West Central Area
As a contrast to Minnehaha, West Central Area is the only team on this list in which not a single one of their seven fastest returning athletes are seniors, AND they return all seven runners from an eighth-place finish at State on a team that has qualified for State three straight years. And it helps immensely with one of those young runners being a returning top-ten finisher at last year's state meet (Jacob Bright ran away with ninth place). There is perhaps no team in Class A that is more filled with potential than West Central Area. But if they want to take the next step and contend for a podium spot, the 71-second gap between Bright's PR and that of whomever their number-two runner is (be it any one of Kyle Schill, Jack VanKampen, or Kade Runge) needs to get a lot smaller, as does the nearly two-minute 1-5 spread. If that happens, West Central could easily content for a title.
Top 2017 Returners
1) Jacob Bright | 2020 | 16:10.52 | |
2) Kyle Schill | 2021 | 17:21.63 | |
3) Jack VanKampen | 2020 | 17:21.90 | |
4) Kade Runge | 2022 | 17:23.25 | |
5) Caleb Goetz | 2020 | 18:08.70 | |
Average Time: 17:17.20 Total Time: 1:26:26.00 1-5 Split: 1:58.18 | |||
6) Alex Salwasser | 2022 | 18:22.00 | |
7) Reuben Swanson | 2021 | 18:39.03 |