solidify things.
Yorkville moved up to the big year and finished 2nd in the 3A title last year. They won their 6 straight then and came to Terre Haute ready to qualify but fell flat. This time around the Lady Foxes are a stronger team with a great pack to compliment top runners Nicole Greyer and Alexis Grandys.
If Minooka can get away with their #5 runner lagging behind they may be in position to advance. This can only happen with triple teammates Ashley Tutt, Mackenzie Callahan and Emily Shelton. All three should be in the mix.
Individuals-
The individual race should be a fun one to watch. Illinois will deploy their top girls into battle. Look for Glenbard West duo Katelynne Hart (Fr.) and Lindsey Payne (Jr.) to continue their formula of being patient early and move up after the first mile and attack. This has been the game plan since the middle of September. The outcome has been 1-2 finishes in every since then including the state championship. Brooke Wilson (Prospect), Jocelyn Long (Barrington), and Anna Sophia Keller (St. Anthony) are power brokers from the Land of Lincoln. Keller is a four time Illinois Class A champ. She missed last year's race due to sickness and was a national qualifier in 2014. Sarah Leinheiser (Carmel) finished 8th in last year's NXN final, but she has been had a bad race- the worst placing (21st) since her sophomore year. The Hoosier champion Tyler Schwartz (Dekalb) has lost just once this season and that was in a low key race back in August. Also watch out for Abby Green (Ft. Wayne Carroll), Mikayla Reed (Washington MO), and India Johnson (OH) are top notched individuals. Reed and Johnson are respective champions from their state.