A look at the 4A Girl\'s Indoor Sate meet.
There are a number of teams who have a chance to win this title. At the top should be the following teams: Southeast Raleigh, Harding University, Mount Tabor, and RJ Reynolds. Southeast Raleigh is led by a very strong trio of Gabby Mayo, Ebonie Cunningham, and Amanda Lapp. These 3 are at the top of multiple events and wins at the state meet go a long way. Harding is also a team full of talent. Kamorean Hayes, Ranae Nelson, Ashley Bethune, and Felicia Paulding . . . among others. Mount Tabor has Taylor Dewberry, Courtney Bowen, and Courtney Whittington. These three girls will push Tabor to the top of the team scores. RJ Reynolds is led by Joanna Wright, possibly a future pentathlete? Shanice Jones should also provide some needed points for Reynolds. That\'s really it though. Could they win with 2 athletes and a 4x400 team? We\'ll see. In my opinion, Southeast Raleigh wins with Harding 2nd.
Gabby Mayo the nation\'s top returning sprinter outdoors is only running one open event. She will win, but it could be close, as Gabbrielle Glenn, Providence HS, made it a bit of a race at the Eastern HS Challenge. Ashley Bethune of Harding ran an impressive 7.11 at V-Tech last weekend, so she will be at the top as well. In the girl\'s 300m race, Ebonie Cunningham leads the way with the only sub-40.00 performance. Gabrielle Glenn will be right there in this one as well, with Harding\'s Felicia Paulding running close, too. Ebonie should also lead the way in the 500m dash. This one could be a run away as she has run almost 5 seconds faster than anyone else at this distance. The real battle seems to be for 2nd place. Taylor Dewberry of Mount Tabor, Shanice Jones of Reynolds, Amanda Jones of East Forsyth, and Christy Johnson of Athens Drive should be a great race.
The distance events will feature names such as: Callan Fike, Amanda Lapp, Kimberly Spano, Andie Cozzarelli, Courtney Bowen, and Courtney Whittington. The 1000m run will probably be between Fike, Lapp, and Spano. Callan Fike of Athens Drive has run 2:56 outdoors this season and a 5:02 in the1600m run. She is definitely the favorite to win both events, but the double could be hard. Amanda Lapp of Southeast Raleigh has been running very well. She has run 3:01 outdoors and will definitely push Callan in the 1000. Kimberly Spano obviously has the potential to compete at any distance. I don\'t know too much about her this indoor season and she hasn\'t raced indoors yet, so she is a bit of question mark. Plan on her being right there though, that\'s the only way she knows how to run. Andie Cozzarelli has the fastest 3200m time and is seeded 3rd in the 1600. She will do well in both, scoring major points for Apex. The Courtney\'s, Bowen and Whittington of Mount Tabor will do well in all 3 races. Courtney Bowen is one of the top seeds in the 1600m and the 1000m. She has been running very well in these events. Courtney Whittington is the 2nd seed in the 3200m, only 3 seconds behind Cozzarelli. She will definitely be competing for the 3200m title. No one should touch Callan Fike in the 1600m based on what\'s on paper, but only the race will tell for sure.
The 55m hurdles looks to be an easy win for Ashley Bethune of Harding. Her time of 8.18 is one of the top times in the US. Kiara Benson of Vance, Tacara Morrisey of EE Smith, and Patience Coleman of Southern Durham are the only other 3 ladies who have been under 8.5. I believe the race for 2nd-5th will be awesome in this one.
The relays are going to be very fun! The 4x400 race could be incredible as the top 4 teams in the race, in my opinion, are the top 4 teams in the meet. Reynolds leads the way with their 4:11.18 at the Eastern HS Challenge. Southeast Raleigh, Harding, and Mount Tabor are all under 4:15, so this one could be very close. Will Gabby Mayo run the 4x400? I can\'t wait for this race. The 4x800 should also be a battle as there isn\'t a team heads above the rest. Vance leads the way with a 10:20 run outdoors at North Meck HS, but Pinecrest ran their 10:20 indoors at Chapel Hill. There are 8 teams from 10:20-10:33, all of whom could win this race. Look for a lot of lead changes in this one.
In the high jump, Patience Coleman should continue to dominate her competition. She has already jumped 5\' 8\" in the Eddie Field House this season and she has jumped 6\' in her career. This seems to be another event where the battle will be for 2nd place. The girl\'s long jump may provide us with some of the top jumps in the US. Ranae Nelson of Harding already has the 8th best jump in the country with her leap at the Clemson Invite. Not far behind her is Jacinda Evans of Southern Durham who jumped 18\' 5\" early in the season in Virginia. Can we see 19 feet? The triple jump is led by Chrishawn Williams of Southeast Raleigh. Her jump at the Eastern HS Challenge of 36\' 8\" is over a foot better than the 2nd seed Nadia Morgan of North Forsyth. I\'d say this one is up in the air, hopefully we can get more ladies over the 36\' barrier.
Joanna Wright and Makenzie Mullinax have already done battle this season at Chapel Hill. Joanna of Reynolds has cleared 11-6 at her last two competitions and Makenzie of South Rowan has cleared 11\'. Watuaga has two ladies, Taylor Cook and Brooke Miller, both of whom abe been over 10\' this season.
Finally, the girl\'s shot put. There is really only one name to know here, Kamorean Hayes of Harding. She hasn\'t yet claimed the #1 throw in the US this season, so hopefully she will have a goal of leaving this meet with the first 50\' throw of 2007. Her training partner, Aslynn Halvorson of Butler HS has the 2nd best throw and is the only othe girl over 40\'.
A look at the 4A Girl\'s Indoor Sate meet.
There are a number of teams who have a chance to win this title. At the top should be the following teams: Southeast Raleigh, Harding University, Mount Tabor, and RJ Reynolds. Southeast Raleigh is led by a very strong trio of Gabby Mayo, Ebonie Cunningham, and Amanda Lapp. These 3 are at the top of multiple events and wins at the state meet go a long way. Harding is also a team full of talent. Kamorean Hayes, Ranae Nelson, Ashley Bethune, and Felicia Paulding . . . among others. Mount Tabor has Taylor Dewberry, Courtney Bowen, and Courtney Whittington. These three girls will push Tabor to the top of the team scores. RJ Reynolds is led by Joanna Wright, possibly a future pentathlete? Shanice Jones should also provide some needed points for Reynolds. That\'s really it though. Could they win with 2 athletes and a 4x400 team? We\'ll see. In my opinion, Southeast Raleigh wins with Harding 2nd.
Gabby Mayo the nation\'s top returning sprinter outdoors is only running one open event. She will win, but it could be close, as Gabbrielle Glenn, Providence HS, made it a bit of a race at the Eastern HS Challenge. Ashley Bethune of Harding ran an impressive 7.11 at V-Tech last weekend, so she will be at the top as well. In the girl\'s 300m race, Ebonie Cunningham leads the way with the only sub-40.00 performance. Gabrielle Glenn will be right there in this one as well, with Harding\'s Felicia Paulding running close, too. Ebonie should also lead the way in the 500m dash. This one could be a run away as she has run almost 5 seconds faster than anyone else at this distance. The real battle seems to be for 2nd place. Taylor Dewberry of Mount Tabor, Shanice Jones of Reynolds, Amanda Jones of East Forsyth, and Christy Johnson of Athens Drive should be a great race.