Garret Marsing of Carbon is the favorite for the Region 12 Championship as well as the 3A State Title- Photo by Kyle Perry
Region Preview for Tuesday October 15th meets.
Tuesday will be one of the busiest days of the year for runners in the state of Utah. With 7 different Region Championships happening across the state, there will be an excess of action. In all regions 3A-5A, the top 4 teams qualify for the state championship. The 1A and 2A teams qualify a little differently, it is the top ½ of all complete teams will advance to the state championship..
Region 9- The Region 9 Championships will be held at the Bloomington North park in St. George. Desert Hills is the team to beat on the Boys side of things. Led by Joshua Mcphie, they are coming off a win on Oct 4th at the Cedar Invitational. They will look to use a strong 1-7 pack to beat out Pine View’s strong 1-2 runners Taylor Abel and Byron Warby. Pine View, Cedar, and Hurricane are picked to advance to state with Canyon View the bubble team hoping for the upset to get in.
On the Girls side of things, Aimee Bryson is the defending state champion, and will look to lead her team a region title. They are picked to be the top challenger to Park City at the state meet, and should be able to win their region meet. Behind them is a close battle between Canyon View and Desert Hills. Each team is pretty evenly matched, and it could swing either way on the day. Individually along with Aimee Bryson, I would say to keep an eye on Kamryn Watts of Hurricane, Courtney Allred of Desert Hills, and Kaitlyn Baker of Canyon View.
Region 10- The Region 10 Championships will be hosted by the 3A favorite Park City. Park City has put together a team that is ranked 5th in the SW Region, and they look very strong. They should be able to sweep the region, and will use this as one last tune up before the State Meet next week. Alyssa Snyder is their top hope in the individual ranks, followed by Mckenzie Bothner and Maddie Criscione. Sophie Mcdonald and Leah Lange round out the top 5 for the Miners. Uintah and Juan Diego will look to battle it out for podium positions. Dani Heaton of Uintah is the top individual not in the Park City uniform.
In the Boys side of things it is more of the same. Park City is the strong favorite, with all of the 6 fastest 3-mile times in the region so far this season, they could also sweep the meet. Colby Judd, Kyle Beiling, and Wess Miller are the top 3 for the Miners. Kris Christiensen, Connor Mckeahnie, and Michael Unck of Uintah will look to break up the sweep as they are the top ranked athletes from another school besides PC for the region.
Region12- Payson will host the Region 12 championships, and will look to take home both the girls and boys trophies. On the boys side of things Garret Marsing of Carbon is an overwhelming favorite. He has run sub 15 for 3 miles this season already, and is a serious contender for the state title. Behind him Jordan Bailey of Payson will look to lead his team to the Region title. Juab and Richfield are ranked 2-3 with Carbon just behind Richfield.
Kashley Carter of Juab and Alison Pray of Payson are the top ranked in the region. Carter had a great win at the Wasatch Invitational earlier in the year, and mixes it up with the best every week. Pray has run faster over 3 miles this season, which should keep it interesting. Payson has 3 of the top 4 in the meet time wise, and it will be a great battle for them and Juab. Lydia Foster of Richfield will also look to do big things in her new classification
Region 13- Region 12 will be hosted by Delta. Millard is the favorite in the race, as well as one of the favorites in the state, on the back of their team leader Kylin Cox. They should be followed by the host Delta, and then Parowan. Parowan is the only team with results in the system so far this season on the Girls side of things, so it is hard to speculate much, but Taylor Robb will look to lead Parowan on the day. Enterprise, Millard, Kanab, and Delta should all put together teams that can compete for state championship berth’s as well.
Region 14- Region 14 will be hosted at Scera Park in Orem, and has a few of the top runners in the entire 2A Classification. Eli Oftedal of Rowland Hall, his teammate Ryan Westerman, and Scott Collings of Maeser Prep are all top 5 contenders for the 2A state title. Rowland Hall should win both the Boys and Girls Region title on the day. Emily Sundquist is a heavy favorite for the 2A State individual title, and will look to use this as one last chance to get her racing legs just where she wants them.
Region 15- San Juan will host the Region 15 meet on their John Thornton Invitational Course. San Juan and Grand County are the top two teams in both the Boys and Girls for Region 15. Grand is the favorite boys team, with San Juan the favorite in the girls. Both the boys and the Girls races are open enough that either team could pull it off. Jackson Knowles is the top Boy, followed by Andrew Hugentobler, also of Grand, and then Christian Sherrow of San Juan. In the Girls Competition keep an eye on Alexia Stash and Kira Simpson of San Juan. Wasatch Academy and Emery will look for a spot at the state meet as well as both North and South Sevier.
Region 17- The Region 17 Championships are to be held in Roosevelt on Tuesday afternoon. Rich, Altamont, Duceshne, Manila, and Tabiona all make their way to Roosevelt for the Region 17 Championships with a State Championship appearance on the line.