HENDERSONVILLE — To coincide with a new season, Carolina Day changed the dominant color scheme of its cross country uniforms.
So it was a red blur instead of a navy one that flew through Jackson Park's dew-soaked grass Saturday morning at the WNC Cross Country Carnival.
Wildcats senior Marley Burns dug down for her best finishing kick to win the championship girls division in 19 minutes, 20.49 seconds, fighting off runner-up Tara Wilson (19:22.43) from South Caldwell in the race's final 200 meters.
"I really didn't know what to expect today, I'm still at the peak of my mileage (50 per week) right now and wasn't feeling very fresh," said Burns, who improved her 2005 time at the Carnival by 36 seconds.
"I'm happy with the way everything turned out. I didn't have a lot of trust in my kick and I knew (Wilson) was a great runner. It's early (in the season), but I'm excited about today."
Burns, who was named the Citizen-Times All-WNC Runner of the Year as a junior, became the first WNC boy or girl to win the carnival's most prestigious, invitation-only division in three years. She was joined by only one other local harrier in the top 10 — Roberson junior Caroline Kirby (fourth place, 19:26.28).
Chapel Hill won both teams championships handily with the Roberson girls and boys taking second place and third place, respectively.
Besides Kirby, the defending NCHSAA 3-A champion, other scoring runners for the Rams girls were junior Stephanie Chapman (21st place, 20:45.98), senior Claire Duval (22nd, 20:48.95), senior Hannah McArdle (27th, 20:55.03) and senior Sarah Dugan (33rd, 21:01.96).
"By average, we were a little faster than this time last year and that's all I can ask," said Roberson girls coach Dave Culp, whose team has won the last two NCHSAA state 3-A championships, finished 47 points behind Chapel Hill.
"Right now we're just learning to race (a 5-kilometer race) again. There's a lot of season left."
In the boys championship race, Roberson senior Josh Dubin placed an area-best third with a personal record time of 16:12.01. Franklin senior Daniel Hamilton (fifth, 16:15.82) and Carolina Day junior Davis Graham (seventh, 16:23.05) also finished in the top 10. The Roberson boys also have won the past two state championships.
"I'm very happy with how everyone on our team did today," Dubin said. "Defending is going to be a challenge but one we are looking forward to. We've been training since school let out because we want to have as good a team as we had last year."
Enka senior Jordan Gaddy, a two-time member of the All-WNC team, easily won the girls invitational race (20:29.22) by 11 seconds, while a group of Roberson reserves edged Green Hope (54-55) in the girls open division.