There aren't many big meets to tackle in October but the Titan Invite has slowly grown into Arizona's third biggest invitational. Tomorrow schools big and small will take on the chance to see how well they match up at one of the more challenging courses in the east valley.
In the Small School races, Senior Olivia Mountain (Chandler Preparatory Academy) of the hosting school will take on freshman Olivia Roberts (American Leadership Academy (Queen Creek)) separated by only 25 seconds. Meanwhile the returning champions the Chandler Prep Titans are separated by only nine points from the challenging ALA Queen Creek Patriots. Both teams will depend on their low-sticks to rally their squads to victory. Meanwhile, Jordan Black (North Phoenix Prep, Jr.) will be looking to lead the Gladiators to victory on the boys' side. Black is ranked no. 1 among Division IV boys while NPP appear projected to score just 55 points as the favorites to win the team title.
Grace Tipton (Cactus Shadows, So.) is ranked as the fastest girl in the Large School Varsity race, though she ran her two best performances this season at the beginning of September. Can she rebound over Crossroads Park? Meanwhile, Kylie Miller (Perry, So.) is ranked second thanks to her recent PR of 18:28 from Desert Twilight. The Chandler Girls' have a solid nucleus between Leonela Lizzaraga (Fr.), Mihajla Milovanovic (Sr.) and Becca Taylor (Sr.) aiming to pull off possibly the lowest score of the meet.
Finally, the Boys race looks like a toss-up between juniors Kenny Edwards of Campo Verde and Connor Heron from Desert Mountain, coming off major breakout performances at Desert Twilight. Derek Baca (Casteel, So.) is ranked 3rd by just 25 seconds but if hangs with Heron and Edwards he could surprise a lot of people tomorrow. The Boys Team contest will likely come down to just a handful of points between Campo Verde and Brophy. Without Rylan Stubbs in the mix, the CV Coyotes need to close the 1-5 gap if they want to secure the victory from the Broncos returning as last year's champions.
Check out the full projected scores in the following slides.