Girls

The Top Challengers

1. Ella Johnson: The Elizabethtown senior very well could end her second season as a Kentuckian on top. Her PR (17:56.57 at the Hillbilly Run on Sept. 24 ) and a 17:59.64 at the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational the week before that are the only sub-18 minute times in Class 2A this fall. Johnson is seeded second based on her KHSAA Region 2-winning time, 18:54.70, but that was her slowest time since late August. Against a stacked field this weekend, anticipate her to rise to the occasion - especially after narrowly missing out on a runner-up finish last season.

2. Abigail Bastin: Lincoln County's star freshman won the Region 5 meet with a time of 19:50.95, nearly 1:30 faster than the second-place finisher. She ran a PR 18:31.30 in the Cougar Prowl Invitational earlier this month; that was her second sub-19 minute mark of the season. She ran 16th last season as an eighth-grader (20:29.85) and is ninth on the seed list.

3. Autumn Egleston: Her second-place finish in the KHSAA Region 6 meet wasn't too surprising: champion Paige Decker, a rival out of Mason County, is another contender to finish in the top five here. Egleston's put up three sub-19 minute efforts this fall, including a PR of 18:38.77 in the Area 7 Championship on Oct. 8, beating Decker while posting the third fastest time in Class 2A this season. The Rowan County junior is seeded sixth here.

4. Maddie Strong: The Scott junior is the only top-15 runner in Class 2A who posted their best time of the season in last week's regional round; she ran 18:43.70 - three seconds off her PR set in 2019 - to earn the top seed for this weekend's state meet. It was Strong's second straight sub-19 minute effort, and earned her a fourth win in five races.

5. Caroline Beiting: It was Beiting who crossed the finish line .35 seconds ahead of Johnson last season; both were about 10 seconds behind Boyd County senior Sophia Newsome, now running for Marshall University. The sophomore ran second to Strong last weekend, good for the fourth best seed time coming out of regionals (19:12.20). Bourbon County's Bethany Simpson (19:19.40) wasn't too far behind her.

Teams to Know

1. Lexington Catholic: The Knights last year won their sixth team title, but their first since 1984. With the only average finish time inside the top 10 statewide, they're likely to keep the trophy in Kentucky's second-largest city. Their average team time (20:05.60) ranks seventh overall regardless of class. In addition to Beiting, they boast a top-10 seed in Cate Conklin, who has the 10th fastest time in the class this fall (19:22.66).

2. Mason County: After LexCath, the Royals boast the best average finish time in the class (20:19.69). Decker stands apart from her teammates, but Elizabeth Lavinder and Layla Henderson each have approached sub-20 minute times this fall (the latter ran her best time, 20:08.18, last weekend).