1. Tuscola
Head Coach/Coaches: Neal Garrison / Gabe Pommier
Last Year's Finish: State Meet- 12th place
Key Returners: Josiah Hortin (Sr.), Jackson Barrett (Sr.), Will Foltz (Sr.), Bryce Graves (Sr.), Xander Neamtu (Jr.), Blake McLeese (So.), Carson Smith (Sr.), Boyd Brewer (So.)
Outlook: Did you expect anyone else to be the projected top team in the classification? The Warriors will have a lot of conversation around them this year of people wondering if this is the greatest 1A team in history. They will be led by the duo of Josiah Horton and Jackson Barrett. Horton has a slight edge over his teammate during the track season, running 4:18 in the 1600m and 9:15 in the 3200m. Barrett as well had an amazing track season going 4:20 in the 1600m and 9:15 in the 3200m.
Expect Hortin and Barrett to be top five runners in the classification and they might even be challenging for a second and third-place finish. Will Foltz barely missed all-state status last year with a 31st-place finish. After running 9:30 in the 3200m, expect to see him as a top ten finisher at the state meet.
Wrapping up their scorers will be Blake McLeese and Xander Neamtu. McLeese had a breakout track season running 9:53 in the 3200m. Same with Neamtu who ran 9:57 in the event. Both runners should be sub 15:30 this season. If they do that this squad should have five all-staters. This team could potentially score under 50 points at the state meet if everything goes right. Coach Garrison is very mellow about his squad this year, "Our XC program has been around 60 years. Last year was their first time qualifying for State. They placed 12th. I would like to see them be a top-10 team. It is way too early for me to predict with any accuracy, but I hope they improve from last year."