Sussex, defending champions, will have a tough time defending their title. Brentsville girls are young and looks very strong this year with many returning like so. Mindy Peele and so. Ciara Delgado for the 400m to 3200m and extra help from jr. Audra Herriges in the 400m so. Brittany Breisch in the 100 hurdles. With these girls returning from their great performances from last year they will be the team to watch. Sussex, who also didn't lose many runners should still be in the race for their second title. Megan Morrison will help the team in the jumping events as well as the sprinting events to guide the team.
In the distance events, all eyes are on jr. Annie Maynard from George Mason. She surprised everyone during the cross country season when she won districts and regionals by beating sr. Leslie Grant from Strasburg and Mindy Peele. Despite her performance at states she still looks to be the heavy favorite in the 800m as well as the 400m. She showed that she has the endurance to race with the distance runners, now she wants to show her natural speed on the track. With her in the 800m will be Delgado and sr. Bethany Kitonis from Brentsville, who she will see often in district races, and Valerie Cutlip from Wilson Memorial. All these girls ran under 2:30 once before.
The 1600m and 3200m will be great races. It looks like Mindy Peele will be alone in the 1600m race since Sara Hines is gone. Hines was Mindy's biggest competition but since Hines is gone who will give Peele a race. sr. Ashley Eshaghi from Parry McCluer, jr. Daphane Propst from Wilson Memorial, sr. Grace Hite from Central Lunenburg and so. Lydia Hastings from Madison Co. all has good speed but will it be enough to catch up with Peele, whose PR is below 5:30.
Senior Leslie Grant from Strasburg will have to fight for the respect in the 3200m this year. Last year she didn't do well in the 3200m and many thought she could never win the big races, but after states during xcountry season she proved to everyone she could win the big race. Now she must carry that over to the track, which she won't have a easy task on her hand. With Mindy, Propst, Kitonis, Hastings, and Eshaghi, who all are good 3200m runners, can take the race from Grant. So watch out for the girls 3200m race because anyone can win it. Don't forget that Alta Vista and Central Woodstock has some girls coming down too. You never know they might win many of the races.
The Reporter Has Spoken. Will It be A 3 Man Race in the 3200m? That's next week