The competition in the boy's 4A tam competition may be the best ever. There are numerous teams with 5 athletes under 17:00. Pack running may turn out to be the name of the game after the boy's race is over. The girls competition is also going to be great. The individual title should be a great race with some very talented girls. Let the fun begin! Photo: Taylor Gilland and Nick Graw will battle again! Photo by Mark Keenan from Wendy's Invitational.
The 2A state meet should prove to be a very competitive competition. The girl's team title is probably decided as Gibbons is quite possibly the best team in the state and will most likely place 5 in the top 10. However, the girls individual race may be between 2 athletes, and should be very fast. The boys team title looked to be Owen's but West Henderson has come on strong throughout the year and only lost by 6 at the West Regional. The individual title should also be a lot of fun to watch. Look for a group of about 4 to race together for much of the race. Photo: Look for the Owen/West Henderson battle to continue this weekend. Photo taken by Susan Anton.
Kaitlyn Davis will look to take Caroline Kirby's title Photo from Seahawk Invite, by Ben Hovis The 3A meet features some of North Carolina's top talent. There are individuals like Ryan Hill, Patrick Campbell, Caroline Kirby, and others . . . then there are also 2 top teams in Mooresville's boys and TC Roberson's girls. There is going to be some very fast racing being done in both races and I truly look forward to watching.
This is the final poll for the NCISAA, as their state meet was this past Saturday. Congrats to all the NCISAA schools for successful XC seasons. The NCHSAA schools participated in their regionals this past weekend. There were 16 in all, 4 in each classification. The state meet is this Saturday at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC. Next week will be the final poll of the season. It will also contain a All-Classification Top 15.
Start of 2006 1A meet, NCRunners.com photo The 1A races should be quite entertaining. The individual races for both look to be up for grabs. In both races we could be treated to a small pack of athletes battling through the first half of the race. The boys team title could go to about 4 different schools, while the girls title looks to be in Bishop's hands. Nothing is ever certain, so I'm looking forward to these two races.
Providence Day claims 3rd straight Charlotte Latin wins 1st ever title Fayetteville Academy wins 1st title Fayetteville Academy takes 2nd in a row Photos courtesy of John Olson, SCRunners.com
16 of 16 regionals are in. Although, still would like full results from 1A East. Check out the teams that made it, the individuals that made it, and full results. Note: Elite performances are going to take some time to put up. Patience!
The Coaches Poll has been coming out every other week for most of the season, but at this championship time, we decided to release a weekly poll. So here is your post-conference poll, next week will be the post-regional poll, and then of course we'll have the post-state meet poll. The NCISAA state meet is on Friday, so the last voting period for the Independent school coaches will be next week, after the state meets are over. Thanks again to all those who have been taking part in the voting process. I truly value your opinions and appreciate your help. We wouldn't have a coaches poll without you! **Note update in boys 1A poll
On Friday morning at McAlpine Park, the first of 12 XC state titles will be awarded. The NCISAA state meet begins at 9:30 am with the 3A girl’s race, followed by the 3A boy’s race at 10:10. A bit later in the day, the 1A/2A races will go off, and be followed by their awards ceremony at 1:30. Let’s take a look at the races.
There are tons of conference meets going on in North Carolina this week. I want to try and create a huge database of conference champions, both teams and individuals.Coaches, PLEASE send me your results!Athletes, PLEASE encourage your coaches to send results or send them yourself.Send results to either: ben@ncrunners.com or ben.hovis@providenceday.org
Dakota Norris of Mitchell High School was 4th last year at the 2A state championships and would like to finish higher this year. Dakota lives about an hour from the base of Mt. Mitchell. For those that don't remember their 4th grade Social Studies curriculum, Mt. Mitchell is the highest point in North Carolina at 6,684 feet. Dakota lives at about 3,000 feet above sea level and often trains even higher when at Roan Mountain. Going to new heights is no problem for Dakota, so climbing to the top of the 2A classification is something he truly looks forward to. Photo: Dakota racing at the WNC CC Carnival in August of 2007.
For the last month or so, NCRunners has been posting team standings based on the database of times. The standings have been combined with all the classifications being listed. With conferences and regionals coming up, I thought it would be fun to post these standings instead. I think you'll enjoy this.
TrySports of Charlotte is hosting Dr. Joshua Kollman on October 29th from 6:00-7:00. This will be a very informative FREE session. A can't miss.
Photo: Winner Patrick Crawford being chased by 2nd place finisher Derrick Poage. Photo taken by PD coach, Sarah Terry. The Tanglewood Invitational marks the end of the "Invitational Season" in North Carolina. There may be a few dual and tri meets left out there, but for the most part, the regular season is over and it's time for the "Championshp Season". Most conferences will have their championship over the next week and a half. Then in 2 weekends, the public schools will head to their Regional meets and the NCISAA schools will head to McAlpine Park for their State Championship. Let's take a look at the final invite of the season. Results: Boys Champ | Girls Champ | Boys Invite | Girls Invite | Boys Open | Girls Open | Boys JV | Girls JV
Photo: awards ceremony at the 2007 WNC CC Carnival Great American isn't what it used to be, but that doesn't take anything away from the TC Roberson girls. The last two years they have competed in the Race of Champions while in Hoover, AL and done well. In 2006 they were 11th and Saturday they finished 6th.
Great American has changed quite a bit since it left North Carolina. The meet started here in Charlotte, spent a year in nearby Rock Hill, back to Charlotte, and then went to Cary. This is the 2nd year it has been held in Hoover, Alabama. Last year a number of NC teams and individuals made the trek to see what Hoover would be like . . . it was hot and miserable. Don't get me wrong, the course was unique and spectator friendly, but it wasn't North Carolina. (insert smile and wink here)
The Cardinal Gibbons' girls cross country team has proved to be one of the best in North Carolina over the past couple weeks. With their dominate win at the Greensboro Invitational over Chapel Hill and Science Hill (TN), and then their performance at Wendy's this past weekend, they may even be the best. The NCRunners.com Team Standings has them ranked 1st, 10 pts ahead of 3A state favorite, TC Roberson. Whether they are ranked 1st or 2nd in the state, they look more than ready to defend their 2A state title.
Most of the large invitationals are now behind us with Wendy's and the Hagan Stone Classic this past weekend. On the horizon is the Tanglewood Invitational this Saturday. Some teams will be checking out the course and others will be racing hard. Conference meets begin next week, don't forget to send it your results!!! The season is quickly coming to an end. Best of luck to everyone. It's been a fun season of NC XC.
The Tanglewood Race Assignments are posted on taborxc.com. We all know that many teams come to simply see the course and not race. Even though that is expected, the races still look to be very solid. Look for some great racing this Saturday. Race Assignments | Discussion in the forum
These two meets are not without some of the top teams in North Carolina. There are plenty of teams at both of these meets who will be battling for state titles come late October and early November.
Adrianne Soo and Michelle Lutz matched up on the tough Durham Academy course to see who was tops in the area. Michelle has been the most dominant NC girl so far this year, but Soo was the fastest in the state last year. Soo took this one with a new course record, 18:23. In the boy's event, freshman Blake Williams of Northern Durham won the event with a time of 17:17.
Coaches, please read the following information from Coach Cromwell. Entries end on October 6th.
The Durham City-County Cross-Country Championships will take place on Thursday, October 4th at Durham Academy. The boys will race at 4:15 and the girls at 4:45. The girls race will feature Michelle Lutz of Jordan and Adrianne Soo of Durham Academy. They are the two fastest high school cross-country runners ever in Durham. The boys race will be more wide open. The N.C. School of Science and Math won their first ever team title last year, en route to the 1-A State Championship.
There are 3 separate divisions this weekend at the Wendy's Invitational. There is the Open, the Invitational, and the 3A. Each of the 6 races, boys and girls for each, has excellent runners, some with the potential to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals. Race Assignments | Last year's results
Check out the race assignments for all the Wendy's Invitational races. Start making your predictions now. Weather should be in the 70's for most of the races so you can bet on fast times. The course may even be a bit damp . . . with this drought, however, don't bet on it.
As promised, here is the latest NCRunners.com Team Standings. With the coaches poll taking the week off, here is your rankings for you statistical nuts. Again, this ranking uses all the times currently in the database for the 2007 XC season. Any boy who has run sub-18 and girls who have broken 21:30. Take a look and enjoy. Boy Standings as of October 1st | Girls Standings as of October 1st
About 40 high schools and 20 colleges will be at Hagan Stone Park this weekend. Preview coming soon.