Wolfpack Invitational Preview

2007 Adidas Wolfpack Invitational
SAS Soccer Complex

The Adidas Wolfpack invitational looks to be very competitive on both the boys and girls sides.

Race assignments 

Western Albemarle, of Virginia, is making the trip down and they will meet up with the top 3 ranked 4A boy's teams in the state. it doesn't get much better than that. The individual race should also be a good one as you have two athletes coming off course record setting performances from last week. Both breaking records that were set by Foot Locker Finalists!

Chapel Hill's girls will look to prove they belong at the top of the 4A classification. They may have their hands full with the #4 ranked team, East Chapel Hill, the top ranked NCISAA school in Cary Academy, and a couple other 4A schools looking to improve their rankings, Apex & Terry Sanford.

Championship Boys Preview

The boy’s race may be the most competitive in meet history. Not only are there great teams racing, there are also some very talented individuals. The top runners in Saturday’s race could be headed for the Foot Locker Finals at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Broughton HS, in Raleigh, won the Adidas Seahawk Invitational last weekend over a very good field. They got out fast and ran at the front most of the race. Their top 7 athletes ran 16:19, 16:27, 16:28, 16:35, 16:43, 16:56, & 17:03. Their big win as gained them a lot of attention in North Carolina. They have taken over the #1 4A ranking after beating the previous #1, Enloe. They have also received over 40% of the votes for the “best performance” of the weekend in NC. Broughton will have their hands full this weekend, however. Without a true front-runner, they will need their pack to stick together and perform.

Chasing after them will be a number of teams. One of those teams will be Chapel Hill High School. Chapel Hill has represented the SE Region at Nike Team Nationals for the last two years. Their first race of the season they were without their #2 runner. Taylor Gilland, Chapel Hill’s #1, led them to a 3rd place finish at the WNC CC Carnival. Chapel Hill all of a sudden looked human. This past weekend, instead of traveling to Wilmington, they stayed close to home and ran at the Durham Academy Invitational. The course is much slower than UNCW so comparing times is impossible. Gilland did set a new course record, running 16:00. His time is 15 seconds faster than Jack Bolas ever ran on the same course. He’s ready and my guess is Chapel Hill wants to prove something. They have dropped to #3 in the 4A Coaches Poll.

Enloe HS will be seeking revenge on Broughton this weekend. Last weekend Enloe lost by 10 points to Broughton at UNCW. Enloe was ranked #1 going into the weekend and is now ranked #2 in the Coaches Poll. Enloe is led by sophomore Nick Graw, who won the Seahawk Invite in 15:50. Nick looked very smooth throughout the race; he’s the real deal. Not far behind him is Nick Carter who placed 2nd overall last weekend. Their top 7 ran, 15:50, 16:11, 16:38, 16:43, 16:55, 17:15, & 17:28.

There’s one out of state team that will also be in the mix for the win on Saturday. Western Albemarle, from Virginia, will be tough with their 1, 2 punch. Kyle Satterwhite broke the 3-mile course record on the Fork Union course this past Saturday. The previous record was held by the former Fork Union standout and Foot Locker Finalist, Kippy Keino. Kyle ran 15:04 and came from 5th to 1st in the last 1000m. His teammate, Tyler Stutzman, finished 2nd and was very close to Kyle. Tyler ran 15:09 and should definitely be towards the front on Saturday. Western Albemarle’s top athletes ran 15:04, 15:09, 15:44, 16:33, & 16:39 over the 3-mile course.

The individual title should come down to Chapel Hill’s Taylor Gilland and one of the two Western Albemarle athletes. However, expect Nick Graw, Nick Carter and a couple other Virginia athletes to be at the front as well. Thomas Baker of Louisa County ran 15:30 on the same Fork Union course. His teammate Lawrence Minor wasn’t far behind in 15:45.

There are other teams to watch in the boy’s race. East Forsyth should be running at full strength, meaning Dylan Ferris, the #2 ranked 800m runner in the country will be in action.

West Johnston ran well last weekend at the Seahawk Invitational, a top 10 finish, despite their top runner not finishing.

Championship Girls Preview

The girl’s race could play out to be an interesting individual race. Adrianne Soo of Durham Academy ran 17:56 last year at the Foot Locker South region and finished 15th overall. Her time was the fastest in the state last year. Andie Cozzarelli of Apex won last week’s Seahawk Invitational in 19:00, but she stopped around 2.5 miles because she felt sick. Prior to that she was on pace for around 18:30. Adrianne was injured during the summer with a fracture in her hip. She had surgery and spent a lot of time on the Elliptical. Her first race was a couple days ago and she ran well. I look for her to make huge improvements rather quickly, just as she did last year once she got healthy. Andie is ready to go! She ran 18:04 last year at McAlpine and hit 18:50 at this meet last year. Andie, like Adrianne, would like to finish top 10 at the Foot Locker South meet and make it to California. Let’s hope the race is as entertaining as it could be.

Chapel Hill is the #1 ranked 4A team in the state and has been all season. They raced at the Durham Academy Invitational last weekend and won easily. Their top 5 were under 21:30, with about a one-minute gap. Chapel Hill lost two of their top girls from last year’s team to Carrboro, a new 3A school in the area, but is always loaded with depth and youth. Look for them to come out and try to prove they deserve their #1 ranking.

East Chapel Hill looked good last weekend at the Seahawk Invitational, finishing 3rd overall. Elsbeth Grant and Caitie Safrit led the way and finished only 5 seconds apart in 20:24 & 20:29. The rest of their top 5 ran 20:48, 20:55, & 21:27. In order to take the overall team title, I believe their 5th runner will need to run much closer to their 3 and 4. East Chapel Hill is currently ranked #4 in the Coaches Poll and is proved last weekend they are not a team to sleep on.

Apex surprised some teams last weekend with their 5th place finish. Cozzarelli of course leads them, but they also have a very solid number two in Amanda Hamilton. Amanda placed 15th at the Seahawk Invitational with a time of 20:16. They will need to get stronger at 3-5 if they want to contend later in the season. At UNCW, they ran 21:05, 21:32, & 22:15 to round out their scoring five.
Terry Sanford has stepped up over the last couple weeks and they look to be the team to beat in the East. They lost on a tiebreaker at the Jungle Run and then finished 7th at Wilmington last weekend.

Cary Academy is traditionally one of the top NCISAA schools year in and year out. They are led by Rachel Park who won the 3200m state title during track season. Rachel had to pull out at the Seahawk race due to some shin problems, but will hopefully be ready to go this weekend. They finished 6th at the WNC CC Carnival and that’s the only large meet they’ve run up to this point. Cary Academy will be ready to go, as SAS is pretty much their backyard. Last year CA finished 2nd in the Championship race at this meet.

Lindsay Ester of Williams should be near the front as well. Lindsay was 4th at last weekend’s Seahawk Invitational. Sandwiching her in the race were a pair of Enloe runners’, Katie Magee and Lindsay Wetzel. Both of whom had break through performances running 19:23 and 19:33 respectively. Erin O’Connor of Durham Academy ran a solid 20:01 last weekend on her tough home course. Expect her to be in the mix with the lead girls’ as well.

The sleeper team in this race is the team from New York, Monroe-Woodbury. I wasn’t able to find out anything about them except that the Chapel Hill girls are hosting them on Saturday night. I’d expect them to pretty good since they decided to travel all this way.