MileSplit50 Girls Team Rankings Countdown

16.

Team: Blacksburg (VA)

Analysis: Last year was a little too close for comfort for Blacksburg, which snuck into NXN after a third-place finish at NXR Southeast. It was a region the Trojans were expected to charge through easily, but sometimes lessons are learned the hard way. Fortunately, this year's Trojans are much more experienced and return just as much talent. Five of its top seven return, including top runner Kaitlynn Wolfe (junior) and No. 2 Ailene Edwards (senior). That tandem will give Blacksburg a pretty sizable punch up front. 

Where Blacksburg will need to improve and run well is in its depth positions. And yet, there's little doubt how talented this team can be in 2018. Based on MileSplit team projection rankings, the Virginia squad should be a top 10 team on paper at the 5K distance, and enters with a 18:26.38 team average and 96-second compression. Blacksburg will look to defend its Group 4A title in Virginia, get back to NXN and better its 17th-place performance in Portland.