Cale Englert should be in the hunt for an individual title at Tuesday's running of the Tri-Valley League meet at Holy Family High School. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Through the remainder of this week, I'll be previewing as many of the league meets as I can possibly get to. We'll have a quick discussion of some of the highlights and possibilities, followed by links to virtual meets for both the boys and girls divisions of the league meet. The virtual meets have the feature that you can eliminate runners you don't think will be running (simply hover with your mouse over the athlete name, then click on the 'X' that appears at the left-hand end of the line). Note, however, that virtual meet links require MileSplit Insider status for viewing.
This time, we take a look at the Tri-Valley.
The teams of the Tri-Valley League appear to be getting a fleeting glance at the Holy Family Cross Country course. If they like it, they need to take pictures, because next year's reclassification should have Holy Family back in the ranks of 3A.
For now, though, Holy Family will be looking to keep their 4A cross country experience alive as long as they possibly can. Although winning here does nothing formally to advance that cause, it could bring a surge of confidence that may make an enormous difference next week where the stakes are higher and the competition deeper.
And, the Holy Family boys are very much in the Tri-Valley title hunt. This one gives every indication of coming down between Holy Family and Erie for the boys crown. A slight edge to Erie on overall season performance might be erased by a home course advantage for Holy Family.
Where the girls are concerned, Holy Family goes in as the favorite, and as a rather substantial favorite at that. Erie, Roosevelt, Windsor, and Mead have all done well this season, but it's going to be tough to derail the Holy Family train here, although Isabelle Hren hasn't raced since Pat Patten, and that situation does hint at a window of opportunity for the other teams in the hunt.
Individually, Roosevelt's Madi Kenyon has been on top of her race all season long. It will be surprising if she doesn't come away with the girls title. Around the league, only Mead's Sophia Maeda has joined Kenyon with a time below 20 minutes at any point in the season. For the boys, there is no clear-cut favorite. This could go a few different ways with Cale Englert, Hayden Falkinburg, and Anthony Willert having the seasons most suggestive of a conference title.