Race Video and Interviews
Boys Nike Race of Champions
We saw 4 of the top 5 times in NC this season come out of this event. The field was out fast through the first mile going through at 4:44 pace from the leaders. Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons) came through the 2K mark in fourth just on the shoulder of leader David Principe (La Salle Academy, NJ). Peyton Barish (Green Hope) sat in 8th with Ian Shanklin (Page), David Melville (Northern Guilford), Coleman Mitchell (Cary Academy) also in the top 15.
Green Hope as a team sat in 2nd through this point of the race with 168 points. Cary Academy was in 11th, Broughton 13th, and Page 22nd.
Lane stayed with the leaders up the hill and through the 2 mile mark and was looking to be in contention for the win. But at the 4K mark Brodey Hasty (Brentwood, TN) and Principe took off and really pushed the pace over the last kilometer. Both boys crossed the line under Sean McGorty's course record running 14:32! Lane battled with Taylor Vroon (Brentwood, TN) but came in 4th running 14:59 with Vroon coming in at 14:57.
Melville sat at the front of the chase pack up the hill and was able to outlast the group and came in 5th running 15:12! 10 seconds fast than he ran on this course two weeks ago. Shanklin was the third NC boy with a 30 second PR of 15:19. Shanklin ran a dominating 15:49 all by himself last weekend at Hagan Stone, and was certainly due for a performance like this.
Gable Dershem (Cleveland) moved from 20th to 12th over the last 3K in what was a huge bounce back performance for him. At this course last season he ran 15:28, but two weeks ago had a rough day running 16:26. Dershem bounce back cutting 64 seconds off that performance running 15:22 for 12th. Barish held on for 16th with a big PR of 15:26, 21 seconds better than his previous PR of 15:47 from Knights Crossing three weeks ago. Barish continues on what has been a break out season.
Nathan Gamble (Leesville Road) tooks 20th with Quinn Schneider (Woodlawn School) just behind in 22nd. They ran 15:28 and 15:40 respectively. This was Schneider's first time under 16 improving on his 16:07 performance from Hare & Hounds. Is he the best boy we've ever seen out of the NCISAA 1A division? Gamble cuts 4 seconds off his PR from adidas Challenge two weeks ago and is somewhat quietly having a stellar season.
Green Hope boys took a 4th place finish and were the top NC team in what was an elite field. They were lead by Barish's 16th place finish and had a big day from Ian Delgado who finished 28th in 15:50, and 18 seconds. Finn McBride was their 3rd man with a 16:15 matching his season's best from Knights Crossing. I believe McBride will prove this was an off day for him and normally should finish close to Delgado.
Broughton boys have been plagued by an illness with their entire top 7 over the last week and it showed in the results as they took 18th. The flu has hit the Raleigh area schools hard this season and seems to have made its way to Broughton, the only thing I take from this performance is the guts they had to go out there and compete knowing they weren't healthy. Broughton will be fine once they've healthy. If you take their performance from two weeks ago it would have scored 141 points and taken 3rd in this field.
Girls Race of Champions
Through the 2K mark Melissa Zammitti (Davidson Day) sat in 15th running 5:42 pace. Sarah Bodmer (Cary Academy) sat not too far behind in 19th leading her Cary Academy team to be 6th place through the 2K mark. Zammitti moved up 5 spots over the last half of the race and ran 18:08, breaking her PR from 2 weeks ago. Bodmer faded 5 spots and finished 24th running 18:40. They had Lia Lathan and Athina Zodl have strong days running 19:25 and 19:38 respectively and took 11th place as a team.