Sectionals - Girls AA

We should be treated to a very exciting battle for the team title and state meet berth during the Section V Class AA Girls race. The early favorite was certainly Fairport; they were returning their top 5 girls from their 2007 second place team, all 5 of whom beat Hilton's third-best returnee. Hilton was a safe bet for second, with Penfield, Thomas and Rush poised to battle for the next spots.

For most of the year, that seemed to hold, especially with Sarah Ritchie, who won Sectionals by 15 seconds as a junior, out of action for Hilton. Ritchie returned for McQuaid, and Hilton actually outperformed Fairport, who was without the services of their top returning runner, Jenn Spitzer.

Then Hilton seemed to hand the dual meet victory and division title to Fairport in the last week of the season, by allowing Fairport to go 1-2-3. And Hilton went on to sit out the County meet, but if their Varsity B provides an indication of their preparedness, it is excellent. The big surprise at Counties, though, was Rush-Henrietta. Although they had been a solid team all year, they had not looked like a Sectional title contender, but that changed on Saturday, when they finished 2nd to Mendon 47-65, while Fairport was in 3rd with 109. Fairport was without Rosie Roessel, but she would not have been enough to catch R-H.

The computer, which is sometimes a slow learner, still has the results like this (excluding Wilson and Edison, for now):
Fairport 54
Rush Henrietta 59
Hilton 65
Thomas 104
Penfield 118
Spencerport 133
Gates Chili 160
Brockport 232
Churchville Chili 263
Schroeder 286

I think the top 5 teams will look more like this (assuming the Thomas girls have missed races due to injury, not due to resting):
Rush Henrietta 51
Hilton 63
Fairport 63
Penfield 110
Thomas 114

The individual race should be the Brianna Deming show. I don't expect her to lose for a second week in a row, since she's run much better than the rest of the field all year. The battle for the other 4 state meet individual spots should come down to 2-3 girls from the second and third place teams, plus a suddenly in-shape Katie Sanders from Spencerport. Christina Colon from Thomas also has a shot.