Girls
The Top Challengers
1. Haley Schoenegge: She leads a trio of seniors at the top of this list who are expected to challenge for pole position. Schoenegge is the best returning performer from last season's meet, and the only returner who ran a sub-20 minute time in this meet (19:53.27). This'll be just the fourth race of the season for Schoenegge, who didn't run until Sept. 24 and earned her PR on Oct. 1 at the Louisville XC Classic. The Kentucky Country Day star at that meet ran 19:19.00, the second best time in Class A this fall. Her KHSAA Region 3-winning time (19:39.33) is the top seed time.
2. Amy Klocke: Her performance on a messier iteration of this course last season was good for fourth place. The Bishop Brossart star ran second in the KHSAA Region 4 meet last week, and her time there (20:55.62) was more in line with her average performance (20:56.16) than her PR time from mid-September, which is the fastest by any girl in Class A this fall (19:18.07). There's no better race than now to dig for another sub-20 minute run.
3. Kinley Kunkel: The Trimble County standout won her first race in a month after taking the KHSAA Region 5 meet by nearly a minute over the next-closest finisher. Her seed time from that event (20:09.68) ranks third on the seed list. She's ran two sub-20 minute 5Ks this fall, including a PR time of 19:25.05 to win the NCKC on Sept. 19.
4. Isabelle Shearer: Jackson County's sophomore star hasn't finished worse than fourth in seven races this fall, and is coming off her first victory in the KHSAA Region 6 meet. If she were to keep a senior from finishing first - her PR time of 19:33.31 indicates she should be able to run with 'em - Shearer would be the first runner from Jackson County to win a state title, boy or girl.
5. Lily Parke: She and Shearer should be fixtures on this list for the foreseeable future. A freshman out of Beechwood, Parke ran her PR (19:45.74) at the KTCCCA Meet of Champions on Oct. 15, a week before taking the KHSAA Region 4 meet over Klocke (20:29.39 vs. 20:55.62).
Teams to Know
1. Beechwood: The Tigers finished fourth last season after finishing in a tie with Bishop Brossart for the third most points (160). Their average top time this year, 20:35.31, is almost two full minutes than what they collectively averaged last fall. In addition to Parke, both Charli Gerrein (20:35.20) and Isabel Ginter (20:43.30) have top-20 times in the class this season.
2. Lexington Christian: Five Eagles finished one right after Kunkel crossed the finish line first at the Region 5 meet. A similar grouping might be necessary if LCA is to repeat as the Class A champ, an honor it narrowly earned over Villa Madonna last season, 108-112.
3. Bishop Brossart: How about this - of the top four teams last season, the Mustangs were the only ones who had a runner finish in the top five, and they had two. Yet, they finished in third after posting an average time of just :02 seconds slower than LCA's (21:54). No team is likely to be as motivated as Bishop Brossart going into this year's state meet.