It was going to be hard for the high school runners in the 2016 Raleigh Relays to duplicate the historically great times the meet normally produces. The weather didn't cooperate as it has in the past, providing mid-70's temperatures with high humidity and high pollen instead of the cool, cloudy, and rainy environments we've seen the last few years. The decision to move the time schedule up and run the races between 6 and 7 also took away from the atmosphere, as the sun wasn't down and the runners weren't truly competing under the lights (and that also kept the runners in higher temperatures than are ideal for top distance racing). To cap it all off, it's Easter Weekend, which probably kept some elite runners away that might otherwise have attended.
None of that phased Kenny Kneisel, though, as the Mount Tabor senior continued both his own personal hot streak and the trend of this meet impacting the national rankings as well as the North Carolina All-Time Records. Kneisel ran 8:57.77 US #3 NC #7 All-Time, earning a guaranteed spot in the equally-vaunted Arcadia Invitational 3200 in the process. He pulled away from the rest of the field over the final 800 to win by nearly 15 seconds over second-place Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons), who himself has been very impressive in his return from an injury at the end of cross country season. Lane's time of 9:11.38 is US #16 this season. It's worth noting that the string of Mount Tabor performances in this race isn't likely to be over soon, as sophomore Cameron Ponder clocked 9:15.68 to finish 4th on Friday night, which is the #2 time in the nation for a member of the class of 2018.
The girls race saw a breakthrough from a North Carolina runner, but for the first time in 7 years the win went to an out-of-state athlete. Logan Morris (Spartanburg Christian SC) ran 10:40.00 US #10 to claim first place, and given how often she races up here maybe we should claim her as an honorary NC girl! She held off Niamh Schumacher (King's Academy TN) for the win, but it was Melissa Zammitti (Davidson Day) that had arguably the biggest race of the meet. She ran 10:55.73 to take 4th, dropping a whopping 28 seconds off her previous PR in this event and looking like she will step into elite status this spring. Zammitti's time was good enough to beat a handful of North Carolina's established elites, like Anna Vess (AC Reynolds) and Sarah Bodmer (Cary Academy), who both went under 11. Reagan's Isabel Zimmermann continued her strong track season by posting an 11:00.57.
The meet also featured qualifying races for the adidas Dream Miles, which will still be held in June despite the major changes already announced for what was formerly the adidas Grand Prix meet in New York. Nevada Mareno (Leesville Road) made her 2016 track debut in the girls' race after sitting out of competition during the winter, and she impressed with a 4:47.36 US #2. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to take the win and the automatic bid, which went to Caitlin Collier (Bolles FL) after running 4:46.63 US #1. Another honorary NC runner, Libby Davidson (E.C. Glass), finished 3rd in 4:53.29 US #4, followed by Elly Henes (Green Hope) at 4:53.43 US #5 NC #11 All-Time and Blair Ramsey (Grimsley) at 4:55.18 US #7. The boys' mile qualifier was not quite as exciting, as Frank Pittman (Marist GA) was able to pull away from the field easily on the final lap to win in 4:13.20 US #2. The main pack started at 4:16 and was composed almost entirely of out-of-state runners, with Connor Peeples (Cardinal Gibbons) the top NC runner at 4:21.66 for 8th place.