TIFTON, Ga. — Sometimes, playing a hunch can work out.

Going into the 2016 cross country season, expectations were not the highest for the Tift County Blue Devils. The Lady Devils were a strong group, expected to do quite well, but the Devils were more inexperienced.

A few meets into the season, all of them solid, Kristin McElroy said she and Mike Beeman (the teams’ head coaches) made a decision: “Let’s go ahead and book their hotel.” Reservations were made in Carrollton, the site of today’s state meet.

The Blue Devils will be filling those rooms. They ran sixth at the area meet two weeks ago, good enough for them to qualify. The Lady Devils are also in Carrollton, having finished third at area.

“We are just excited for them to be going,” said McElroy.

State takes place at the Carrollton Course, located at Carrollton High School. The Class AAAAAAA boys’ meet starts at 10:30 a.m., with the girls’ follows at 11:15, according to the GHSA.

McElroy said the goal for the Devils was “to finish in the middle” while for their Lady Devils, she said “we want to finish higher than last year.” Tift’s girls were 28th at that meet.

Competition at state will feature a few familiar teams. The Lowndes and Camden County boys made it, as did the Camden and Colquitt County girls. All other schools are from the Atlanta area, that typically provide top-notch competition. Among their biggest advantages over South Georgia teams is geography; hills are abundant on the north end of the state. In Tift County? “We can find one or two,” she said.

The Lady Devils are veterans of the course, however, making state several times over the past few years. Harley Stephens and Lizbeth Cortes are four-year runners. Veterans of the squad, they have gotten a boost from freshmen Rebekah Larger and Emily Golden. Golden was second at region with a time of 21:00 and third at area, running at 20:31. At area, Stephens, Larger and Ashlee Golden were all in the top 20.

Larger, the Goldens, Stephens and Cortes will be joined in the lineup by Olivia Thomas and Katie Kemeness. The Blue Devils are sending Eliud Mendoza, Carlos Osario, Joshua Brewer Austin Bennett, Daniel Nixon, Lehi Larger and Jared Larger. She said Brewer is the only one with experience at state.