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Boys Invitational
Daniel Belton (Northern Nash) pushed the pace early on as they ran the initial loop and headed back into the woods. Ben Mitchell (FCDS), Jared Bowen-Kauth (Western Guilford), and Matthew Rogers (Hidden Valley HS, VA) sat right behind him hoping to be pulled to a fast time. Back in the woods Belton began to fade, and it was Mitchell and Rogers who assumed the lead. But Mitchell had too much left in the tank for Rogers to handle and was able to pull away to win, running 16:10 setting a new PR! Mitchell is a big fan of this course and is excited for the NCISAA 3A State Championships that will also be held here. He also posted the third fastest time on the day out of the Invitational Section.
Rogers came in at second running 16:18 with early leader Belton fading to finish just behind his teammate Jordan Richardson in 5th place.
Girls Invitational
Early on is was Olivia Lackner (St. Thomas More Academy) and Lindsey Ickes (FCDS) who took out the early pace. But there was a large group of girls sitting a little behind them hoping to reel them back in in the woods including Emma Rogers (Hidden Valley, VA), Lilly Lallock (Charlotte Latin) and freshman Elise Playe (Ravenscroft). When they emerged from the woods it was Rogers with the slight lead on Hallock. Hallock tried to reel her back in, but Rogers had too much left in the tank and ran 19:21 to win the Girls Invitational Race. Hallock came in just behind in 19:28 followed by Lackner in 19:36. Ickes fell back to 4th running 19:52 with the freshman Payne just behind in 19:52.
Boys Championship
Defending champ and Footlocker Finalist Micah Pratt (Patriot Pacers, VA) seemed to be the favorite heading into the race, but Ian Shanklin (Page) showed no fear early on and took the pace out early and lead through the first mile. Thomas Anthony (RJR), Kyle Fawzi (Panther Creek), Matthew Staelhe (Jordan), Nick Thompson (NW Guilford) and Zachary Mercer (Moorseville) all sat behind Shanklin along with Pratt.
Through the woods Shanklin continued to build on his lead with only Pratt staying in contention. Their was a huge chase pack that stayed together through the first two miles just behind Shanklin and Pratt. But as the emerged to the lake it was Shanklin with a 10 second lead on Pratt and he was still picking up the pace heading to the finish. Shanklin crossed the line in 15:49 all by himself setting a new PR, and also defending his home turf becoming the first Greensboro boys to win the Championship race in a long time.
Pratt came in in 2nd place running a 16:08, he will be back at Hagan Stone again next weekend and will look to improve on that performance. Thompson, Staehle, and Mercer battled side by side over the last 400 meters and all came in at 16:21 and finished in that order. Caleb Silver (Smithfield-Selma, raced unattached) came in 6th running a 20 second PR of 16:23. Anthony and Fawzi went out hard early and ended up coming in 8th and 9th respectively.
Jordan had their first big meet since Providence Invitational a month ago, and they certainly did not disappoint. They beat out Chapel Hill, Panther Creek, and Page by a wide margin. RJ Reynolds had star runners Todd Holbrook and John Tatter pacing their 4th and 5th man and only came in 8 points behind Jordan. Freshman Jack Holbrook had a great day breaking 17 for the first time and coming up big for his team.
Girls Championship
Pre-race favorite Sara Platek did not toe the line, but we saw her getting a run in early that morning at the course. That left the race wide open up front . Early on it was Sophia Jantomaso (Patriot Pacers) who took the lead with Katherine Dokholyan (Chapel Hill) sitting right on her shoulder. She continued to lead through the mile mark, but had tons of girls in striking distance including Clare McNamara (Chapel Hill), Alessandra Rodriguez (Green Hope), Sarah Taylor (Green Hope) and Samantha Kolor (Green Hope).
In the woods Dokholyan began to push the pace, and it was a pace that Jantomaso could not hold on to and she began to fade. McNamara, Kolor, and Rodriguez had caught her and all were hoping to bring in Dokholyan, who didn't have a huge lead. But Dokholyan had too much strength left at the end of the race, she took the win in 18:55 as her teammate McNamara was able to outlast the rest of the field to come in 2nd in 19:01. Kolor was not too far off of McNamara running 19:05 with her teammate Rodriguez just behind in 19:13. Jantomaso faded to 5th running 19:17.
We saw a tight team battle last season from Chapel Hill and Green Hope, and this years might have been even more exciting than that. Chapel Hill placed 4 girls in the top 10, and at most invitationals that would win by a wide margin. But Green Hope had three in the top 10 and had their 5th girl in ahead of Chapel Hill's. But Chapel Hill's 1-2 finish was enough to hold off Green Hope with a score of 37-41. Chapel Hill's entire top 7 placed in the top 25 of the race. This concluded a sweep from the Tigers as they won all three races they entered a squad in!