Great Outdoor Provision Co. Weekend 12 Recap

2013 NC GOPC
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From the start to the finish and everywhere between, the athletes, the course, and the officials delivered a meet for the ages.

 

4A  |  3A  |  2A  |  1A

 

NCHSAA 1A State Championship

Coverage

Highlights

  • Zach Boone (Mitchell) claimed the boys' individual title, pulling away early and pushing himself to line in 15:51.  Chris O'Brien (Raleigh Charter) and Frank Cline (Robbinsville) dueled for most of the race, with O'Brien finally able to close out with a strong finish over the final 100.  Kaseson Hooper (Murphy), whose previous recorded best was 17:06, had a tremendous race, finishing 4th in 16:24.

  • In one of the closest team battles of the day, Bishop McGuinness won the boys' championship with 90 points, edging Research Triangle (95) and Elkin (98).  The most amazing thing about this race?  All three teams return their entire top 5, setting up a rematch next year (Research Triangle has only 9th- and 10th-graders, and Elkin has mostly 10th-graders, so this could be a two-year grudge match).

  • After taking command of the girls' race in the opening 800 meters, Malia Ellington (Community School of Davidson) found herself challenged at the 3200 mark by Hannah Zenker (Franklin Academy).  Ellington was too strong over the final mile, however, claiming the win in 19:05.13, her first state title in cross country (she was at a USA Triathlon camp last year).  Shawnda Martin (Robbinsville) finished third, followed by Carly Kreber (Bishop McGuinness) and Sara Burkinshaw (Pine Lake Prep).

  • Kreber and her teammates moved steadily forward over the second half of the race, winning solidly over Lincoln Charter and Community School of Davidson.  This is the second straight year that the Villains have swept both boys and girls titles.

Girls MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

Boys MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

 

 

NCHSAA 3A State Championship

Coverage

Highlights

  • The best individual race of the day was the 3A boys, where Philip Hall (Terry Sanford) and Tanis Baldwin (East Henderson) dueled the entire length of the course.  Hall, new to the classification after moving down from 3A, and Baldwin, the defending champion, were shoulder-to-shoulder until the final straight, where Hall pulled away with his superior footspeed.  Both runners went under the previous course record, with Hall clocking 15:07.55 to Baldwin's 15:08.42 (Hall had to wait through the 4A races to make sure his new course record stood up).  Andrew Fea (North Lincoln) and Collin Vilen (Chapel Hill) were 35 seconds back from the leader, and they had their own battle to the finish to end up 3rd and 4th, respectively.

  • After finishing third each of the last two years, both times suffering through some bad luck either the week of or the day of the race, Weddington emerged with the team title this year.  It was the Warriors' depth that carried the day, allowing them to hold off a great performance by two-time defending champions Cardinal Gibbons, with a final victory margin of six points.  North Lincoln, in their first year of 3A competition, finished third.

  • Although this year's girls race looked a LOT different than last year's, from start to finish, the outcome was the same: Cardinal Gibbons teammates Mary Grace Doggett and Sophie Ebihara finished 1-2.  Allie Castro (North Lincoln) had a fantastic race, finishing third and looking strongest over the last mile out of all the top runners.  After challenging the leaders all the way through the race, Blake Dodge (West Carteret) ran out of gas down the final stretch and had to gut it out to the line, finishing fourth.  Freshman Lexi King (Marvin Ridge) ended up 5th, completing an outstanding first cross country season.

  • Cardinal Gibbons dominated the team race, winning with the lowest score of the day, 37 points.  The Crusaders had 4 runners in the top 10, and benefited greatly from a tremendous race by Megan Vaughn, whose improvement over the last two weekends has been nothing short of remarkable.  Marvin Ridge finished second with a lineup consisting entirely of freshmen and sophomores, no doubt leaving them hungry for next year.  West Carteret and A.C. Reynolds ended up third and fourth, respectively.

Girls MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

Boys MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

 

 

NCHSAA 2A State Championship

Coverage

Highlights

  • Corbin Boyles (Maiden) broke through for the individual championship, running 15:54 to ensure that there was a boys under 16 minutes in every classification on the day.  Teammates Josh Rees-Jones and Nicholas Walker (Science & Math) pushed each other to the finish line for 2nd and 3rd, while Frisco Poole (Forest Hills) capped off an amazing two weeks with his 4th-place finish.  Chatham Ellwanger made it 3 in the top 5 for Science & Math, while Jimmy Yokel (Franklin) moved all the way up to 6th after his team had a conservative first mile.

  • Three in the top 5 is nearly impossible to overcome in team scoring, and Science & Math was also more than deep enough to capitalize on its front-running advantage.  In their first year in the 2A race, the Unicorns won by 15 over Franklin, a team that was barely in the top 5 at the mile mark before moving up strongly over the second half.  Carrboro and Lake Norman Charter both scored under 100 points in one of the most competitive divisions of the day, finishing 3rd and 4th, respectively.

  • For the fourth straight year, a Carrboro girl won the individual title; this time, though, it was a new name being called.  Maysa Araba pulled away from a lead pack of 5 over the final mile and finished in complete control of the race with her time of 18:03 (almost beating the announcer to the finish in the process).  Brittany Stanley (Mount Pleasant) may have had the best performance of the day, as she stayed in the lead pack, hung with Callie Wynn (West Davidson) to the last 30 meters, then put on one final surge to take second place.  Hana Ratcliffe (Durham School of the Arts) and Frances Massey (East Lincoln) rounded out the top 5.

  • Another streak ended, however, as graduation took its toll on the 4-time defending champion Carrboro girls.  Spurred on by the aggressive front-running of Massey, who led the first half of the race, East Lincoln claimed the championship banner in the closest team battle of the day.  Second-place Croatan and Carrboro actually finished tied, just 3 points behind the winners, with the 6th runner securing the silver trophy for the Cougars.  Smoky Mountain's girls had a strong performance, finishing fourth, but were never a threat to the top three.

Girls MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

Boys MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

 

 

NCHSAA 4A State Championship

Coverage

Highlights

  • The lead pack was well-populated through most of this race, with Patrick Sheehan (Lake Norman) paced by Wyatt Maxey (Providence), Ryan Brady (East Chapel Hill), Mihret Coulter (Apex), and four Broughton runners: William Roberson, John Dalton Rohr, Jeremy Brown, and Asher Smith-Rose.  Roberson led that group, still intact, with 800 to go, but it started to break apart in the woods.  By the time the leaders rounded the final turn, it was just Maxey and Milder, with the Providence senior winning the final sprint for an individual title and a 15:17 time.  Roberson ended up third and Coulter 4th, with Sheehan and Brady close behind.  Then came the rest of the Broughton front-runners, filling the bottom of the top 10 while bracketing a late-rising Dustin Sneed.

  • Broughton's dominance was never in doubt, even when one of their top 5 runners went down early (and the word is that he is fine, thankfully).  The Caps were at the front from the beginning, and earned their third straight championship with a workmanlike performance (you can imagine that, with serious postseason goals ahead, Broughton may not have been at their final peak for this race).  Even as late as 800 meters to go, however, the rest of the top 5 was completely up in the air.  RJ Reynolds appeared to be in second at the 3200 mark, having gone for broke with an aggressive first mile, but they faded ever so slightly in the final mile just as Mount Tabor and Apex were moving forward.  The Spartans ended up a strong second with a very impressive final mile, and the Cougars just nipped the Demons to claim third.  Pinecrest rounded out the top five in the team scoring.

  • The girls' race started off with an even bigger lead pack, with too many runners to name.  It only lasted through the first mile, though; on the downhill to the baseball fields, Lily Anderson (TC Roberson) surged into the lead, and Kayla Montgomery (Mount Tabor) responded immediately (with great and fearless use of downhill momentum - I can't imagine doing a gravity-fueled surge like that if I couldn't feel my feet).  By the 3200 Montomery was in charge, and she pulled steadily away over the final mile to win in 17:29, the second-fastest time ever run on the course.  Her customary collapse into Coach Cromwell's arms just past the finish had a different tone this time, as exhaustion was overcome by a combination of relief and elation.  Behind that tableau, Bianca Bishop (Providence) had her hands full holding off a tremendous race by sophomore Elly Henes (Green Hope), whose breakthrough cut over 20 seconds off her PR.  Sara Platek (Ragsdale) reclaimed the title of top NC freshman, clocking a PR of 17:47 to finish 4th; Grace Sullivan (Providence), Lily Anderson (TC Roberson), and Sydney Foreman (Ardrey Kell) all broke 18 minutes.

  • It was a struggle, it was in doubt even up to the last half-mile, but the outcome is undeniable: the Green Hope dynasty entered rarified air with a fifth consecutive 4A girls championship.  Only TC Roberson (2004-2008 in 3A) has accomplished that before, though the Rams can lay claim to a much bigger overall level of dominance, having won 10 titles over a 12-year period.  It took the Falcons' 4-6 runners until the final mile before they were able to move up enough to secure the 10-point win.  Could it be more fitting that the second-place team was that same TC Roberson?  Myers Park also had a very strong race, only 16 points out of first place and 6 points behind second; in the end, it was the front-running strength of the Falcons and Rams that carried the day.  Providence finished fourth, capping off a great day for the west region (a young Lake Norman squad finished 11th, gaining valuable experience).

Girls MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

Boys MileSplit Elite Gold or Silver Performances

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