Based on this list of C teams from CE, there appear to be five teams that competed in SE last year that are competing in CE this year. The most notable team is Plymouth Whitemarsh, who I believe competed in CE a couple years ago, and placed 9th at SE regionals last year. Bensalem also had under 400 points. I suppose there was some sort of conflict when regionals moved to Neumann?
Also, there are 10 B teams competing at CE. That's really low, and significantly less than last year. I wonder if there's a chance they could be absorbed into SE or NE.
I can't be the only one posting here, can I? Speak up, I want to hear what everyone has to say!
East Stroudsburg South Class of 2012, Alumnus of JT Lambert, Drexel University Class of 2017
There are an overabundance of Division C teams competing in the SE region, so they sent an email giving teams the option to move into a different region.
So the only region we don't have numbers on is NW but if we use the numbers they had last year we get a good estimate of how many teams there are and thus how many each will get moving on to states.
These numbers assume there is no minimum that a region can send and that NW has 14 B and 19 C teams.
CE: 3 B and 6 C to states
C: 6 B and 6 C
NE: 7 B and 6 C
NW: 4 B and 4 C
SW: 7 B and 7 C
SE: 9 B and 7 C
Well, I think it’s high time for the 5th annual EastStroudsburg13 Makes Predictions for Regionals That Maybe Other People Read Or Maybe They Don’t But He Does It Anyway, right???
As an aside, 5 years? I’ve done this for 5 years??? Man, I’m old.
Anyways, here we go. I'm splitting this in half, B first.
Southeast: 1. Strath Haven, 2. Bala Cynwyd, 3. Welsh Valley, 4. Devon Prep, 5. Valley Forge. I am very unsure about this. On the one hand I don’t envision Strath Haven giving up first a year after such a thorough domination, but then Rustin happened and now I’m confused. For now I’m sticking with the same typical top three, with places given to Devon Prep and Valley Forge for great showings at Rustin. But I would not be surprised to see a massive shakeup this year.
Central: 1. Allen, 2. Hershey, 3. Eagle View. Allen is not going to give up first unless something shocking happens. Hershey seems to be a safe bet for second. After that it’s anyone’s game. I’m going with Eagle View, who have been steadily improving recently and have missed states by one spot for two straight years. I think this is the year they break through.
Also good for Central for getting 19 teams to sign up this year! That’s a good 5 or so teams that didn’t compete last year, which should make for a fun tournament.
Northwest: 1. Wilmington, 2. Clarion, 3. North Clarion. I will admit that I don’t know much about NW, since they’re in Erie and don’t normally compete at invitationals. Wilmington has been the top team that still competes in NW for three straight years, so they’re probably a safe first. For second and third, I’m just going to go with last year’s teams, giving Clarion the edge because they placed better at states than North Clarion. However, I would not be surprised to see North East have a bounce-back year.
Southwest: 1. Shady Side, 2. Franklin Regional, 3. Huston. Wrap it, pack it, lock it up, and mail it to Australia, Shady Side is getting first. If they lose at regionals I will officially just give up. Also I won’t pick you in FantaSO, so don’t lose Shady Side, because you care if I pick you in FantaSO, right????? (I lead an exciting life)
Northeast: 1. Wyoming Area, 2. Abington Heights, 3. Stroudsburg. This is going to be interesting. There are several teams who have a very real shot of placing in the top three, and there are five in particular that I debated between for the top 3. So with apologies to Park Forest and Wayne Highlands, these are the three I came up with. Stroudsburg placed 3rd at states last year, so even if they tend not to fulfill their full potential at regionals, and didn’t go to Rustin, I could not realistically leave them out. Abington Heights is the defending champion, and they should perform solidly again. My pick for first, though, is Wyoming Area. They were the highest-placed team from NE at Rustin, so they probably have a target on their backs, but I think they really want this (Or they should). Despite a good run of success, their only regional championship was back in 2008. Since then it’s been 3rd-2nd-2nd-N/A-3rd. It’s been some time coming since they got that first-place trophy, and I think that drought ends this year.
Central East: 1. Kutztown, 2. Whitehall Coplay, 3. Springhouse. Despite only having 10 teams this year (which is really unfortunate, they seem to be declining fairly significantly), there are some real good teams here. Whitehall Coplay is the safe pick, but Kutztown did very well at Rustin, and showed enough to tell me that the potential is there. But watch out for Springhouse, which is a fairly new team and finished 9th at states last year.
East Stroudsburg South Class of 2012, Alumnus of JT Lambert, Drexel University Class of 2017
EastStroudsburg13 wrote:Well, I think it’s high time for the 5th annual EastStroudsburg13 Makes Predictions for Regionals That Maybe Other People Read Or Maybe They Don’t But He Does It Anyway, right???
Southeast: 1. Strath Haven, 2. Bala Cynwyd, 3. Welsh Valley, 4. Devon Prep, 5. Valley Forge. I am very unsure about this. On the one hand I don’t envision Strath Haven giving up first a year after such a thorough domination, but then Rustin happened and now I’m confused. For now I’m sticking with the same typical top three, with places given to Devon Prep and Valley Forge for great showings at Rustin. But I would not be surprised to see a massive shakeup this year.
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SE B-Div: (Bala Cynwyd, Welsh Valley, Devon Prep) top 3 but too close to call, 4. Strath Haven, 5. Stetson, 6. Valley Force, 7. Springton Lake, 8. T/E
Huh, Strath Haven must really be struggling for you to put them fourth. I knew they were having number problems at the beginning of the year but I didn't know exactly how big of an effect they were going to have.
Stay tuned for the C predictions coming in the next few days, as I'm hoping maybe this thread will become a little more active than it has been.
East Stroudsburg South Class of 2012, Alumnus of JT Lambert, Drexel University Class of 2017
Ok...a bit of insider information here. At Rustin Invitational, the middle school team wanted to see which of the 15 strongest 6-8 graders would be competing for Regionals. None of our 9th graders competed. They did alright, but it wasn't a total "A" team. I think they'll be in the top 3, but I'm not positive. They should be able to pull things together, but there are a few events that are lacking.
That being said, they've made a substantial amount of progress this year, having struggling with finding new coaches and finding enough members to compete. If they make it to States, the 9th graders from last year are definitely going to help them try to do well.
