Girls Invitational
Last year we saw Michaela Rinehart (Lexington, KY) go sub 18 in the Girls Invitational race clocking a 17:57. This year the field will be headlined be Rebecca Story (Christian Academy of Knoxville, TN) who is a sub 10 minute 3200 runner and holds a seasons best 5K of 17:22. Story was 3rd overall at Foot Locker Nationals last fall and is a heavy favorite to win this race.
Story may be challenged early on as the field has plenty of girls who could be under 18 minutes in Sarah LaTour (Cuthbertson), Jessie Crowley (Riverside, SC) and Katherine Dokholyan (Chapel Hill). LaTour has run 18:16 this season, and though she's been running fast she's be winning through a dominant last mile. If LaTour hangs onto Story early on this could be a real breakout spot for her tomorrow. Crowley has clocked 18:04 this fall, and ran 18:41 as a freshman at Wendy's last fall. Also Dokholyan ran 18:25 last weekend in what was he second fastest time ever at the Greensboro Invitational. She's proved she is fit and will look to improve on her 18:12 PR this weekend.
This field is deep with Carter Marchbanks (Riverside, SC), Mari Cagle Lockhart (Daniel, SC), Madeline Hill (Cuthbertson) and Calli Parlier (Apex) also expected to battle for a top 5 finish. Lockhart ran 18:30 earlier this year at the adidas XC Challenge and will look to battle with Crowley as the future of SC distance running. Hill has already proven herself to be a stud on the XC course as a freshman and this is going to be a real test for her. Parlier is someone I'm expecting a big day out of this weekend. Last year she ended with a PR of 18:29 at NXNSE and has already been running much faster at big invitationals than she did last fall.
Also keep an eye out for Sarah Parrish (Providence), Bailey Reutinger (West Forsyth), Elise Wright (T.C. Roberson) and Sarah Bechtel (Weddington) who have had very strong seasons to this point and could be top 5 finishers this weekend.
I think the team battle is going to be much closer than the virtual meet suggests as Riverside is the favorite with 44 points well ahead of Chapel Hill, Cuthbertson and Weddington. Weddington have grabbed big wins over strong opponents in Blacksburg, VA already this year and I expect them to challenge Riverside for a team title. Cuthbertson girls are very strong, and if they can find a strong 5th girls they could make a major statement this weekend. Chapel Hill proved they were strong last weekend at Greensboro and could surprise people as they move to a faster McAlpine course. Also, don't count out the West Forsyth girls from a top 3 finish. The Titans seem to improve with every race they run this fall.