The Massive Distance Jumble: It was difficult to ever find a clear favorite among the 3A girls during cross country, and this track season the theme is the same. Charlotte Kowalk is probably the favorite by default in the 1600, but not by much. Her 5:15.45 time at the Frederick County Championships leads 3A girls this season but there are a handful of other girls within a couple seconds of her, headed by Annie Imhof, who emerged during the fall to win the cross country state championship. The Northern girls also have a chance to put three girls in the top eight, something that hasn't been done since the Hereford girls did it in 2013. There's about five or six girls who could win this race and I wouldn't be surprised, speaking to the crowded nature of this race.
If you thought that maybe the 3200 would come with a clear-cut favorite, you're going to be disappointed. Once again, Charlotte Kowalk leads the 3A girls rankings, and she showed the ability to double off the 1600 at the 3A West Regional Championships. But, as with the 1600, she's going to have a lot of company. Heather Delaplaine comes in with a season best just one second off of Kowalk's, and she won't be running the 1600 at states (she's one of the legs on Damascus' 4x800 that hopes to capture a state title as well). Adrianna Wilder and Annie Imhof will also be back for the 3200; in fact, none of the five girls who ran sub-12:00 at regionals will enter the race completely fresh (Delaplaine is the only one not running the 1600). It's going to be interesting to see how the girls decide to attack these two races: will one of them try and separate themselves from the gun? Or perhaps there could still be a pack of four or five runners with two laps to go and we'll get a thrilling finish.