4. Tierney Wolfgram, Math & Science Academy (MN)
In spite of already owning three state championships from her 8th grade year, Wolfgram started the fall as a distant third to Grace Ping and Anna Fenske among the ranks of the nation's elite freshmen. However, this fall she has defeated both in competition and her dominating 48-second win at the Class A race at the Minnesota state championships may have finally pushed her to a status of equal recognition as them at the national level.
Wolfgram has won all but two of her races in 2017, typically by margins of minutes. Of course, one of her races she didn't win was her 17th-place finish in the heat of the Roy Griak Invitational, a race she had entered as the highest-returning finisher in 2016 when she finished fourth.
While that race is certainly just an anomaly within an otherwise nearly flawless season, it is also the race most similar to the type of competition being offered at the Heartland Region. Still, Wolfgram has every reason to be entering the competition confident of her status as a favorite.