Meet Preview: 2022 Ocean Springs XC Invitational

High School Girls Individual Preview 


The Rundown:

The girl's side of the race is similar to the boys in that Ocean Springs holds many of the top seed times.

Ashton Rainey, the defending champion, owns the top seed with a 19:30. The Ocean Springs senior has started off the season strong with a 10th place finish at The Opener: 2022 and a win at the 2022 Admiral XC Invitational. 

RESULTS: 2022 Admiral XC Invitational - Varsity Girls 5K

In regards to that performance, Rainey looked great at the 2022 Admiral XC Invitational, where she ran 19:45. It is clear that she is close to, if not in PR shape. Rainey could walk away with a new PR with the help of some hometown cheers.

Sarah Litton has the second fastest seed for this race.

The Ocean Springs runner also has had a great start to the season, with two top ten finishes in very competitive races. The senior will undoubtedly be in contention to win her final race at home.

Leah Collipp of East Rankin Academy and Grace Brewer of East Central High School will try to break up any pack running by Ocean Springs.

Collipp has placed in the top six of all three races this season. While she is young, she is quick and will give the runners from the coast a challenge. The competition at this meet should push her to a fast time.

Brewer has only raced once this season, but that one race was a win at the George County Trail run. She is a dark horse to mix things up in the front and take the race. 

Michelle Brown and Addison Rainey will be racing for their team to take all the top four individual spots. With the race being at home, stopping these Ocean Springs girls will be hard.

Other notable entries include East Rankin's Emily Williams, Audrey Mayatte, and Jayden Ware of Saint Patrick. 

State Editor's pick: With Ocean Springs and East Rankin in this race, the 2022 Ocean Springs XC Invitational High School Girls' race will be a show. Ocean Springs is still missing Maya Messenger, but they still have plenty of firepower in the three-headed dragon of the Rainey sisters and Sarah Litton. 

Williams, Collipp, and Mayatte have looked outstanding this season. Still, the Ocean Springs trio is slightly more consistent than the East Rankin trio. 

With that being said, we honestly don't necessarily know which one will actually take the win, but their consistency, along with the fact that they will be racing on their home course, makes us think that a Lady Greyhound will cross the finish line first on Saturday. 

As for teams, we're also going to go with the Lady Greyhounds for the win, but we simply can't underestimate the depth of East Rankin. They have surprised us in the past and could very well do it again on Saturday.