Key Losses
Claire Strickler
Kayla Glova
Key Returners
2015 End of Season Rank - 6th
2016 Preseason Rank based off 2015 times - 11th
2015 NCHSAA 4A State Meet Finish - 5th
For as long as I can remember Providence girls have always been a force on the XC course, and despite losing 3 of their top 5 from last year, this year should be no different. Providence return a strong 1-2 in Lindsey Lanier and Sarah Parrish who really shined last spring on the track. Both Lanier and Parrish ran 5:16 on the track both qualifying for the NCHSAA State Meet, with Parish winning the 4A West regional. Lanier and Parrish should be two of the top girls overall int he 4A West this season and should both be under 19 minutes this fall. Lanier was battling injury throughout the 2015 fall season and only ran a partial season and still ran 19:14.
Abby Yager returns as Providence's #3 girl this fall and ran 20:09 last fall. But she sees herself as more of a sprint/mid-distance runner on the track so has had a long time off from distance training. She was outside of the top 7 at the App State Camp Race this week so it might take her a little while to get her endurance back. Morgan Shires chopped 30 seconds off of her 1600 time last fall running 5:29. Shires heads into her senior season with a 20:53 5K PR. She should be able to cut that down a lot this fall.
Where Providence is strong is their depth. From their 3 to their 10 their isn't too big of a gap and it makes their top 7 extremely hard to predict. Last year they had 14 girls under 21, 9 of those with PRs within 45 seconds of each other. Catherine Halley returns as their #4 girl and ran 5:32 and 11:49 last spring. They raced at the App State Camp this week and their #2 was newcomer to the team Lauren Noon (unless Meghan Noon goes by Lauren), which could be a big boost this fall if she develops as well as her sister. Meghan has run 5:49 and 20:17. They also can look at Patricia Faucher, Taylor Houston and Helena Barley for answers this fall. The Panthers have a plethora of girls that could break out this fall. With a program so deep with a lot of talented girls it's hard to predict who, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Panthers ended up in the top 5 this season.