Glenn Bobcat Invitational Preview

 

 

Glenn Bobcat Heat Sheets

 

Coach Rick Spencer of Glenn HS has been very excited about this meet for quite some time now. Some of the most talented athletes in the state of North Carolina will be participating on Saturday the 24th. Coach Spencer has designed this meet to be different than all others. He has events such as: 5,000m, 1600m run which is part of a relay, SMR, and a throwers 4x100.

 

 

In the top heat for girls, Green Hope leads the way with a 10:00 seed-time. The girls listed are the same that ran the 4 x mile at the Nike Indoor Championships. They may run close to 10:00. Chapel Hill’s girl’s are seeded 2nd, coming off their win this past weekend at Elon. The conditions at Elon were far from ideal, but they ran 10:15. Vance is seeded 5th and ran well indoors, can they improve upon their 10:20 from indoors? In the 2nd section, Forsyth Country Day, the winner of the 3A NCISAA XC state title will look to put down a solid time. Reagan is also in this heat and should be able to post an impressive time.

 

The boy’s 3200m relay could go under 8:10. Chapel Hill ran 8:14 in the wind at Elon this past weekend. Chapel Hill could be pushed by Green Hope and Enloe, if they run their best. Dylan Ferris will look to lead East Forsyth to the 8:10 mark as well. Thomas Young of Reagan had a very good indoor season and I’m sure he’d like to help Reagan start off with a solid 4x800.

 

 

Heat #9 is the featured heat, but there is plenty of talent here. There are 19 girls seeded at or below the NCRunners.com elite performance mark of 27.50. In heat 9, there may be a sub-25 second run, but it is most likely that the winner will run around 25.50. Christine Council of Parkland, Taylor Dewberry of Mount Tabor, and Shenita Martin of Mount Tabor lead the way with the top 3 seed times. There are 11 heats of the boy’s 200m dash.

 

Like the girls, there are plenty of runners seeded at the NCRunners.com elite performance or below. To be exact, there are 25 sprinters meeting this mark. Hunter Furr of Forsyth Country Day has the fastest time of 21.85. Bryce Sherman of Carver, Lindsay Hunt of Swain County, and Carlos Carter of Glenn are the next top NC athletes in the 200. Look for Mike Eddy of Asheboro to run fast out of heat 9.

 

Girls & Boys 300m Hurdles

There are 9 heats of the girl’s 300m hurdles. In the 9th heat, Naadia Crutchfield of Ragsdale will lead the way. Shanice Jones of RJ Reynolds has the 2nd fastest time (but word is she is scratching from the event) and Emily Branch of Forsyth Country Day is 3rd. Sub 50 will make the NCRunners.com elite performance list.

 

Charles Lindsay of Parkland cracked 40 seconds earlier this week. It was the first sub-40 of the season. Hopefully, we’ll see more on Saturday, as there are numerous athletes close to the barrier. Look for Lindsay to win.

 

 

Girls & Boys 400m Dash

 

In the 9th heat of the girls 400m dash, Amanda Jones of East Forsyth, Jalisha Little of Vance, and Ericka Charles of Durham School of the Arts should lead the way. Ericka is coming off a very good indoor season and Amanda Jones has been running some impressive times so far, including the 2nd fastest 800m of the season.

 

I have to admit, I’m excited about the guys 400m dash. Ian Williamson of Green Hope had one of the countries top 500m performances during the indoor season and is seeded 5th. Jarrell Elliot of Parkland has broken 50 in this young outdoor season; he is seeded in a tie for 2nd. Mike Eddy of Asheboro, the 1A/2A/3A 500m champion, is seeded #1 with a time of 49.41. All 6 athletes in the top heat come in with sub-50 second seeds. Let’s hope that happens.

 

Girls & Boys 5,000m Run

 

This is an event that HS kids don’t get to run very often. It will be interesting to see just how fast these races end up. Rachel Park of Cary Academy who has run 19:06 for 5K Cross Country leads the way, but don’t count out Kaylin Royals of Glenn and Lindsay Ester of Burlington Williams. This race will probably stay close for most of the way and then one girl will pull away in the last 800 or so . . . just a guess.

 

The boy’s race will feature a few athletes who will be trying to clip the 16:00 barrier for the 1st time. Jonathan Sunde of Charlotte Catholic is coming off a victory in the 3200 at the 1A/2A/3A indoor championships. Look for Sunde, Joseph Newman and Colin Davis of Mooresville, and Miles Rampel of Chapel Hill lead the way. The winner should come out of these 4. I’m calling Sunde for the win, with a time just under 16:00.

 

 

Vance’s girls lead the way with a seed time of 50.10. Parkland and Ragsdale should be right with them, and I’ll guess the winner is one of these 3 teams. One of the better Independent schools, Forsyth Country Day, is in the fastest heat. Look for them to run close to 51.00.

 

Miller Grove of GA comes in with the fastest time for boys. They are coming in with a time of 42.50. Vance, Parkland, and Weddington look to be NC’s best. Also, don’t count out Carver who is running is the 1st heat with no time. They have some very fast individuals and will probably run in the 43’s.

 

 

Girls & Boys 1600m Run/4x1600m Relay

 

 Well . . . this looks to be one of the meet’s big events. There are a total of 67 girls running in 4 heats. As far as the individual win, I’ll go with Marley Burns of Carolina Day. She is running very well right now, with a 5:17 1600m and recently a 17:54 5k at the 49er Classic. Chapel Hill should be the favorite for the relay title, with Becky Johnson, Anna Adams, Emily Hamilton, and Lindsay Clendaniel running the 1600.

 

There are even more guys running in the 1600m, 81 to be exact. That is unreal for a track meet, but it should make for some fun races. The individual title will be up for grabs and will most likely take a 4:20-4:24 to win. Look for Greg Dame of Mount Tabor, Taylor Gilland of Chapel Hill, and Sam Mordecai of Broughton to be the leading the way. Chapel Hill should get the win, but don’t count out Broughton and Enloe. Could be a preview of next year’s XC state championships!

 

Girls & Boys Sprint Medley Relay

 

Mount Tabor and East Forsyth should be the favorites in this one. I doubt any team will run the National Outdoor qualifying time of 4:12, but 4:25 is a possibility. The 800 leg is key here. Looks like it could be Amanda Jones getting the baton near the lead and winning it for East Forsyth.

 

The boy’s race will be close, but my money is on Dylan Ferris to pull it out for East Forsyth. Alex Wiggan of Vance and D’Ray Vanhoy of Parkland will have their work cut out for them and may need to run big PR’s in the 800 to capture this victory.

  

 

With the other distance races prior to this one, especially the 800 anchor on the SMR, this open 800 isn’t all it could be. Marley Burns is stepping down in distance to run this 800, but she does have wheels. Look for Clendaniel of CH, Burns, and Wyatt of Williams to push for the win.

 

The boy’s race will come close to the magical 2:00, but I doubt the winner will be under. Nathan Carter of Weddington leads the way with a 2:01.40. Close behind him will be Jack Marshall of CH and Kent Pecora, both of whom are running the 1600.

 

 

So far on the season, only 4 teams have been under 4:20. All the teams in the fastest section have the potential to break 4:20. I truly don’t know much about these teams, but Ragsdale leads the way with a 4:15 seed-time.

 

Miller Grove of GA has pulled out due to injuries, so it should be an exciting race. Parkland and Vance come in with the top NC times. Parkland is coming off an impressive 3:24 by themselves, so look for them to run faster with some competition.

 

 

This is one of those events that it rarely run. There are only 2 girl’s teams running and Ragsdale is seeded with an impressive 56.50. There are many normal 4x100 teams that would like to run that fast.

 

The boy’s race may not be much faster than the girls if the entered times are close. This will be fun to watch and to take pictures of.

 

 

Haley Hackett of Southeast Guilford leads the way in this one with a 35’ 11” mark. Not far behind her is Megan Lewis of Vance at 35’. Look for this to be a close competition as there isn’t any 1 girl who is heads above the rest.

 

Vance’s Mark Blakeney leads the way for boys. He is seeded #1 with a 48’ mark. Jake Deaton of Mooresville is seeded 2nd, and is coming off a 47’ 5.5” at Elon this past weekend. There are 4 others over 43’, but this could be a 2 person contest.

 

 

There are only 3 girls seeded over the NCRunners.com elite performance mark of 100’. Brittany McCain of Weddington is 1st, Natasha Howell of Carson is 2nd, and Maddy Knowland of Mooresville is seeded 3rd. Hopefully some of the girls seeded with 90+ throws will reach that 100’ barrier.

 

Mark Blackeney also leads the discus competition at the Bobcat meet. His throw is 12 feet better than his nearest competition. Randy Wingo is seeded 2nd and is also from Vance HS in Charlotte. There is only 1 athlete here with a throw better than the NCRunners.com elite mark. Like the girls, hopefully more will make that standard.

 

Best of luck to all the athletes and teams competing this coming weekend at the Glenn Bobcat Invitational.