Team Continuity
On the girls side, the Eagles will return their entire top five scoring runners from 2021 which gives them a sizable advantage at the outset of this season over the Central on paper. Using our Team Scores feature, they open 2022 with a 46-132 projected score over the Tigers based on last year's times. Kelsey Thompson, Maxine Richards, Ada Boyd, and Hannah Laramore all return under 20 minutes with Aubrey Lynch knocking on it's door with 20:11 to round out the top five.
On the boy's side, I think we're in for another slugfest. While Central graduates their top two, Signal loses their 3 and 4. Noah Shriner and Kaid Boehm finished 17th and 21st respectively last fall and will not be returning due to graduation. On paper coming in, Signal has the edge over Central with a 112 to 131 point advantage but that isn't a lot of room for error in a race that will have over 250 runners. The Eagles will need to shore up the core of their scoring and if one runner is going to fill that void I'd look no further than Tynan Borders. The freshman, now sophomore, caught our attention this spring with his overall improvement in the 3200m year over year.
If that type of growth transfers to the course, Signal will again, be hard to beat.
Central Magnet boys in their own right, have a quite a bit of depth. Though Tony Peck and Ben Clemence may not be in the lead pack at any meet this season, they'll be in the chase pack with a lot of black jerseys behind them in support. If we look at the Team Scores filter for runners 8-14, Central's JV leads Class AA/A on paper by a score of 34 to Signal's 68. If just one of these runners sees significant growth, it may be enough to where coaches are standing around after the race reviewing cell phone footage shot by a parent counting finisher as they cross the finish line.
Man, I love this Classification. Can't wait to see this rivalry continue in November.