A number of NC high school athletes competed on Friday at the 49er Classic. The conditions were far from ideal, especially for the 100 and 400 meter runs. It was drizzling, cold, and windy. During the big break after the 400 and before the 1500, the winds calmed, and the rain stopped. It actually was a pretty nice night to race if you were a distance runner.
In the 1500, the 4A state XC champion, Kimberly Spano of North Meck, ran 4:50. That's 3 seconds faster than she ran last year in the same meet. The returning NCISAA 3A 1600 champ, Jill Yandle of Providence Day School, ran 5:04. She is coming off a slight injury but looked good in her first mile action of the season. Wyatt Freeman of Providence Day, 3rd at the 3A NCISAA state XC meet, ran 4:19. The NCISAA 1A/2A defending champ in just about every distance event, Davis Graham of Carolina Day, ran 4:17 in his heat.
However, the highlight among the HSers was late in the night during the 5,000m runs. Marley Burns of Carolina Day, finished 3rd overall, cracking the 18:00 barrier for the first time in her career. Marley ran 17:54 and was quickly greeted by her sister, Brenna Burns. Brenna is coming off a 17:06 indoors, during which she won the Southern Conference 5k title.
Charlie McGoogan and Ross Hughes of Myers Park ran the in the 2nd section of the 5k. Both put themselves up towards the front early on and pretty much stayed there throughout. Charlie took the lead with about 800 to go. He was passed, but threw in a nasty last 100m to win the 2nd section in 15:26. Not far behind him was Hughes in 15:34. Both looked very solid!
A number of NC high school athletes competed on Friday at the 49er Classic. The conditions were far from ideal, especially for the 100 and 400 meter runs. It was drizzling, cold, and windy. During the big break after the 400 and before the 1500, the winds calmed, and the rain stopped. It actually was a pretty nice night to race if you were a distance runner.