The Team Race
Based off of generated rankings, in addition to looking at the most likely events for different athletes as alluded to in the previous section, here is an idea of what team looks to be king of the hill next weekend.
Large Girls: It looks like it will be a two team duel in the large school girls race. Both Zachary and Mandeville are stacked. Zachary brings a strong resume in the sprints and field while Mandeville is getting in done mainly in distance, though they do have some potential field scorers. Mandeville has more moving parts, meaning if one girl has a bad meet there are plenty of others to pick up points for her. Zachary looks promising with the addition of the Griffin girls and Jannie O'Conner is a lock for 20 points in open events. This may come down to the 4x4. It should also be noted that both Lafayette and Baton Rouge High should be relatively close to the winner, but don't look to be in contention for the win on paper.
Small Girls: Lusher looks to be continuing with their dream year after winning the cross country title. They look to have a 10-15 point gap over the next team, EHS. They are locking down plenty of points in the 400 and 800 as well as the relays. They could also pick up a few points in the jumps to help sweeten the deal. EHS looks as a very safe runner-up bet.
Small Boys: EHS looks to have things wrapped up in the small school boys. They will be anchored by their distance runners while picking up lagniappe in the field. They are a 20 point favorite as of right now over Southern Lab and Lusher who will battle it out for runner-up.
Large Boys: We have a two team race for the title with no other team realistically scoring within 30 points. CHS and JCCS have positioned themselves ahead of the field by having runners qualifying in almost every event. Both teams are highlighted by senior vets who are well decorated. The JCCS squad looks to have the advantage by a few points with the main point of emphasis being the 4x8. The Patriots are currently not projected to score in the event, but with their seasonal bests all adding up to 8:14 or so which could place them as favorites for this race. The 12 point swing that would happen if they could beat CHS out could possibly be insurmountable considering the majority of their scorers in other events are locks to place on the podium. CHS could counter this if their athletes who are projected to finish in the 4th-7th spots can move up and get a couple extra points to help the distance team. This is another team race that will probably come down to the 4x4.