Trent Lansdown, a sophomore from Ocean Springs High School, has the fastest seed time going into his home meet. Last year, Lansdown's 16:54 was run at the 2021 MHSAA 6A Cross Country Championships.

RESULTS: 2021 MHSAA 6A Cross Country Championships

Lansdown's most recent race was the 2022 Admiral Invitational, where he placed fourth with a time of 17:20, a season-best for the sophomore.

RESULTS: 2022 Admiral Invitational

Matheson Chen, who also competes for Ocean Springs, has the second fastest time with a 16:57 that he ran at the 2021 Watson High School Meet.

Chen has raced very similarly to his teammate Lansdown through two races this season. The two ran in the low 18s at The Opener 2022.

RESULTS: The Opener: 2022

At the 2022 Admiral XC Invitational, and were separated by less than a second. The duo is 1-1 so far this fall.

Landon Ahrens of Long Beach High School is coming hot off a big PR last weekend at the Admiral Invitational, where he placed second overall with a 17:12. Ahrens will undoubtedly be in the mix to potentially win this race.

Tate Castleman, who is just a sophomore, appears to be Ocean Springs' top runner this year. Coming off a PR and a 1st place finish, Castleman has confidence on his side this weekend.

The success from last week and the home turf advantage should be an excellent mix for Castleman to perform well on Saturday.

Tristan Davis of Saint Patrick, the Mississippi 3K state record holder, will officially make his high school debut at this meet.

Tristan Davis, Saint Patrick High School

While he did race a few 5ks in the past, this is the junior high legend's first season training for the 5K full time. It is hard to imagine what kind of times he will run right now, but it is safe to say that it will be fast.

An interesting note is that the All-Milesplit Mississippi XC No. 3, Jack Hewes, is not listed in the race entries. While his team is listed to compete, Hewes is not expected to race according to the entry list.

State Editor's pick: With Jack Hewes not on the starting line, this leaves this race wide open. We of course have our eyes on state record holder Tristan Davis, one of the biggest rising stars in Mississippi, but it might too tall of a task for him to make the jump to varsity right away. 

With that being said, Castleman has looked really good recently and is coming off of a win against nearly the same competition. 

While we recommend the crowd to keep an eye on Davis, we're going to stick with the on-paper statistics and pick Castleman for the win, as well as lead the Greyhounds to a team win.