Final Div C State Prediction Poll Summary:
1. Brookwood (95.3)
2. Chattahoochee (94.1)
3. Walton (78.8)
4. GSMST (68.2)
5. Northview (42.4)
6. Johns Creek (41.8)
7. Milton (41.2)
8. Westminster (32.4)
9. South Forsyth (14.1)
10. McIntosh (10.6)
Other teams receiving votes: Lakeside (8.2), Parkview (7.1), FSA (4.1), Duluth (3.5), West Forsyth (2.9), Richmond Hill (1.8), Alpharetta (1.2), Woodward (1.2), Lambert (0.6), River Ridge (0.6)
My own predictions: 1. Brookwood - Is noticeably weaker this year, but I don't think Chattahoochee is particularly stronger this year either. If they bomb a few events they might lose though. 2. Chattahoochee - Despite a win at Brookwood Invitational, they performed very poorly at MIT all-around, so I'm not certain how they'll do. If they qualify I expect a rather weaker Nationals performance though. 3. Walton - Has been finishing strongly at invitationals, and went under 100 at regionals against both of the above. Could qualify for Nationals if Chattahoochee bombs a few events, but I think it's unlikely. 4. GSMST - Scored 50 points at MGSU, which is good, but Brookwood and Chattahoochee came close to that while competing against each other at a larger MGSU regional last year. They should maintain top four, and could certainly beat Walton, but I don't think they'll qualify for Nationals. 5. South Forsyth - I placed them highest among the next five but I'm really unsure about all of them. They did very well at Brookwood and regionals was decent, so I'm not certain. 6. Milton - Top 10 mainstay and have been doing no worse this year. Should be interesting. They were below Northview and Westminster at regionals but a closer look at the medals makes me think they'll be stronger than those two at state. 7. Northview - Looks overall a little stronger than this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see them (or Johns Creek, or Westminster) in the top ten. 8. Johns Creek - Really hard to tell how strong they are, given their choice of regional. They do seem weaker than last year, but I don't think they'll drop outside the range of regular top 10 teams (at least, not this year). 9. Westminster - Although they beat Milton at regionals, I think they're actually weaker in general - it was a narrow victory, and Westminster had relatively few gold medals, which I've found to be a good predictor of success at more competitive tournaments. 5th through 9th was very hard to choose. 10. Parkview - 10th is definitely a hard pick this year. I'm picking Parkview because of their strong regionals performance, and also somewhat betting on them tracing feeder patterns (see: Trickum 2015). Honorable mentions:Lakeside looks noticeably weaker so I don't really want to bet on them this year despite a history of success, and Richmond Hill doesn't look strong enough to take the spot. West Forsyth has an outside chance as well, but their regionals win is probably a bit deceptive given that they had only half as many gold medals as Johns Creek.
So when will you be posting prediction results, Unome?
"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11-12
