Girls cross country: State finals preview

State outlook

When: Noon (Central) Saturday

Where: Wabash Valley Sports Center, Terre Haute

Girls teams: West Lafayette, Eastern, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Warsaw, Portage, FW Carroll, Northridge, FW Concordia, Penn, Homestead, Huntington North, Carmel, Hamilton SE, Franklin Central, Fishers, Avon, Westfield, Columbus North, Terre Haute North, Bloomington South, Terre Haute South, Evansville Reitz, Bloomington North

Girls individual qualifiers: Taylor Austin, Griffith; Elena Lancioni, LaPorte.

Runners to watch: CHESTERTON: Hannah Hoffman, Haley Cushway, Melanie Buckmaster; VALPARAISO: Alison Mundell, Aurora Bonner, Michaela Gazdich; PORTAGE: Kyra Ball, Paige Pizer, Rhyan Sloan.

The skinny: It’ll be a tough competition for region teams at this year’s state meet. None of them were ranked in the top 10 in the final coaches’ poll, with Valparaiso coming close at No. 11, and all 10 of those teams will compete in this race. State powers such as Carmel, West Lafayette and FW Carroll figure to compete for the top team finish. On the individual side, local standouts like Austin and Lancioni will need a spectacular performance if they hope to catch Ashley Erba of Warsaw, the defending champion of this race.