NCISAA Preview Meet Recap

 NCISAA Preview Meet Recap

Results: JV Girls | JV Boys | Varsity Girls | Varsity Boys

Photo Galleries: JV Girls | JV Boys | Varsity Girls | Varsity Boys

The NCISAA Preview Meet at McAlpine Park featured most of the top ranked private school teams in the state. All the teams in the NCISAA will head back to McAlpine in one month, October 26th, and do this all over again . . . for a state title. The main difference then is that teams will be competing in their classifications and not all together.

The Providence Day boys have been ranked #1 all season in the NCRunners.com NCISAA Coaches Poll and they proved today why they are the team to beat. Clay Sankey and Wyatt Freeman, both seniors, finished first and second overall to lead the PD team to a team low of 31 points. Fellow seniors, Preston Lennon and Ehsan Akbari, finished 6th and 8th to also finish in the top 10. Providence Day's 5th runner today was Junior Hilliard, who was 14th in 17:32, a huge PR for him. Take a look at their Varsity runners:

Clay Sankey, 1st - 16:26

Wyatt Freeman, 2nd - 16:39

Preston Lennon, 6th - 16:56

Ehsan Akbari, 8th - 17:09

Junior Hilliard, 14th - 17:32

Wes Sankey, 17th - 17:41

Patrick Bailey, 19th - 18:05

Cory Slep, 24th - 18:25

Fayetteville Academy, the returning 2A NCISAA state champions, looked very good today as well. They finished 2nd overall thanks to a very strong 1-4, defeating some of the top ranked 3A schools. Fayetteville Academy was led by 9th grader, Robert Maughan, who finished 10th overall in a time of 17:19. James Dawson, a sophomore, finished one spot behind him in 17:23. Next for Fayetteville came seniors, Andrew Cameron and Edrian Murray, who ran 17:30 and 17:39. With a stronger 5th man, this 2A Independent school could be one of the top 25 schools in the state regardless of classification. Fayetteville, like PD, looks very good to repeat as state champions. Here is how Fayetteville looked:

Robert Maughan, 10th - 17:19

James Dawson, 11th - 17:23

Andrew Cameron, 13th - 17:30

Edrian Murray, 16th - 17:39

Zack Richardson, 49th - 19:17

Durham Academy and Cary Academy, recently voted 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Coaches Poll, were not running at full strength. Both teams were missing members of their top 5 which definitely affected their teams' standings. 

Two guys teams that impressed and should be noticed by all NCISAA teams are Charlotte Country Day and Greensboro Day. Both teams ran strong and will look for top 5 team finishes at the state meet in October. GDS placed two athletes in the top 10, Patrick Nolan (17:03) & Ryan Carty (17:18). Charlotte Country Day's Scott Foy, a 9th grader, ran 17:24 and finished 12th overall.

Rett English of Christ School was 3rd overall with a strong performance considering he is coming off a summer injury. Rett ran 16:44 which is much faster than he has run so far this year. He's on his way back. Behind him in 4th was the defending state 2A champ, Davis Graham from Carolina Day. Joining these two in the top 5 was Nick Kisley of Cary Academy who ran a new PR, hitting 16:53.

Providence Day's girls also won, like the boys. The PD girls were just voted 5th in the latest NCISAA coaches poll, and they are wanting to improve on that ranking. Newcomer to XC, Haley Holway, led the Chargers with her 4th place finish and first sub-20 minute 5k, running 19:59. There was a large gap back to their number 2, but then the rest of the scorers came in close. Maggie Gigler, Brenna Lakeson, Powers Gatlin, and Kyerra Hines all scored for PD and finished in the top 30. Here's how they ran:

Haley Holway, 4th - 19:59

Maggie Gigler, 19th - 21:37

Brenna Lakeson, 23rd - 21:48

Powers Gatlin, 27th - 22:02

Kyerra Hines, 30th - 22:07

Charlotte Latin's girls finished 2nd, by a mere 4 points. The CLS girl's are very good and should be in the running for the state title. They were led by 2 freshmen, Haylee Dawe, who finished 5th in 20:08, and Kamorean Spence who was 9th in 20:39. Latin was without one of their top runners, Louise Hindal, who was out with a slight calf tweak. Hillary Dawe was CLS' 3rd runner and finished in 12th place overall, with a 21:21. Plug in Hindal who has run as high as 2nd for them, and they are contenders.

Haylee Dawe, 5th - 20:08

Kamoran Spence, 9th - 20:39

Hillary Dawe, 12th - 21:21

Ally Finical, 29th - 22:05

Maggie Gardner, 53rd - 23:16

Emily Zuehlke, 54th - 23:23

Another team who ran without a runner of two was Cary Academy. Recently voted #1 in the NCISAA coaches poll, they were 3rd in the meet, 10 points out of first. Rachel Park led the Chargers with her 3rd place finish in 19:39. A couple of the Cary Academy girls went down in the race early, but got right up and finished the race. These two girls were tough and didn't let it get in the way of running solid performances for their team. Cary Academy will be a team battling for the state title in October.

Rachel Park, 3rd - 19:39

Danielle Curran, 11th - 21:09

Rachel Gonsalves, 20th - 21:44

Jennifer Johnson, 39th - 22:46

Michelle Montpetit, 56th - 23:26

Lauren Jamiolkowski, 57th - 23:27

Asheville School also impressed on the 3A side of things as they look to be the 6th best 3A team in NCISAA.

The 2A competition looks to be a good one come October 26th. Fayetteville Academy's girls looked solid as they finished 4th overall. Caldwell Academy, who last I heard is still trying to be a 2A school this season, finished 6th overall. Then close behind them was Village Christian Academy who finished 7th overall. This could be quite a battle for the 2A state title.

Durham Academy's top runner, Adrianne Soo, ran away with the individual title today as she ran 18:48. Adrianne is the top returning XC runner in the entire state, regardless of classification. She is coming back from hip surgery but is beginning to round into shape. Melanie Reyer of CCDS was 2nd overall in the girl's race with a solid time of 19:29. Melanie won the 1600m state title last year and is running XC for the first time ever.