(Photo: Greg Hall)
Varsity Girls White
Teams: Affton Althoff Catholic (IL) Battle Bayless Clayton Cleveland NJROTC Dupo (IL) Fulton School at St. Albans Gateway STEM Hancock Jefferson (Festus) Joliet Catholic Academy (IL) KIPP: St. Louis Lutheran South Lutheran St. Charles McCluer McCluer North McCluer South Berkeley Oak Ridge Orchard Farm Pacific Parkway North Pekin (IA) Pembroke Hill Providence Classical Christian Academy Ritenour Rosati-Kain Smithville St. Charles West St. Clair St. Dominic St. Francis Borgia Sullivan Union University City Warrenton Zalma
Individuals:
Aidan Sheffel, JR, Battle: Last year's champion, Aidan Sheffel has an impressive resume. Last year she went 18:45 at Russellville after a 19:17 at Camdenton - two flat courses, but incredible times nonetheless. Her talent hasn't translated to the state level just yet, but she appears to be the favorite to repeat in the White Division this weekend.
Reina McMillan, SO, Parkway North: The Parkway North Sophomore had a big PR at the Parkway Quad running 20:30 albeit on a relatively flat course. She has one of the top personal bests now of all of the girls entering this race and was 8th a year ago.
Riley Schelp, SR, Lutheran South: She's experienced a drop off the past year or so, but when Schelp is on, she can battle with the best of them. She should be considered a contender in the White division this year as, though she may not have been close for a while, she has run 19:18 in her career and already has run 20:52 at the always tough Jefferson Barracks this season.
Teams:
Parkway North - They pack a punch up front with Reina McMillan, Safiya Ratliff, and Lauren Steffen, but their 4 and 5 leave a lot to be desired. With a good day in a light division team-wise, it may not matter, though, especially if their top 3 are in the top 10.
Althoff Catholic (IL) - Tiffani Siekman leads the way for Althoff. She has already ran 19:59 for 3 Miles this year and they have their whole Top 5 under 22:25 for 3 miles already, too. If they can put all 5 under 22:00 and Siekman is low-20:00 to high-19:00, Althoff could surprise some people again after taking 2nd last year.
Lutheran (St. Charles) - Last year's White Division winners look solid heading into 2017, too. With Julia Freund and Meredith Leigh out front, they'll ask for some help from the back-end of their scorers who currently leave a little to be desired.