| Div. II State Meet Preview: I think the subtitle for this years Div. II race should be Rematch. Amy Arnold of CVCA, Maggie Infeld of Beaumont, and Abbey Reeser of Circleville will be able to go at it again this year. Last year Reeser came out on top with Infeld two seconds back and Arnold another 4 after that. Well, things have changed from last year. Currently Reeser is fighting off a nagging hamstring injury. Arnold has run some solid races and is undefeated on the year. Infeld suffered her only defeat of the season to Arnold last weekend at Regionals where Arnold pulled away from Infeld with less than a mile to go and proceeded to beat Infeld by 25 seconds. Honestly, these three girls are pretty similar in ability. This race will come down to the intangibles. To see what I mean, we will look at the three girls: Reeser: A senior and defending champion. Reeser has the uncanny ability of running extremely well at big meets. She showed very little last year and came out and ran an outstanding race. Plus, what senior wouldn't want to go out on top? Infeld: Probably the most inexperienced of the three racing wise, but she has run against the best competition. She also didn't run at Districts, hopefully giving her fresher legs. And she runs for Beaumont who always seems to have a good day at State. Arnold: A senior that has never won a XC title. She did however win two track titles last spring. She really wants this one to complete her HS career. Nobody works harder than she does and while I would stop short of saying she should have a sense of entitlement to the title, certainly nobody would begrudge her if she won it. The darkhorses in this race would include Lisa Davies of West Branch, 4th last year; Lisa Uible of Indian Hill, 8th last year, Kathryn Huddle of Napoleon, didn't run last year, Katie Ankrom of Circleville, 10th last year, and Andrea Fickenscher of Perry, a freshman. In the team race, it could get quite interesting. While Beaumont hasn't reallly looked like Beaumont all year, I would never, ever rule them out at the state meet. Coach Emery has a knack for getting his team ready. I do however feel that Indian Lake, my upset special if you want to call it that, has what it takes to win it all. Perry and Pemberville Eastwood are probably sitting just on the outside and could contend if either of the top two faulters. I can hear the people from Wyoming screaming into their computers right now. While they have a very good team they are not really built for the state meet. You need a stronger fifth runner. Maybe their 5th had an off day, I don't know, but I like how Indian Lake sets up a little better. I would put Wyoming on par with Perry and Eastwood. Napoleon lost three key seniors from last year. CVCA will miss Lizz Meier and should fall from last years 6th place finish, but I'm sure that Coach George Hallis will have them ready. Carrollton, McNicholas, and Huron should also post top 10 finishes. My Picks: Ind - 1. Amy Arnold - CVCA 2. Maggie Infeld - Beaumont 3. Abbey Reeser - Circleville Team - 1. Beaumont - The Beaumont mystique will play a factor. 2. Indian Lake - Upset Special. 3. Pemberville Eastwood - Experience, experience, experience. Division II Top 7s from Regionals Statewide heading to State: Beaumont Perry CVCA Revere Carrollton Dover Circleville B B B B L L L 1. 19:43 19:58 19:18 20:46 19:53 20:12 19:18 2. 20:40 20:55 21:13 21:27 20:06 21:07 19:22 3. 21:04 21:02 21:21 21:44 21:17 21:21 20:47 4. 21:09 21:35 21:49 22:14 21:37 21:59 21:59 5. 21:41 21:39 22:14 22:24 21:55 22:01 22:11 6. 21:58 22:17 22:25 22:28 22:08 22:24 22:29 7. 22:23 22:53 22:33 23:24 24:22 24:05 22:32 Granville Eastwood Napoleon Van Wert Huron Wyoming L T T T T Tr 1. 21:08 19:51 19:32 20:36 19:35 19:23 2. 21:31 20:10 20:05 20:54 20:16 20:09 3. 21:48 20:45 20:13 20:56 21:08 20:21 4. 21:56 20:48 21:22 21:07 21:39 21:05 5. 22:00 20:53 21:40 21:09 21:47 21:36 6. 22:51 21:27 21:50 21:19 21:59 21:59 7. no runner 22:24 22:16 21:36 23:15 22:41 Indian Lake McNicholas Morgan Tr Tr L 1. 19:27 19:27 20:25 2. 20:25 20:27 21:49 3. 20:33 20:30 22:01 4. 20:51 20:42 22:04 5. 21:00 21:07 22:13 6. 24:11 21:27 22:38 7. 27:05 21:39 26:48 B= Boardman T= Tiffin L= Lancaster Tr= Troy |