Class 3A Boys State Meet Preview

On the team side of things, Trinity is looking to return to its former glory. Having one the second most State Championships in KHSAA history, the Rocks are looking to add there first State Title since 2019. This season, there depth stands out as outside of there front running star Eli Oetken, their 2-7 can finish in any order breaking 16 on any given day. There 7th man is faster than every other team's 4 man, boding well for there team title chances. However, they do have vulnerabilities. Sitting in 4th place off seed times is Cooper who dominated there Region Championships. Cooper is led by a trio of sub 15:55 athletes in Paul Van Laningham, Salah Farah, and Noah Miller. If those 3 can push into the Trinity Top 3 and there 4-5 have great days, Cooper could give Trinity quite the scare. On this list as well is St. Xavier whose times are hard to gauge given that they most came at RunningLane. There top 3 are strong, but there 5-7 are all over 16:40 which could be problematic with Trinity's close knit pack. Finally, the second place seeded team on the list is Lafayette. Lafayette has a State Championship threat on the individual side with James Ndayishimiye. His 15:03.63 is the 4th fastest time in the State this season and he has shown that he will run with anyone. Him winning would give Lafayette a serious chance to upset the Rocks on Saturday. Full table below:

     Ryle Senior Tiger Bartlett headlines the individual title race coming into the race as the only man who has broken 15 in Class 3A. He also has not lost a race this season to anyone in Class 3A and is the State's top returner. The Cincinatti commit is listed on the Milesplit 50 for a reason and could run away from the field Saturday. However, there are some individual who could challenge him. Of those challengers is North Oldham's Top 3 of Charley Townsend, Jasper Smith, and Adam Patel who all can run under 15:20 at any given time. They could pack up Saturday and make life difficult on Bartlett. Another individual who could make some noise Saturday is Eli Oetken from Trinity. The Junior is the Region 4 Class 3A champion defeating all 3 of the North Oldham boys last Saturday. His Pr of 15:07 is the fastest time of his season and bodes well for him Saturday. In terms of winning, however, that will be slightly difficult as Bartlett was able to almost jog his Regional Saturday running uncontested for most of the meet. Oetken will most likely need some help Saturday from people if he is to pull off the upset. Finally, perhaps the biggest challenger to Bartlett is Lafayette's James Ndayishimiye. The Senior has a knack for showing up when the pressure is at its highest and it doesn't get higher than Saturday. Throughout the race, Ndayishimiye will be keyed in on Bartlett and could give him a race until the last moments. Full table below.