Division I Class AAA Girls
First of all, thank you for your patience. I was experiencing a little burn out after last weekend getting all the race video and photos uploaded but now I'm ready to give my final thoughts on the outcomes in the order they occurred.
The Highlight Video
The Individual Race
In the preview for this division published on October 14th, I wrote, "I anticipate the lead pack will be comprised of three seniors: Jones, Hayes, and Braese who between them account for 10 total wins on the season." That turned out to be an accurate prediction as from the first 1k of the race. Siegel's Kyra Hayes went out very fast building a 30-meter lead as the runners traversed the first lake loop with Ann-Marie Braese following and Andie-Marie Jones following her. These three would maintain this order the entire race with Hayes' lead growing even bigger going into the final hill.
Hayes' didn't leave any in the tank for a kick however and
Braese nearly capitalized on the aggressive race strategy in what turned out
the be the closest finish of Champion and Runner Up for the entire meet. Just
1.4 second separated the two with Hayes crossing in 18:05.3 and Braese in
18:06.7.
Here's Kyra after the meet in one of her more talkative interviews to date.
Both Hayes and Braese I feel are similar runners in the sense that their PRs in cross country or track don't reflect their ability to flat out race on the course. Prior to recent post-season time trials, neither were Sub-11 or Sub-5 in the track distances and Hayes was the only one of the two under eighteen during the regular season. Both are uncommitted at the time of this publishing but wherever they eventually end up, I feel like they're going to continue to have success in spite of what the times on their profiles may place them in nation-wide rankings.