Photos taken from NCRUNNERS.com's Ben Hovis' video footage.
Race Videos: Invite Boys | Invite Girls | Championship Boys | Championship Girls
This was my 2nd year in a row attending the Jungle Run held at South View HS in Hope Mills, NC. For the 2nd straight year I really enjoyed myself and it's obvious the athletes did as well. The concept of a night race is wonderful, as it has a completely different feel to it. The South View course is fast as it is run completely on their flat campus. However, there are many turns and various surfaces, including sand, that you encounter. 
In the girl's Invitational race, Kathryn Dispennette of Northwood, ran away from the field early and never looked back. Kathryn raced herself throughout since 2nd place was over a minute back. Her time was about 20:20 (official results haven't yet been posted).
The individual winner of the boy's race came from South View. Christian Wiscovitch outkicked Hart Phillips of Northwood once they hit the track to win with a time of 17:07.17. South View's boys won the Invitational race and Northwood, ranked 6th in 2A, finished 2nd overall.
Once darkness really hit, it was time for the Championship races to start. Kurt Zehnder of SE Raleigh took to the lead early and held it until about 800m to go. He ran a gutsy race, but just didn't have enough once they hit the track. Brett Baggett of Pinecrest and Derrick Poage of
South View battled the entire race and it lasted all the way until the tape. Brett had opened up a gap on Derrick as they hit the track and on the back stretch, but Derrick tore up the straight away and lost by less than a second. Brett held on with a fine time of 16:00.60, which is about a 23 second PR. This being Brett's first real test of the season, he was very pleased with the outcome. See Brett Baggett post race interview.
South View's boys looked dominant as they placed 7 in the top 20. Each Tiger improved upon their times from the Providence Invitational run last weekend. Pinecrest also looked tough especially since they were racing without two of their top 7. Once they get healthy, they should also be a team to watch out for.
The Championship girl's race was won by Laura Hanson, as predicted I believe she suprised some people. Laura sat back for the first 1200, but then took over the race. She pressed the pace and open up quite a gap on 2nd place, Lauren Bishop of Pinecrest. Laura did show signs of fatique over the last 1000m as Bishop began to close the gap, but the distance was too much to overcome. Hanson won with a big personal best of 19:30 and gives her a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the season. Coach Griffith said he held her back last week
and she still ran 20:10, so he knew she had something special coming. She finished 23rd at last year's 3A state meet, but now looks to be a top-10 contender, maybe even top 5.
The team battle was excellent as Pinecrest, Terry Sanford, and South View all looked strong. Terry Sanford's top 4 runners paved the way for what looked like a victory, but Pinecrest's tighter pack prevailed. With improvement from Sanford's #5, this could be a very good team come the 4A state meet.
Congrats to everyone that raced. NCRUNNERS.com will next be onsite at the Seahawk Invitational next weekend.