Start List for the High School Events at Raleigh Relays
Boys 3200
Cameron Ponder (Mt. Tabor) and David Melville (Northern Guilford) headline the field heading into Friday night. Ponder will look to keep the Raleigh Relays 3200 title in the Mt. Tabor family as former teammate Kenny Kneisel was victorious a year ago. Ponder has impressed in his outdoor debut running a 4:16 1600 last weekend at Marvin Ridge. Melville is also in great form and is coming off an All-American performance at NBIN two weekends ago where he ran 14:57 for the 5K. Both of these juniors should have sub-9 minute on their minds. Ponder has the best 3200 PR in the field of 9:09.06.
Teammates Todd Holbrook and John Tatter (R.J. Reynolds) never back down from a challenge and have proved that they're in good shape. Holbrook ran 4:23 for the full Mile a week ago at Carolina Relays, while Tatter ran a 5K PR at NBIN of 15:13. Ian Shanklin (Page) ran a 1600 PR to kick off his outdoor season of 4:22 winning by a wide margin. He will look to break 9:20 for the first time in his career and was on the podium for 4A last outdoor season in this event. Ben Savino (Apex) showed he has the footspeed after an epic finish in a DMR battle with Cardinal Gibbons last week at Carolina Relays. Savino unofficially closed in 4:22.
Strong out of state competition includes NXN Finalist Rohann Asfaw (Richard Montgomery, MD), who placed just behind Melville at NXN Southeast. Asfaw has a 3200 PR of 9:23 which is very likely to go down tonight. Wynn Johnson (Dorman SC) had a stellar sophomore season where he ran 9:18.29, but Johnson missed the cross country season and SC does not have indoor track, so we haven't seen much from him recently. Ahmed Hassan (Oakton, VA) is also a junior and had a super indoor season where he ran 4:17 for 1600 and was the VHSL 6A 3200 Champ in 9:26. Hassan holds a PR of 9:19.
Girls 3200
Mariah Howlett (Lake Norman Charter) is a name everyone should know as she's on a path to a very impressive track season. Howlett sits NC#1 in both the 1600 and 3200 running 5:02 and 10:37, both faster than she ran last season. Howlett was one of the best in the state in XC season, but an injury at regionals kept her out of post season success she deserved. Howlett might come in as a name most aren't familiar with, but she holds the fastest PR in the field. Isabel Zimmermann (Reagan) had a killer indoor season showing great range from 1000 - 3200. In the EE 2 Mile at NBIN Zimmermann ran a PR of 10:47.35, making her the third fastest seed in the field. Sarah Bodmer (Cary Academy) has run two very strong 1600/Mile races at Tiger Relays and Carolina Relays getting her PR down to 5:09 for a full Mile. Bodmer is in the best track shape of her career and looks to test that over her preferred longer distance tomorrow night.
Just behind Bodmer last week was teammates Sloan Walter and Marissa Bishop (Cardinal Gibbons). Walter was runner up at the NCHSAA 4A Indoor State Championships in this event in the 3200 and holds a PR of 10:55. Bishop ran 5:12 last weekend in the Mile and looks to finally break 11 minutes, that seems to have evaded her over her last two years. Melissa Zammitti (Davidson Day) has great range from 800 - 3200 and is coming off her best ever cross country season. Zammitti was 11th at Foot Locker South regionals and became a sub 18 runner at the event. Zammitti holds a PR of 10:55.
Out of state studs include Noel Palmer (Liberty Christian, VA), Doria Martingayle (Princess Anne, VA) and Emma Wolcott (Tusarora, VA). Martingayle was the VHSL 5A girls 1600 and 3200 champion and recently broke 5 in the 1600 for the first time. Palmer battled it out with Libby Davidson indoors in the 1600/3200 at the 4A VHSL Indoor State meet, but came up just short. But that indicates that she is in very good shape .Emma Wolcott only has one track season under her belt, and her school doesn't have indoor, but she has a 10:39 3200 under her belt, giving her the second fastest PR in the field behind Howlett.
Boys adidas Dream Mile Qualifier
Late entry Waleed Sulimon (Douglas Freeman, VA) and Chase Kennedy (East Jackson, GA) each sit in the top 3 of PRs in this field and likely making this race much faster up front. Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons) has been on fire the last two weeks running 8:53 for 2 Miles and 14:17 for 5K and will hope to keep the flame going one more week. Lane posted a shocking 4:12 Mile after a few hours worth of rain delay at the NCRunners Elite Tune-Up last outdoor season. He's in the best shape of his life currently, and even though Suliman is more of a miler, Lane is going to be tough to beat.
Another break out performer in the NCRunners Elite Mile field last outdoor season was Noah Graham who ran a 4:17.43. We haven't seen Graham in too many big races, but the NCHSAA 1A/2A Mile Champion will be ready to roll tonight. Andrew Brooks (Providence Day) has been one of the most impressive athletes this track season running 1:56 and 4:21 for the full Mile. He's certainly capable of running much faster times than that and I think we will see that from him tonight. 5 other NC boys are Stuart Holmes (Green Hope), Ian Delgado (Green Hope), Finn McBride (Green Hope), Luke Gostling (MIllbrook)and Noah Dolhare (Providence Day). All of which have been on the fringe of breaking 4:20, and all are certainly capable of this feat. We could see a break out performance from any of these 5 boys.
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Girls adidas Dream Mile Qualifier
This one seems to be a battle of Virginian's Heather Holt (George C. Marshall) and Libby Davidson (EC Glass). They come in with the top two Mile marks of 4:52 and 4:53 respectively. Holt has had a phenomenal junior year and narrowly missed being an All-American in this event indoors taking 7th at NBIN. Look for her to possibly break 4:50 tonight. Davidson's PR in the Mile comes from this event last year where she took 3rd. She took 6th in the 5K at NBIN and was the VHSL 4A 1600 Champion in what has been an epic comeback to watch after a bitter-sweet end to the cross country season.
The only two North Carolina athletes in this field are Katherine Dokholyan (Chapel Hill) and Alessandra Rodriguez (Green Hope). Dokholyan came so close to a sub 5 1600 at the 3A State Championships last season running a 5:00.95. Rodriguez ran a 5:03 as a freshman, and just last week she won the 1600 at Marvin Ridge making it look very easy in 5:13. We'll see how close, or under these girls can go to 5 minutes off a fast pace set by Holt.