Providence Invitational Results
The Providence Invite, held at McAlpine Park, was run under very hot and humid conditions. Green Hope's boys, who are hoping to compete for the 4A state title this year proved they will be a team look out for. Green Hope won the boy's competition with a score of 44 points, led by Zach Roshdy's 16:40. They put 6 boys in the top 13 and each of them ran better than 17:15. Very impressive running considering the conditions.
Not far behind them was South View HS. South View who was a dominate 4A school a few years back seems to be in the mix again. Dwayne Townsend & Derrick Poage, who finished 2nd and 3rd in 16:28 & 16:32 respecitively, led the Tigers. South View scored 57 points and took 8 of the top 26 spots. Very fine running as well for South View.
Will Taylor, of Sun Valley, began his season on a high note with the win. Will ran 16:25 to win by 3 seconds. Will began last XC season well, too, but then had to battle through an injury. Will's track season was better and he is obviously looking to be one of the top 3A runners this season.
In the girl's race, South Carolina's Mauldin, ranked 5th in the NTN rankings, won easily with 39 points. They placed 5 in the top 15 led by Alyssa Kulik's 18:48. She defeated last year's 4A state champ, Kimberly Spano of North Meck, for the win.
Providence's girls, who received votes in the NTN poll, placed 2nd despite losing a couple runners to heat (rumor has it). The were led by sophomore, Katelyn Costa's 8th place.
Green Hope finished 3rd overall and North Mecklenburg was 4th. Green Hope's top 5 runners were separated by about 40 seconds, which is pretty close to pack running. On the other hand, NM put 3 girls in the top 7, but their 4th was about 3 minutes back. Look out if their 4th and 5th runners improve!