Region 3
Site (host): Seneca Park (Trinity)
BOYS
The top challengers:
1. Sami Hattab. St. Xavier's top dog has never competed in the region meet but his resume speaks for itself: Hattab is the reigning Class 3A state champion and boasts the fastest time in the class this season, a 15:24.10 posted at the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational on Sept. 17. He hasn't won a race in 2022, but before last week's KTCCCA Meet of Champions he hadn't finished behind another Class 3A runner all season. He's the rightful favorite here if he goes at anything above a leisurely pace.
2. Caden Cull. The closest nipper to Hattab's heels as far as in-season times go. Cull, a sophomore at Male, ran a 15:44.52 in mid-September, the last time he competed. He's also the defending region champ; he took the title with a time of 16:20.43 last fall. His PR time is the fifth best in-season time in Class 3A.
3. Samuel Walls. The Bullitt Central senior set PRs within three days of one another, first at the Daviess County Classic (15:53.56) before breaking it at the Mid-Kentucky Athletic Conference Championships on Oct. 11 (15:52.71, 11th fastest in all of Class 3A). He's been scary consistent this fall; his average finishing time in seven races is 16:02.08.
Fast facts: Tristan Hindorff was St. Xavier's top finisher last fall, clocking in with a 17:06.95 good for fourth place. The junior's top time this season is 16:33.30, behind Hattab and two other teammates - freshman Kaden Wancket (16:15.10) and sophomore Thomas Weber (16:18.70). All those times were earned in the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational.
GIRLS
The top challengers
1. Jessica Secor. Her seed time (17:33.40) is more than a minute faster than that of the next best time, and she's the three-time defending champ at this meet. Secor, a DuPont Manual senior, set her PR earlier this month and has been first or second in all five meets she's entered this fall. Expect her to win another regional on Saturday.
2. Bailee Montgomery. Is she the next great distance runner out of Manual? A freshman, Montgomery is coming off an 18:40.10 PR to finish second to Secor in the JCPS Championships a little more than a week ago. She and her senior teammate top a list of five Manual runners seeded in the top 10.
3. Savannah Mooney. The Bullitt East freshman twice this season broke the 19-minute mark, including her top performance (18:41.48) in a second-place effort at the Haunted Woods Classic on Oct. 8.
Fast facts: Caroline Mooney, a seventh-grader out of Bullitt East, has only two competitions accounted for on her profile but had a PR time of 18:45.12 in her second effort on Sept. 24. That's the fourth fastest time in the region this fall. ... Emerson Wyatt (18:45.90), Maggie May (19:18.20) and Flora Biro (19:20.88) are responsible for the next fastest times this fall after the Mooneys. They all run for Manual.