High School Boys Preview
2021 Champion: Sam Arnold (Brookhaven High School) 16:07
Course Record: Sam Arnold (Brookhaven High School) 16:07
No. 1 Seed: Colin Brannon (Madison Central High School)
The Rundown:
The race for the individual boys victory is shaping up to be an exciting one.
On paper, Colin Brannon leads the way. He holds a season best in the 5k of 16:37 from the 2022 Clinton Arrow Cross Country Invitational.
Brannon also had a top 10 finish at the 2022 Saltillo Invitational running 16:39. He has steadily improved race to race this season, and it will be exciting to see how he runs on his home turf for the first time this year.
Alongside Brannon, is his teammate Ben Owens, who has had some fantastic performances. In his most recent performance, he placed 4th at the 2022 Clinton Arrow Cross Country Invitational in 16:42.
Ben Owens of Madison Central
Owens has been the front runner for Madison Central on a multitude of occasions this season, including a win at the 2022 JPS Cross Country Challenge and a 9th place finish at the 2022 Saltillo Invitational on the way to a PR of 16:35.
He also ran in the Arrow Invitational a couple weeks ago, running a super impressive 40 second season best and a ten second personal best. With the kind of performance he threw down, expect him to be in main contention for a podium finish.
Editor's Pick: The two favorites for the victory are Madison Central's Colin Brannon and Benjamin Owens. It surely is a tall order to pick a winner here as both Brannon and Owens have gone back and forth all season, but our pick is Brannon to use his elite endurance to take the win followed by Owens in a close second.