The last weekend of November is huge in our state, with qualifying meets for both national championships on North Carolina soil. The weekend is an end to the season for many runners, as only an elite few ever get to move on for one more race. The end came particularly hard for some of NC's best teams this year, as they came very close to advancing.
Foot Locker South
By all appearances, North Carolina participation was much lower than usual at this meet, and that was reflected in the results: only 4 girls and 3 boys made it into the top 50 of the seeded races on Saturday. Fortunately, 2 of those 4 girls were in the top 10! Nevada Mareno (Leesville Road) and Anna Vess (A.C. Reynolds) both qualified to move on to the national championship in two weeks, marking the second straight year that NC has sent two girls to San Diego. Ralene Kwiatkowski (Carolina Day) turned in another good performance, running 18:28 to finish 33rd, placing her among the top 20 returners for next year's meet. Kaitlin Stone (West Stokes) was the only race winner from our state, as she took the Senior Girls race in 18:46. Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons) had the best performance among North Carolina's boys at McAlpine, clocking 15:47 to finish 26th in the seeded race.
NC Performances from Foot Locker South
Girls - Boys
Complete Foot Locker South Coverage Here
Nike Cross Nationals Southeast
The final hill at WakeMed always takes its toll, but on Saturday that toll seemed to be much higher than usual. Perhaps it was the uncommonly warm day, or maybe the fast pace up front, or even the pressures of trying to qualify for a national championship. Whatever the cause, a large number of runners struggled mightily over the last 200, particularly in the boys' race. Unfortunately, one of the teams most affected by that final hill was Weddington. Coming out of the woods the second time, the Warriors had put together their best team race of the season, with six runners in the top 60 overall, and were in position to potentially claim the second team berth in Nike Cross Nationals. They had given their all to get to that position, though, and some fading up that last incline brought Weddington back to 3rd place overall, just 5 points out of that qualifying spot. Broughton suffered a similar ending, finishing 4th with 197 points, 1 behind Weddington. On the girls' side, Green Hope also finished 4th, although the scoring was not as agonizingly close for the Falcons. Chapel Hill's girls had another good performance, taking 6th place against a strong field of teams from around the Southeast, and the Tigers will be contenders for the top 3 next year given their load of returning talent. All four of these teams should be proud to have represented North Carolina very well, although that certainly doesn't lessen the sting of such a close finish.
It wasn't all disappointment at WakeMed, though, as two of North Carolina's best runners advanced individually to the championship meet in Portland next weekend. Elly Henes (Green Hope) rediscovered the groove she's been seeking all year, clocking 17:24.6 to finish second overall and earn her third trip to Portland (two individually and once with her team). Jeremy Brown (Broughton) didn't quite match his sub-15 time from last year, but he did take 5th with a 15:19.80 to make a return trip to the Nike campus and the national meet. Three other NC boys finished in the top 15: Matthew Conner (Weddinton) was 8th, one place ahead of David Melville (Northern Guilford), with Ben Savino (Apex) in 13th. On the girls' side, Brittany Stanley (Mt Pleasant) and Sarah Bodmer (Cary Academy) finished back-to-back in 18th & 19th.
