Last year, Rowland Hall rolled through the 2A girls state cross country meet like a highballing freight train. Can they do it again this year?
If you're part of a team trying to derail the Rowland Hall freight train, the bad news is that only one of the 2-4-8-9-11 scoring five from last year's state meet graduated. The good news is that the times are not that impossibly out of reach.
San Juan, Enterprise, and North Summit also posted double-digit scores at last year's state meet. Of those, North Summit took the biggest individual hit by way of graduation. State champion Erica Birk will be sorely missed, by any reckoning. San Juan graduated at least three, maybe four, of their scoring five and may be in somewhat of a rebuilding mode this fall. Enterprise returns their top four and looks to be in the best position to challenge of any of last year's top four. The Wolves look pretty strong through three but will need to improve at four and five to make a serious run at Rowland Hall.
Here is a quick look at the returners from the top 50 finishers of last year's 2A girls state meet (a question mark indicates an athlete of uncertain year of graduation):
And that, folks, is a story worth reading. Clearly, Emily Sundquist of Rowland Hall had a solid track season. She definitely validated her standing as the top returning runner from cross country season. But, Rowland Hall didn't have a lot of additional development in the distance department (3200 or otherwise) in this spring's track and field season.
Enterprise's Olivia Moyle has probably moved up to the #2 slot in 2A and will be crucial to any title aspirations the Wolves are harboring these days.
If other teams were looking to make up ground on Rowland Hall, the near-total absence of the cross country teaam from the distance roster in track and field was a gilt-edged opportunity. Clearly, San Juan threw the most bodies at the 3200, but no team out there returns more than two sub-14 3200s. Although Parowan didn't put many eggs in the 3200 basket, their 1600 times indicate they could rise to become a force in cross country this fall if those girls can make the transition to three mile courses. For those interested, here is a link to the rankings of the returning 2A 1600 meter times from this spring:
2A Girls 1600 (returners only)
All in all, 2A girls is a tough one to call at this point. If Rowland Hall's girls return to the fold and have maintained their conditioning, they come in as the favorites. But there are a few other teams here who could be dreaming some legitimate dreams if they're getting the work done this summer.