It's Not All About 4A Teams: Jungle Run Preview

The Jungle Run is North Carolina's original under-the-lights invitational, and it has an atmosphere that is all but impossible to duplicate elsewhere. Teams come to the flat, sandy course in Hope Mills to race through the alternating patches of bright lights and darkness, and to run really fast times once the sun goes down and the air cools.

The meet has 3 levels of races - Developmental, Invitational, and Championship - and teams can put up to 10 runners in each of them (schools are allowed to run in both "varsity" races if they choose). Interestingly, meet management doesn't really ask teams to declare ahead of time if they're going to put their top 10 in the Invitational or Championship; therefore, nobody really knows what the team match-ups will be for each race until the teams actually come to the line. I'll approach the preview as though everybody is running in the Championship race, but that won't be the case tonight. Still, athletes that are good enough to stand out when everyone runs together are still worth watching if they end up in different races!


More Jungle Run Coverage


Boys Preview (Virtual Meet)

Teams to Watch

How good was Walkertown's debut last week at the Providence Invitational? If you check out the virtual meet using 2015 times, the Wolfpack grades out as the #1 team in this race. The problem with using a 2015 virtual meet, though, is that many teams have not competed all-out yet, and some haven't recorded any results at all. Walkertown is relevant in this race because there are two other contenders for the 1A boys team title entered, Research Triangle and Community School of Davidson, so this could provide one of those teams with some early momentum.

To highlight the problems with using current results: Chapel Hill doesn't have any times in the database yet for this season, so they get left out of the 2015 virtual meet entirely. Using 2014 returning times, though, it is clear that those Tigers are capable of winning the meet, even factoring in the loss of Johnathan Timothy. Speaking of Tigers, South View had a solid start to the season last weekend, and they are always difficult to beat on their home course. Corinth Holders and Cleveland finished 1-2 at the Wendell Park Early Bird, and the two 3A East rivals will square off again tonight. This is also the debut for Pinecrest, so it will be interesting to see where the perennial 4A state meet team is at this early point in the season.


Athletes to Watch

Gable Dershem (Cleveland) clearly made The Leap over the summer, as he opened his season with a 16-second PR and a course record at Wendell Park. That's a fast course, but not as fast as McAlpine (is any place as fast as McAlpine?) - that's where Javier Alejandro (South View) ran almost the exact same time as Dershem. Hunter Gilbert (Western Alamance) was unchallenged in his only 5K race of the season so far, but he ran in the 15:40's last year, and he should be right in the lead pack. North Raleigh Christian hasn't raced yet (or at least, hasn't sent in results), but Miller Meares' spring times indicate that he was on pace to be a sub-16 runner this fall, so look out for him tonight. Madison Daniel (Research Triangle) is also on the cusp of breaking past the 16:00 barrier, and this is the kind of race that can get you over the hump. Depending on which race teams choose to enter, the chase pack in the championship race could be really fun to watch; runners like Wyatt Dershem (Cleveland), Matthew Rogers (Walkertown), and Paul Arredondo (Cape Fear) are extremely competitive. Daniel is actually the top returner from the 2014 meet - that meet featured seniors in 9 of the top 11 places, with Weddington runners taking the other two spots, and the Warriors are not attending this year



Girls Preview (Virtual Meet)

Teams to Watch

At last year's Jungle Run, the Chapel Hill girls claimed all three races - and their best individual time actually came out of the Invitational race, not the Championship! This year's Tigers could be even deeper and stronger than the 2014 version, and that makes Chapel Hill the team to beat in their debut race (assuming they're at full strength on the Labor Day weekend). South View also has high hopes for their girls' squad this year, and they have the strongest group among the teams that have recorded 2015 results. With their new runner in the fold (see below), Pinecrest will start their 2015 season off tonight, and the Patriots are likely to be much better than their returning results indicate. That could make for an interesting 4A West battle between the Tigers and Patriots! There will also be a 3A East subplot in this race, as Corinth Holders and Swansboro square off for the first of several matches between the two. Community School of Davidson emerged from the Providence Invitational as a contender in 1A, even with the loss of their superstar to Harvard.


Athletes to Watch

Leesville Road came down to Fayetteville last year, and I was kinda hoping for a match between Sara Platek (Ragsdale) and Nevada Mareno, the only two NC girls under 18 minutes so far this year. Alas, it was not to be! The Pride ran their own twilight meet last weekend and opted to stay home this time around, and that makes Platek the heavy favorite to defend her individual title. She clocked 17:39.81 here last fall, and she already has a 17:49 on her record in 2015 - could this be her first sub-17:30 time? If anyone can stay within striking range of the Ragsdale star, it could be Jennifer Stephenson (Village Christian) - her breakthrough 11:03 in the spring might be a sign that she is ready to reach the low-18's this fall. Also interesting: the Pinecrest debut of The South View trio of Janay Hall, Ashley Damron, and Taylor Delaney seemed to pace each other last weekend at the Providence Invitational, all running 19:11, and that might indicate that they have a little more in the tank to make a run at breaking 19 tonight. Chapel Hill also has a strong trio up front, with Katherine Dokholyan, Claire McNamara, and Marija Crook all having made significant progress during spring track season (and you can even include Reagan Roeber in that group). 3A East rivals Haley Schaeffer (Jacksonville) and Paige Horvath (Swansboro) are also capable of running near the front of the race.