Brandi Krieg is one of several seniors looking to take ownership of the 3A girls individual title in 2010. Photo by Alan Versaw.
This promises to be a vintage year for 3A girls.
About the only downside for competition is that Discovery Canyon has departed to 4A. Their absence, however, is nicely compensated for by the arrival of 2009 4A state champion Alamosa.
Brush and Estes Park are loaded. The Classical Academy returns a strong cast, but they also graduated three of their top four finishers from state last year.
Opportunity knocks for several teams.
Even on an individual level, things promise to be interesting.
With Alamosa's arrival come Jenny and Nicki DeSouchet. Either could easily contend for the state title. Sam Berggren of Middle Park didn't race until the league meet weekend last year but should be back healthy for her senior campaign. Shelby Stableford of The Classical Academy is the top returnee from last year's state meet. Brandi Krieg of Grand Valley and Kaiti Davis of Salida both return from top-ten finishes last year. And none of this takes into account the arrival of any freshman phenoms within the 3A classification. One colossal showdown looms on the horizon. Start staking out your positions near the finish chute now if you want to see how this one turns out.
Taking a quick look at the teams...
In addition to the DeSouchet sisters, Karlee Smith returns for the Mean Moose. Now a sophomore, Smith was the one who clinched Alamosa's title run last November. To all outward appearances, Alamosa currently has question marks at positions 4 and beyond, but 3A only requires four scoring runners. Figure on Alamosa being in the title mix.
The Classical Academy returns Shelby Stableford, Meredith Sloan, and Brittany Droogsma from last year's state champion lineup. None of the three finished worse than 13th at last year's state meet. Competition within the team for varsity slots at state could become intense. It could take a month or so into the season before the Titans really know what they have.
Brush and Estes Park have been solid entries at the state meet for the last two years running. Kim Hansen leads Estes Park and Victoria Milano leads Brush. Both teams lost a senior or two to graduation, but both teams should be improved over their 2009 editions. When you consider that Estes Park was second and Brush fourth in 2009, improvement is something of a big deal. Figure that both of these schools are making plans for this one to be their year.
Salida finished third at state last year and lost a lot of leadership when Lauren Policky graduated. Kaiti Davis figures to pick up the slack, but the Spartans need depth. If they find it, things could get very competitive in 3A Region 2.
And speaking of 3A Region 2, there's the "small matter" of Colorado Springs Christian School to deal with. The Lions slipped into the state meet almost unnoticed last year and ended up placing seventh. Almost the entire crew should be back. Keep this group on your radar screen.
All that, of course, introduces a problem. We've now discussed four teams from 3A Region 2. It's not guaranteed that four teams will even make it out of the region, and there may be another school or two with something to say about what gets out of the region and advances to state. In any case, it's something of a blessing for the region that Discovery Canyon moved up to 4A. Otherwise, matters could be even worse.
In any case, figure that there won't be much coasting through this regional meet.
Elsewhere, Middle Park just might be the sleeper to mull over this year. We all know about Sam Berggren, but the rest of the team continues to improve little by little. Keep an eye on results coming out of Granby early in the season to see which way the wind's blowing.