Class B continues to be the unruly wild child at States, never settling down and letting last year's champion have a second year on the champion's throne as the other three classes have done. During the four years of the new 4-class era, four different teams have claimed the States title, and the last three have all been Section 2 teams who had not been at States the previous year.

If the pattern holds and a new champion is needed, then the most likely pick would be Shoreham-Wading River, last year's 4th place team led by last year's winner Katherine Lee, or maybe a Pearl River team that finished 5th. If a recent champ is going to be the choice, then preseason favorite and reigning champ Burnt Hills would be the first choice, but 2013 winner Queensbury is hot in the running along with 2011 champ and 2014 3rd place finisher North Shore, the last team to repeat.

Last year's B States race mirrored the close three-team finish of 2013 as Burnt Hills took the victory with Cornwall and North Shore 16 and 20 points back. It was a race dominated by at-large runners, as only 3 of the top 14 runners figured in the team scoring, SWR's Lee, Cornwall's Dara Cuffe, and Pittsford Mendon's Mary Barger.

This year's preseason outlook finds five teams from four different sections rated within 10 points of each other at the top, so the battle in B may turn out to be one of the best yet again. Though some of last year's States teams like Burnt Hills, North Shore, Shoreham-Wading River and Pearl River are returning strong teams that are favored in their sections, others of the reigning sectional champs will have a tougher time repeating following heavy graduation losses. Cornwall lost its top 3 and may see a developing Goshen team snapping at its heels in Section 9, Pittsford Mendon looks to be playing catch-up in Section 5 against a Honeoye Falls-Lima team that returns everyone, and Westhill-Bishop Ludden moves back up to Class B in Section 3 and will be favored over Jamesville-Dewitt.

One of the most intriguing storylines for Class B will be the battle for the individual championship. SWR's Katherine Lee repeated the trick of winning as a freshman that Corning's Jessica Lawson had played in 2013, but this year she enters the season rated #2. Moving down from Class A where she placed 4th last year, Ursuline's Anna Flynn will be going for the gold in her senior year. Two other seniors who are expected to be in the running at the end are last year's runner-up, Emily MacKay of Union Endicott, and Stephanie Gerland of Garden City.

Will this be the year that the wild child settles down and returns a recent Queen B to the royal throne? Only the finishing line at Monroe-Woodbury knows for sure, and it's not telling its tale of the tape until November 14.