Girls Championship
This should be a fun race to watch up front with Sarah LaTour (Cuthbertson), Olivia Sutter (Carolina Day), Elise Wright (T.C. Roberson) and Maggie Layer (Morristown West HS, TN) all having PRs within 11 seconds of each other. Also Ava Findlay (Brevard), Athina Zodl (Cary Academy) and Lindsey Ickes (FCDS) also have PRs under 19 minutes. Sutter and LaTour have equivalent PRs of 18:42, though I think both could hold low 18s PRs. LaTour will come in as the favorite after having a huge track season running 4:59 and 10:55 winning the 3A individual titles. Sutter had a monster freshman year last season taking 3rd in the NCISAA 2A and is now the top returner in the the entire NCISAA this season. She'll look to prove that this weekend against tough opponents in Zodl, Ickes and Lathan.
Last year Elise Wright took 10th in this field running 20:14. At the end of the season she clocked an 18:50. Though I don't expect her to be that quick on a relatively slow course, she should be way faster than last year with strong competition ahead of her. Also keep an eye out for Cuthbertson freshman Madeline Hill who made her 5K debut last weekend in 19:05 on a course that hasn't run too fast in previous years. Hill has also run 11:27 and 5:23, but at this point in her career seems to be strongest in XC. Cary Academy's Ava Lathan looked strong early on this season winning the 9/10 race at Wake County Kickoff the other week. She was 8th here last season in 20:10 and could be a surprise as she tries to hold onto the lead group in this race.
Lathan along with teammate Zodl and Ickes of FCDS look to be three of the NCISAA 3A's top individuals this season, so it'll give us some good insight on where these girls stand early in the season. Ickes is the top returner after a second place finish last season. Lathan and Zodl would like to keep the individual title within the Cary Academy team. Also keep an eye on Gabby Castro (Cuthbertson) who is coming off a big freshman outdoor track season where she ran 2:20 and 5:14. We'll see how her track success will translate on the XC course this fall.
The girls team battle is going to be CLOSE with #2 Cuthbertson, #6 Carolina Day and #7 Cary Academy squaring off in this event. Also the Dorman girls look to be strong as well. These teams all come within 30 points of each other in our virtual meet, but Cuthbertson come in as the favorites. Cuthbertson does have a couple strong freshman that should factor into their top 5 this weekend, and with LaTour being the favorite for the individual win I think the Cavs will be tough to beat.
Another battle to watch is Brevard vs. Smoky Mountain, the two top teams at last years NCHSAA 2A State Championships that'll be fighting for top finishes all season long!