by BeachGeek » Thu May 16, 2013 11:59 am
As a 1A competitor, I'll go ahead and throw out my tops... Not a big demand for 1A predictions, hehe.
Calculator
1. Chisam Reiter (Lindsay)
2. Deborah Albus (Whitharral)
Team: Whitharral
This is contrary to Regional results, but it is always hard to not bet on Lindsay in Calculator and NS...
Math:
1. Danny Byrne (Latexo)
2. Spencer Rawls (Sundown)
Team: Latexo. Period. With their 750 team in the 1A, this is a given.
Science:
Really too close to call; EVERYONE is choked up at about 130. Science is definitely NOT the 1A's strongest event... My apologies to 1A Sci competitors; I feel your pain and wish it was different too!
Number Sense:
1. Lucas Mauldin - Nonnegotiable. His regional 305 puts him in a different league. The rest of us are squirming in our chairs 100+ points behind.
2. It's a craps shoot here... The safe bets are Megan Schumacher or Chisam Reiter, both from Lindsay, but as of the SQ VCM, 20ish points separate 2nd from 5th.
Regional results do not necessarily reflect skill levels. There are 5 AT LEAST competitors that could challenge for 2nd.
In SOME order of likelihood...
Megan Schumacher - Lindsay
Chisam Reiter - Lindsay
Cole Cunningham - Honey Grove / Blair Hayes - Whitharral / Cody VanZandt (Betting on myself always feels odd) - High Island.
You'll have to forgive me for some social commentary! I thought it might be cool for y'all to see a different perspective!
Here is an interesting difference between the 1A and large school competition... While we do have some stellar competitors that really shine across the board, we just do not have the Shen, Runnels, etc types that can threaten every event. The 1A game belongs to those who specialize (who also tend to be fewer in number). I believe this owes to a couple of things. The first is simply the State Conflict Pattern. 1A competitors often compete in a large variety of (conflicting) events. For example, I'm both a State NS and Prose Interpretation competitor. Because of Prose, I cannot compete in Calculator at district. This is a pretty familiar story to a lot of 1A guys! Secondly, 1A competitors wear many hats. A 1A competitor who could have specialized and competed at the State level in a couple events often chooses to instead compete at the District or Regional level in a wide variety of things. For example, I have a buddy who is a theatre/debate/NS/Lit Crit/Baseball/Calculator competitor.
Just my $0.02!