MHSAA 'Small School' Girls Preview
Athletes to Watch
Lucy Littlejohn - French Camp High School
It is pretty clear that there is no doubt that Littlejohn is the best Small School Girl in the state this year. I'll admit it - I did not see Littlejohn's 'reign of terror' on the small school circuit coming. However, Littlejohn burst onto the running scene at the start of this cross country season and hasn't slowed her momentum since. With MHSAA 1A and 2A combined, she is the lone runner to have broken 20 minutes in the 5k. Through 7 races this year, she has yet to finish lower than 2nd, winning 3 of those races this year. At 19:45 for 5k, she has the fastest PR by almost a minute, and is the huge favorite to take the MHSAA 1A title, as no one in 1A has beaten her all year. French Camp is also in the running for a state title, so expect her to try and get that low stick for her team as well.
Aubrey Britt - Loyd Star School
Aubrey Britt has won the last 4 state titles in MHSAA 2A, and she is the favorite to make it #5 this Saturday. Just recently, Britt had the most impressive run of her season, a season-best 20:22 5k at Choctaw Trails, a race that she won by over 2 minutes. She is the #1 seed by 22 seconds over the other regional champion Harley Garner of Walnut - more on that matchup later. Although it won't necessarily be a cakewalk for Britt, I would say that she is peaking at the right time of the year, and is the favorite going to the MHSAA 2A Cross Country State Championship - It's hard to not call the 4-time consecutive champion the favorite.
Taylor Benoit - French Camp High School
Ranked #2 in MHSAA 1A in her first year of running cross country is the senior from French Camp, Taylor Benoit. Benoit is no stranger to winning state titles - She has won 2 state titles in the 400m and 800m, and has gone 2:29 in the 800m. Her middle distance talents translated to the grass very well, just recently going 20:41 at Choctaw Trails at the Watson Meet - The venue for the state meet. She has progressed really well throughout the season, and although she has come work cut for her if she wants 1st, she will definitely be one to watch in the MHSAA 1A High School Girls race on Monday.
Eliza McCarley - Baldwyn High School
One of the most interesting athletes to be watching is one of, if not the best middle school girls across the whole state of Mississippi this year, Eliza McCarley from Baldwyn. McCarley only lost once throughout her whole season in the Junior High Division and had a win in the 2021 Tupelo Invitational when she took down the large school Junior High champion Maggie Irwin, as well as Tupelo Middle standout Abbey Sanders. She just recently went 20:48 for 5k and took 2nd to Garner by 4 seconds, and could make for a very interesting matchup this Saturday in the 2A title race.
Key Matchups
As you can probably tell, one of the main key matchups going into this race going into the small school sections of the MHSAA State Championships, and that is between Aubrey Britt, Harley Garner, and Eliza McCarley. All 3 runners are peaking at the right time of the season, and are also the only 3 in the field who have broken 21 minutes for the 5k this year. This will also be the first time Britt has faced off against either of them, while Garner and McCarley have only raced each other once, which resulted in a mere 4 second difference between the 2. Although Britt is the on-paper favorite like I stated earlier, anything could happen between these 3, especially when a state title / All-State Meet of Champions Auto Qualifier is on the line.
Teams to Watch
One of the biggest teams to watch going into this meet is a team that is undefeated this year, and that is French Camp High School. They have beat 6A programs such as Tupelo and Clinton, and perhaps the most impressive win was against Christ Episcopal, who are the favorites to win Class B in Louisiana. They are the huge favorites to win Class 1A on Monday, as they literally have 4 of the top 4 times in 1A this year, and their 5th runner is ranked #6. Barring any kind of tragedy, I can't see any way they don't do pull it off. I don't mean any disrespect to the rest of the field - They're just that good.
French Camp's #3 and #3 ranked runner in MHSAA 1A, Averie Jane Gundy
Moving over to MHSAA 2A, there will be a great matchup between Walnut and East Union, as well as Myrtle on the outside looking in. Walnut has a great low stick in Garner, and their top 3 places inside of the top 7 times run in MHSAA 2A this year. They struggle a little bit on their 1-5 spread, but they make up for it in their top 3, and they still have one of the better 1-5 spreads in Class 2A. I would say Walnut is the favorite, and they have about a 15 point cushion. In order for East Union to beat Walnut, their 1-2 and 3-4 will have to really work together and mark some of Walnut's runners, and their #5 will just have to score as low as possible. According to my calculations, the worst that East Union can finish is 2nd, so they might as well just go for it and see what happens, as the team winner of this race will not be a state champion, but receive an automatic qualifier to the All-State XC Meet of Champions.