NCISAA 3A Girls
Sarah Bodmer (Cary Academy) had claimed the last three NCISAA 3A girls individual titles before graduating last spring. It's time for a new 3A girls champion to be added to the record books, and Forsyth Country Day School's Lindsey Ickes proves to be a big favorite heading into the weekend. Ickes is the fastest girl in the NCISAA this year at 18:36 and was runner up to Bodmer last year.
Ickes will be challenged by CISAA champion Justine Cronk (Providence Day) and TISAC Champ Stella Stringer (Durham Academy). Stringer had a breakout performance at TISAC and hadn't broke 20:30 prior to then after only 3 previous XC races, none that weren't dual meets. Samantha Driscoll (Ravenscroft) was just behind Stringer at the TISAC Championships. Also Ava Lathan (Cary Academy) should be in the mix as well as teammate Athina Zodl who look to have ran as a pack at TISAC last week. It'll be interesting to see if anyone challenge's Ickes or if she breaks away early on in the race.
Cary Academy girls have won the last two individual titles, and despite losing Sarah Bodmer and not having Lia Lathan this season due to injury they still come into the meet as the favorites and are likely to repeat their team title. They aren't deep beyond the 5 though, so if something goes wrong there are plenty of schools in striking distance to upset CA.
Covenant Day School won the CISAA over Providence Day and Charlotte Latin as the conference rivals will fight once again, this time with a podium finish on the line. The team battle is tight between each team. Providence Day girls have a strong 1-2-3, but need to find a 4-5 tomorrow. Similar with Covenant Day, though their 4-5 has been stronger than PD's so far this year. Charlotte Latin has a tighter gap amongst their 1-5 with a 1:12 gap from 1-5, which could favor them more in a larger field if that pack can run well.