The competition in the boy's 4A tam competition may be the best ever. There are numerous teams with 5 athletes under 17:00. Pack running may turn out to be the name of the game after the boy's race is over.
The girls competition is also going to be great. The individual title should be a great race with some very talented girls.
Let the fun begin!
Photo: Taylor Gilland and Nick Graw will battle again! Photo by Mark Keenan from Wendy's Invitational.
4A Boys
Team Standings | Individual Rankings
There has been a lot of talk this season on the message boards about who is the best boy’s team. Green Hope must have seen something during the summer because a lot of the votes on the preseason poll went for them. I’m guessing with the number of athletes they have that the majority of the votes were their own.
None-the-less, Green Hope had been a solid number 3 most of the season, but then won the Mideast Regional. Enloe and Broughton had been receiving votes for a good portion of the season to be ranked in the Southeast. Enloe has steadily improved all season whereas Broughton saw their best racing at the Seahawk Invitational in early September.
Green Hope – looks to be the new favorite, but it will take a big TEAM performance to win the title.
Enloe – Nick Carter will need to run closer to the front if they hope to win. Their 3-5 have made big jumps since the middle of the season
Broughton – Can they get back to the pack running they proved so successful at Seahawk and Raleigh Adidas?
There are other teams who will want to jump in with the big three as well.
Chapel Hill – only lost to Broughton by 4 at the regional, but 4 and 5 were well back. With Taylor possibly scoring 1 point, that’s a great start. Jack Marshall and Peter Anderson look to be where they should be.
South View – ran some blistering times on their home course at the East Regional. Derrick Poage has been running very well, if Dwayne Townsend joins him in the top 10 they could be a dangerous team.
West Johnston – also ran some very fast times on a very fast course. Do those times truly reflect how good they are? Can they compete with the top teams? They have been very close to breaking through all season.
Watauga – the times they put down on Freedom’s course the last 2 weeks say they should be in the mix for a top 3 spot . . . however, there is much suspicion about the length and credibility of Freedom. Can Watauga prove those times aren’t flukes?
My predictions for the top 10 teams:
1) Enloe
2) Green Hope
3) Chapel Hill
4) Broughton
5) South View
6) West Johnston
7) Watauga
8) East Forsyth
9) Myers Park
10) NW Guilford
Of course there will be plenty of arguing here . . . can’t wait to hear. This is going to be one heck of a battle!!!!
Nick Graw of Enloe and Taylor Gilland Chapel Hill have battled in the last few races they have run against one another. Actually, they have been racing one another since they were kids. This is a familiar race for the two. Taylor has come out on top each time this season, but things could change. Let’s take a look at the last few races they’ve run against each other.
Adidas Raleigh Invitational: Taylor Gilland-15:47, Nick Graw-16:00
Wendy’s Invitational: Taylor Gilland-15:17, Nick Graw-15:21
Mideast Regional: Taylor Gilland-15:44, Nick Graw-15:47
I believe both of these guys have the ability to run 15:25-15:35 on the Tanglewood Course. We’ll see what happens.
There are plenty of other athletes who will be up there, but I do not think anyone can compete with the likes of these two. I’m going to give Taylor the win for one more year.
Here’s a list, in no specific order, of 4A athletes who could finish in the top 25. I’m sure there will be someone let off the list has someone has to be 26. This is just my list . . .
Taylor Gilland, Chapel Hill
Nick Graw, Enloe
Derrick Poage, South View
Patrick Crawford, East Forsyth
Doug Black, Green Hope
Jack Marshall, Chapel Hill
Dwayne Townsend, Jr., South View
Chase Christianson, Terry Sanford
Dakota Peachee, West Johnston
Burk Staub, Broughton
Zak Roshdy, Green Hope
Josh Autry, Smithfield-Selma
Andrew Zizzi, Myers Park
Alex Taylor, Providence
Ryan Walling, Green Hope
Seth Crawford, NW Guilford
Kelly Marsh, West Johnston
Nick Carter, Enloe
Daniel Francis, Freedom
Charles Wofford, Hoggard
Paul Greback-Clarke, Hoggard
Ben Vollmer, Watauga
Brett Baggett, Pinecrest
Jack Klecker, Ardrey Kell
Bryan Spreitzer, Green Hope
Good luck to the all the 4A athletes and teams. It should be a great race.
4A Girls
Team Standings | Individual Rankings
Chapel Hill’s girls have been ranked 1st in the 4A Coaches Poll the entire year, but as of late Myers Park has been making a strong push towards the top. Myers Park beat Providence at the conference meet and at the regional. At the West Regional they dominated the competition, placing 5 runners in the top 14 and scoring just 37 points. They ran on the speedy Freedom course, but it’s the places that impress. Their girls also ran times of 18:53, 18:59, 19:36, 19:47, and 19:56. Even if you add 30 seconds, this looks like a team that could battle Chapel Hill for the title. If Allison Hoffman and Alexa Gellman can pull off top 7 finishes, this team could be in for a treat.
Chapel Hill, however, will not just sit back and let Myers Park claim their state title. Chapel Hill always peaks at the right time and this year should be no different. At the Tanglewood Invitational, Chapel Hill stuck together for the first mile and then began to open it up a bit. They still ran well despite “group running” for a little over a mile. They too won their Regional with ease, scoring 53 points to East Chapel Hill’s 84. They ran at SAS, a course much more similar to Tanglewood than Freedom. The top-5 times were: 19:17, 19:33, 19:45, 20:20, and 20:29. Madison Stark and Molly Spencer will probably right in the same vicinity as Hofmann and Gellman. Chapel Hill will need their 4 and 5 to close the gap to secure a victory.
The way I see it, through 2 athletes, the team battle will be very close. I believe Chapel Hill has a slight edge at #3, then 4 and 5 seem to be about even. The team title could be separated by a mere 8 points or less!
Obviously there are other teams in the competition, but I am beginning to see this as a 2 team battle. East Chapel Hill, Cary, Providence, and Terry Sanford should perform well and all contend for the 3rd spot.
Terry Sanford-ran at South View and threw down some very fast times at the East Regional, this has been a team on a mission from the beginning of the season, their top 5 ran 19:04, 19:26, 19:53, 20:04, and 20:20
East Chapel Hill-these girls have been consistent all year, at the Regional they had a solid 1-5 spread, Elsbeth Grant hit 19:51 while the next 4 ran: 20:16, 20:23, 20:28, and 20:33.
Cary-a solid 1,2 punch of Kristen Azzarelo and Jenna Christensen give Cary a great shot at a hight finish, their next 3 hit 20:04, 20:46, and 21:22. Obviously they would like 4 and 5 to improve this week
Providence-Jenna Paley and Becky Hetherington ran well at the West Regional. This team has suffered through a number of injuries and sicknesses this year, but have stayed a fixture in the top 5. Can they put it together for one race? Have we seen their top-7 in the same race yet this season?
The top 10 may turn out like this, obviously up for discussion:
1) Chapel hill
2) Myers Park
3) East Chapel Hill
4) Terry Sanford
5) Providence
6) Cary
7) Pinecrest
8) Watauga
9) West Johnston
10) Green Hope
The girl’s race could see a number of girl’s break the 19:00 barrier. Last year Kimberly Spano of North Mecklenburg set a new course record running 18:20. I don’t see that time going down in this race, but I didn’t see Spano running that fast at last year’s race either.
Michelle Lutz of Jordan has been running extremely well this year, running a number of 18:40’s. She did lose to Spano once already, but has consistently beaten other top 4A runners.
Spano has looked tough once again, but losing her regional race by 11 seconds to Hannah Orders of Hopewell didn’t look good coming into this weekend.
Tara Wilson of South Caldwell has stamped her name at the top once again, running consistently fast all season. Tara won the West Regional with a time of 18:41.
Andie Cozzarelli of Apex is also a familiar name at the front. She will remain that way at this year’s state meet.
I’m going to go with Kimberly Spano winning again. She’ll come back strong after losing the regional.
Here is a list of 25 athletes who should primed to run fast this weekend (no particular order):
Michelle Lutz, Jordan
Kimberly Spano, North Mecklenburg
Andie Cozzarelli, Apex
Tara Wilson, South Caldwell
Hannah Orders, Hopwell
Allison Hofmann, Myers Park
Alexa Gellman, Myers Park
Madison Stark, Chapel Hill
Cory Catlett, Terry Sanford
Kristen Azarelo, Cary
Jenna Paley, Providence
Margaret Leak, Mount Tabor
Molly Spencer, Chapel Hill
Haley Kapheim, Weddington
Lauren Bishop, Pinecrest
Aimee Rider, Terry Sanford
Becky Hetherington, Providence
Allison Cook, Sanderson
Jenna Christensen, Cary
Phoebe Roer, Page
Christine Whitley, Chapel Hill
Elsbeth Grant, East Chapel Hill
Amy Higgins, Myers Park
Emily Love, Athens Drive
Sheridan Jordan, Cary
Can’t wait for this one each other. Good luck!