Choctaw Trails has become like a second home for the Warren Central cross country teams. Today, the Vikings run their fifth race at the tree-lined course in Clinton at the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s state meet.

The WC girls, led by Condrea Collins, will start the meet with the Class 5A run at 10:30 a.m. The 5A boys follow at 11 a.m. The Vicksburg girls will compete in the Class 4A meet at 11:30 a.m. followed by the 4A boys at noon. St. Aloysius will compete in the 1A girls (2:30 p.m.) and 1A boys (3 p.m.). St. Al’s girls had the best team finish at the state meet last year, placing third.

Collins, though, may have the best chance at making All-State. The top 14 runners in each class will earn that distinction.

“Just about every race Condrea has run this season she’s either been in the top 10 or at least the top 15,” WC cross country coach Chad McMullin said. “This will be the fifth time we’ve run at Choctaw Trails, so she knows the course.”

“Yeah, I do like Choctaw Trails,” Collins said. “I know the course.”

Collins, a junior, is coming off a strong sophomore season on the track. She competes for WC in the 400, 800 and 1,600 meter races.

“I had a fifth last year. But I should’ve come in either second or third. That’s why I like running cross country. It helps build up my endurance,” Collins said.

She hopes a good finish this morning will aid her toward a college track scholarship.

“I love Mississippi State because I went to band camp there, but I’d go anywhere I could get a chance to compete,” Collins said.

As a team, McMullin is hoping a strong showing by Collins can get the girls a top five ranking in the team standings.

“The seventh place last year was the best we’ve ever done in my six years and that has me hoping we can make top five this time,” McMullin said. “With the boys, I think Walter King has a chance to make All-State. He was 63rd last year and he’s been a consistent top 15 runner in all of our meets. But there is going to be some really good teams there, especially from Northeast Mississippi.”

Teams from the northeastern hills won eight of the 10 team titles last year, including a sweep of 5A by Tupelo and by Saltillo in 4A boys and Pontotoc in 4A girls.

First-year Vicksburg cross country coach Kerry Simmons says he has two girls and one boy who could crack the top 14.

“Caleb White has done a good job for us all season as has Allison East and Taylor Thompson in the girls,” Simmons said.

White will lead the Gator boys which include Kyle Davidson, Keaton Jones, Paul Valezquez and William Brokaw. East and Thompson are joined on the Missy Gators’ squad by Kallie Grey, Shelby Wright and Haley Sanders.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.