1. Girls 3000m And Mile
The girls distance races should provide ample fireworks. So let's start with the 3000m. We're going to see a matchup of two of the best in the Northwestern region, with Jesuit (OR) junior Makenna Schumacher, who's coming off a disappointing performance at Nike Cross Nationals, going up against Glacier (MT) High senior Annie Hill, who had a shortened cross country season and didn't qualify for NXN.
Talk about motivation.
Schumacher had a fine cross country season in Oregon, winning her first Class 6A title and helping lead Jesuit to NXN as one of the team's top runners, but there's a certain fire that has to be lit when you perform poorly in a national meet. This will be the junior's first indoor competition, too, though she's run 9:42.56 outdoors and won a state title in the distance last spring.
Going up against a healthy Hill won't be easy. Hill, a Colorado signee, went 9:57.83 at New Balance Nationals Indoor last season and even has some experience at Dempsey, having run the mile here in 2015.
Expect the 3000m to be a battle against these two top distance runners.
Add Sunset (OR) High senior Kelly Makin to the mix in the mile. When Ember Stratton went down with an injury over the cross country season in the fall, it was Makin who still kept Sunset charging forward and competitive. Makin enters the girls mile with the top overall seed with a predicted finish of 4:50, though her overall PR is 4:56.99.
Schumacher (4:52.00 seed time) and Hill (4:59.60 seed time) also are in the picture here, though only Hill listed her actual indoor PR. She shouldn't be overlooked here one bit. Outdoors, she's gone 4:41.52 and won Brooks PR as a sophomore.
Seven girls listed seed times under five minutes, so this should be a barnburner.