Blue Girls 5K
Lucy Littlejohn is toeing the line at Choctaw Trails to try and prove herself in the small school division. Littlejohn is the fastest Mississippi prep on paper in this race, with a season-best of 19:59 in the 5k.
*Lucy Littlejohn, French Camp High School
However, times aren't the entire story for her. Littlejohn is a fierce competitor and will give her best effort. She has not left the podium in every race she's run this season, even against some impressive large school competition. She is also in the top 20 for the current Choctaw Trails course.
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Hendrix Eldridge and Samantha Edwards from Saint Aloysius High School are going to give Littlejohn some competition, though. Both of these girls have gone under 21 minutes in the 5k and have some of the closest PRs to Littlejohn. If they can work together and keep Littlejohn in sight, it may give them the push they need to run a new season best.
*Samantha Edwards and Hendrix Eldridge, Saint Aloysius HS
There will also be some out-of-state girls that will push these Mississippi girls to the limit. Molly and Lucy Cramer from Episcopal (LA) are among them, who have three-mile PRs of sub-18 minutes. It will be interesting to see how the Mississippi girls respond to this challenge.
State Editor's Pick: Lucy Littlejohn is as tough as they come. As one can see from the information above, she is a very consistent performer.
The Cramer sisters from Louisiana will offer a challenge for the small school star, but we've never known Littlejohn to back down from a challenge.
The St. Aloysius duo of Eldrige and Edwards put an exciting and interesting component to this field, and sub-20 is definitely within reach. Still, we'll call for Littlejohn to at least assert herself into the mix and potentially pay off with a new 5k PR.
Silver Girls 5K
Anna Caroline Crouch from Saltillo has been racing very well thus far. She's taken down some pretty big names in her previous meets and recently just secured her first-ever 5K win and new PR of 19:35 at the 2022 Pontotoc XC Invitational. She's been a consistent competitor in every meet she's been to so far and will be bringing that to Choctaw Trails on Saturday.
Her biggest competition will be in Mae Ellen Mallet and Reese Johnson from MRA. Mallet has the closest time to Crouch with a 20:17 5k, and Johnson has been on fire as of late.
Jackson Prep's Gracie Atkinson, Tupelo's Sophie Santucci and Episcopal's Noah Watson.
State Editor's Pick: The girls of MRA, who is the No. 4 ranked team in Mississippi, will indeed offer some competition to Crouch.
However, especially since the Saltillo senior is coming off a win at the 2022 Pontotoc XC Invitational, we're going to call that she continues her momentum into the Silver Division Girls 5K with another win, or at least a top Mississippi finish, to add to her resume on Saturday.