1. Oakton vs. West Springfield
The biggest matchup of the weekend will come in the largest classification, Class 6. This matchup is one of the few, hyperbole aside, that could legit finish in a tie-break. Right now our computer rankings has it coming down to a six point gap or in time, just three seconds.
Wrap your mind around that one... the two teams who are hungriest for a title and finished 2nd and 3rd last year return almost everyone from last year's team and still this meet is going to come down to a three second spread.
History is on the line as well. Both teams have won four titles all-time and have been waiting over a decade for that fifth title. Oakton has also been a two-time runner-up while West Springfield has tallied three runner-up finishes including last year.
Oakton enters the meet as the technical underdog but despite that actually has a faster team average (16:03.8 to 16:04.18) and smaller 1-5 split (52.2 to 1:01.3).
West Springfield enters the meet with the strongest 1-2 on paper. They also have the Weeks brothers who in their own right could be top five.
This entire season has been leading up to this race. Both teams have chosen their meets and workouts to prepare them and have them peak Saturday. They are also in different regions so this will be just the second time all season they have faced each other, the other time being at Great American.