1. Colbert Heights
Maddie Moore, eighth grade (8th overall). Ellyn Moore, eighth grade (15th). Scarlett Davis, seventh grade (17th). Emma James, sophomore (51st). Roxie Mitchell, eighth grade (80th).
Four middle schoolers and a sophomore, finishing fourth in the state. Nina Scott was the sixth runner -- a seventh grader. Returning their top 6 runners and they are all young!
Colbert Heights owns the No. 1 spot in the preseason ranking, the youngest scoring five of any contender in Alabama at any classification, and a 3:35 spread that will close simply by everyone growing up. The Moore twins go into ninth grade as top-15 runners in the class. Davis goes into eighth as a top-20.
The only case against them is that a 3:35 spread is genuinely wide, and freshman-year improvement isn't automatic. But no team in Class 3A has less to replace or more time to do it.
2. Plainview
One point behind Colbert Heights in the ranking, and coming off a fourth-place finish at the deeper 4A state meet.
Jaxson Bruce was eighth overall as a junior; the fastest returner in this class. Abigail Mays was 23rd as a sophomore. Jersey Frost is a junior, Keegan Duncan an eighth grader.
Bruce and Armstrong are the best 1-2 in Class 3A by a comfortable margin, and the gap from Armstrong to Mays is under a minute. Only Abby Williams has graduated.
The Bears' 4:38 spread is the widest of the top four teams, and the drop from Mays to the fourth runner is where the season is. Fix it and Plainview wins. This is essentially a coin flip with Colbert Heights at this point, a senior-led team with the best front pair against a team that starts four ninth graders.
3. LAMP (Loveless)
Eighth at the Class 4A state meet and did not graduate a single runner in the top seven.
Ava Cain was 19th overall as a junior. Grace Melton was 40th, also now a senior. Lilyanna Harnerwas 45th as a freshman, Sadie Mulcahy 88th as a freshman, Poppy Blackburn 97th as a freshman. Penelope Daniel was a seventh grader in the sixth spot; Mikayla Austin is a senior.
Three freshmen scoring at a state meet, all back as sophomores, behind two returning seniors. That's a good structure. LAMP's 4:14 spread could be a problem, Cain is nearly a minute clear of Melton and almost two clear of Harner, but the three sophomores working together could close that spread down.
4. White Plains
The tightest returning five in Class 3A: Emerson Newton, Shelby Wilkins, Izabella Camp, Kaylee Curlee and Lilah Strickland, covered by 2:03.47; better than Colbert Heights, Plainview or LAMP by more than a minute and a half.
Camila Uribe and Grace Lentz are the six and seven, both within 65 seconds of the fifth scorer. Nine deep inside two and a half minutes is unusual at any level.
The caveat is real: only Newton raced the 4A state meet, as a freshman finishing 53rd, so White Plains will be inexperienced at the state meet. A pack that tight without a low stick usually caps out around fourth or fifth, but if Newton takes a sophomore-year step, the Tigers have the structure to beat everybody.
5. Winfield City
Sixth at the 3A state meet, and everyone returns.
Audrey Patton was 11th overall as a freshman, a top-five returner in this class. Jolene Ballard was 33rd as an eighth grader. Audrey Spillers was 47th as a sophomore, Emmie Spillers 64th as a seventh grader, Stella Walker 70th as a freshman. Jala Kate Gibbs and Daisey Millwood were an eighth grader and a seventh grader behind them.
That's another almost entirely middle-school-and-freshman roster returning intact, with a genuine front runner in Patton. Winfield's 3:56 spread is wide, and the four runners behind Patton all have obvious room to improve.
Like Colbert Heights, this is a program whose best season is probably 2027.