The Battle for the Top Runner in the State
Going into the year we stressed how close the competition was between the top three runners. We will see all three this week -- Austin Hindman, Clayton Adams, and Ben Naeger. While Naeger was ranked third in our preseason rankings, Naeger finished ahead of Adams at this meet last year. We have yet to see Naeger this year.
Adams, second in the rankings, finished 9th last year. He opened his season last week at the LSN Solsberg Invitational, winning by 30 seconds.
Our top ranked runner, Austin Hindman, did not race this meet in 2014. The 3200m State Champ opened his season at the Fleet Feet Kickoff but didn't race this past weekend at the Memphis Twilight.
Lafayette adds in the 4-5-6 ranked runners in the state in Alec Hains, Dylan Quisenberry, and Devin Meyrer. Meyrer led the Lancers last week in the absence of Hindman while Quisenberry is the meet's top returner.
One runner to watch out for outside the top six is Nathan Hall of Kickapoo. Hall recorded the fastest 5K time in the state so far winning the SWCCA Meet in 15:34, 40 seconds faster than he ran a year ago.
Out-Of-State Threats
The past two years runners from O'Fallon High School in Illinois have taken the individual victory. The O'Fallon squad also has won the team competition three times over the history of meet. While it's unlikely to see a team take down Lafayette, a number of big names are entering Missouri this weekend to face off against the State's best. The biggest name to watch out for is Ean Beyer of Norman North (OK). Beyer waited patiently behind his teammate, Ben Barrett, who was a two-time Foot Locker National Qualifier. With Barrett now at NC State, Beyer isn't just the best guy on his team, but maybe the best in the state. Beyer already clocked in at 15:19 this season as well as 15:30.
Another out-of-stater to keep an eye on is TJ Sugg of Har-Ber (AR). Sugg was the 7A State Champ for Arkansas in 2013 and finished 23 rd in the Foot Locker South Region. He has faced off against Clayton Adams as he ran against him at the Southern Stampede in 2014, finishing one place behind the Kearney junior.
Lafayette's to Lose
We've seen the Lancers twice this season, and both times we have seen an incomplete squad. They opened the season without Meyrer who led them in their second meet. They were without their top man in Hindman in Memphis last week but still only put up 48 points. They will need Hindman if they want to win this one. The biggest in-state rival has to come from Festus, a team that beat them when they weren't at full strength at the Fleet Feet Kickoff. They have shown they have a solid top two in Jacob Schweiss and Hunter Darnell. Festus won the team title in 2014.
With the meet being as early as it is, it's a huge state for individuals and teams to step up. The perfect example is Caleb Wilfong. In 2008, Wilfong finished 41st as a freshman. In 2009 he finished fourth followed by winning in the meet in 2010. We saw this in 2013 with Ben Naeger. He went from 32nd to sixth. It's hard to predict who will make this big jumps as we haven't seen a lot of these people race fully yet against the competition they will see this weekend. I expect a seismac shakeup in the rankings following this meet.
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