Sep 04, 2011

The Jungle Run is truly a unique event, with the first race starting in the pre-dusk evening sunlight and the last being completed well after 10 PM. With the lights turned on at three athletic fields and construction lights scattered between them, the athletes alternate between stretches of lonely near-darkness and brightly-lit portions filled with screaming parents and teammates. Where else can a runner enter a football stadium and make a lap around the track as the crowd in the home stands roars?

The Jungle Run also presented a major challenge to a novice photographer with beginner-level equipment, and it took me a few races to figure everything out. I focused on video to try to capture the spirit of the race (and because the low light conditions made it difficult to capture most areas of the course in photos). So, this recap will have a different feel to it. Appropriate for a meet with a completely different atmosphere, isn't it?

Championship Boys

This race was hotly contested from start to finish, both individually and in a team sense. At the first turn there was no contending team with a clear advantage; rather, the field was a jumbled mess and waiting to be sorted out. At the mile mark, the race had not become much clearer, as there was still a large front group with nobody taking command yet. By the halfway point, a lead group had emerged, consisting of Jeremy Gower (West Johnston), Zach Nifong (Laney), Richard Miller (Millbrook), and Jack Sajovec (Enloe). Following them were Pinecrest teammates Chris Kelly and Beckett Killam, Millbrook teammates Drew Navarro and Nick Haven, and a trio of runners from Orange: Dylan Perry, Blake Hall, and Will Henderson. The Southview boys had used their usual strategy of a moderate start and then consistent climbing during the race, and so Josh Crawford and Xiomar Ruckel were trailing the front group at the midpoint, ready to climb. At this point Millbrook was best up front, but Orange was the first with five runners to halfway, with Pinecrest chasing and South View preparing to pounce.

Crawford and Ruckel did indeed rise through the front group over the middle mile, but then Ruckel fell, rolling his ankle in the process (word is the injury is minor and he'll be out a week or so). Crawford seemed to hesitate a moment, perhaps considering the natural reaction to tend to his teammate, but then kicked it up a notch and completed the charge to the front, entering the stadium in charge and unchallenged for a lap around the track to victory. Gower, Nifong, and Miller had broken away from the front group and staged a furious race to the line, with Miller prevailing and Nifong taking third. From there, the runners came in hard and fast, with Sajovec leading the second group. Ben Powell (Jack Britt) had risen through the ranks to post a strong 6th-place finish, and then the team competition took over. Kelly and Killam paced Pinecrest with top-10 finishes, followed by Navarro and Perry, as five straight places went to either Millbrook or Orange. Those three teams were clearly the best, and the team scores were very close. Orange prevailed by four points over Millbrook, with Pinecrest another five points behind. Ruckel's fall had clearly affected his teammates as they passed him, and South View struggled to a sixth-place finish that does not at all represent the way they were positioned at the start of the final mile (on the video, you can see and hear Coach Autry and his finish line crew agonizing over Ruckel's absence at the finish). Also deserving of recognition is Lake Norman Charter, a 1A school that finished fifth among 3A and 4A programs and is a definite title contender in its class.

Top 20 Individuals, Championship Boys

The boys from Orange celebrate their team title in a... unique way.

Second-place team Millbrook

Third-place team Pinecrest

Championship Girls

Prior to the race, three-time defending champion Samantha George (Millbrook) withdrew due to an mild muscle strain, denying her the chance to become the first four-time champion in meet history (Sammy says the injury is minor, and she was just being cautious early in the season; here's hoping for a quick recovery). From the gun, New Hanover's Shelby Howell took control of the race, and she hit the first turn looking comfortable with her aggressive start. Behind her was the usual congested mass making its way around the first turn, with the front-runners from Orange, Pinecrest, Carrboro, and West Johnston in good position.

By the mile mark, Howell was in control, and she had opened a 15-second lead at the halfway-point of the race. Indy Reid-Shaw (Orange) had joined Grace Morken and Frankie Perone (Carrboro) in the first chase pack, while the second group was led by Helen Morken (Carrboro, Grace's little sister). Close behind her were West Johnston's Lauren Pollard and Dakota Foskey, Chandler Borton (RJ Reynolds), and Esther Fisher (JH Rose). Jentzen Jones (Fike) had gotten a little buried at the first turn, and she was lurking in the third group with two more West Johnston girls, Scarlet Beamon and Becca Meshaw, as well as Katie Gamble (Millbrook). Carrboro was in the lead for the team title, with West Johnston right on their heels, and the Pinecrest girls had not held their early start and had fallen back at the midpoint.

After heading to the other side of campus before returning to the stadium, the front group had not changed but there were some shake-ups behind them. Howell took what amounted to a victory lap, with her win secured, and she was halfway around when the next group entered the stadium. Grace Morken and Reid-Shaw battled all the way around the track, with the Carrboro leader eventually triumphing. Jones and Pollard had reconnected to the lead group in the final mile, and they chased Fisher to the finish line while Perone faded just a bit. The top 7 runners all broke 18 minutes! The next two runners were making stellar debuts in their first high school 5K races: Helen Morken and Borton both brought home big times and top-10 finished. Foskey and Beamon followed up for West Johnston, but the damage was done and Carrboro had the team title. Pinecrest's girls had risen through the final mile of the race and ended up a strong third, while New Hanover showed off stronger-than-expected depth to take the fourth team slot. Terry Sanford ran well against a loaded girls' field, but Orange looked a little short-handed behind Reid-Shaw.