1. Green Hope

The defending 4A champions and the holders of the only 6-year title streak in state history, the Falcons were almost certainly the best girls' team in North Carolina history in 2014. Despite losing two seniors from that squad, Green Hope has done nothing bu get better since November. Elly Henes continued to tear up the state's running scene, running 4:56 and 10:33, and the team put 4 returners under 11:40 in the 3200. That includes a breakthrough from rising junior Sarah Taylor, who ran 11:39 after a 19:40 fall season (although she did run 19:02 in 2013), and if she pushes for a top 5 spot then the 2015 edition of this team is noticeably improved. As if that wasn't enough, this summer they added rising freshman Alessandra Rodriguez, who ran 19:26 at Foot Locker South and 2:19 for the 800 this spring; the Puerto Rico native joined up this summer and has been running with the returning top 5. The final advantage for the Falcon running machine comes from the other girls that have been running with the returning top 5 this summer: their fleet of graduates that compete for North Carolina universities, who return to train with and support the younger runners periodically during the offseason. If anyone wants to dethrone the Falcons this season, they're going to have to be the best team in state history, because they're going to have to beat the best team in state history.

Returning Ranking: 1st
3-Year Improvement Rating: 3rd
5-Year Improvement Rating: 2nd
Returning 3200 Team Ranking: 1st
Returning 1600 Team Ranking: 2nd

	1) Elly Henes		17:17.00
	2) Morgan Adams		18:26.00
	3) Katie Tomasi		18:35.40
	4) Kayla Hall		18:50.70
	5) Kelly Fitzgerald		19:00.30
	Average Time: 18:25.88 Total Time: 1:32:09.40 1-5 Split: 1:43.30
	6) Emily Jordan		19:19.30
	7) Sheridan Wood		19:33.10

2. Chapel Hill

Thomas Jefferson said, "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." Some will say that the Tigers are the luckiest team in the state, essentially inheriting sole possession of the top spot in the 3A rankings when 5-time champion Cardinal Gibbons moved up to 4A. In truth, though, nothing but hard work is responsible for Chapel Hill's position, and all signs say that this team would have given the defending champs all they could handle. Tradition and a recent history of improvement from year to year? Check. Strong track results? Check - 6 returners under 5:40, 6 under 12:20. Heck, they even looked dominant in the App State Camp Race! Returning talent? Check. Make that check plus, as only one team returns as much firepower as the Tigers, who lost only one senior from the team that finished on the podium last November. Chapel Hill has a luxury that even the other teams in the top 5 can't really claim: they have 3 girls that are fully capable of running #1 on any given day which eases the individual pressure on Katherine Dokholyan, Marija Crook, and Clare McNamara while boosting all three of them through internal competition in practice. I will be fun to see this team square off against the 4A squads in invitationals, but right now these girls are the clear favorites in 3A.

Returning Ranking: 2nd
3-Year Improvement Rating: 5th
5-Year Improvement Rating: 4th
Returning 3200 Team Ranking: 2nd
Returning 1600 Team Ranking: 3rd

	1) Katherine Dokholyan		18:52.00
	2) Marija Crook		18:58.00
	3) Clare McNamara		19:02.30
	4) Reagan Roeber		19:05.69
	5) Anna Passannante		19:22.00
	Average Time: 19:04.00 Total Time: 1:35:19.99 1-5 Split: 30.00
	6) Madi Marvin		19:36.53
	7) Maeve Gualtieri-Reed		19:45.00

3. Cardinal Gibbons

The Crusaders have moved up to 4A, and the change makes very little difference to how they are ranked overall. Cardinal Gibbons' girls actually have a better track record of improvement over the last 5 years than the 6-time defending 4A champions, and there is enough talent returning to get on the podium in their first year in the new classification. Depth is a bit of a concern (that is, the depth that top-5 programs usually have), but this team usually has a runner make a big leap in track season, and this year that appears to be Annie Pierce. The real key to this season could be a healthy Sophie Ebihara - she battled illness in the early fall of 2014 and it set her back for the whole season. If she returns to her sub-18 powers of 2013, Pierce continues her surge, and the team can cultivate just one more top-5-caliber runner as their history indicates they will, then this will be a very hard team to beat. Will it be enough to continue the 5-year championship streak the Crusaders built in 3A? Adding the 6th championship after a move up in classification would be unprecedented, but it almost happened once before - TC Roberson fell just short in 2009 after coming up from 3A, in what would turn out to be the first year of The Streak for the current defending champions. Two big streaks will go head to head at Ivey Redmon in November, and fans of the sport come out as winners regardless of the outcome!

Returning Ranking: 3rd
3-Year Improvement Rating: 1st
5-Year Improvement Rating: 1st
Returning 3200 Team Ranking: 5th
Returning 1600 Team Ranking: 4th

	1) Marissa Bishop		18:17.97
	2) Sophie Ebihara		18:21.20
	3) Annie Pierce		19:05.03
	4) Alina Rovnak6 under 12:20		19:26.66
	5) Abby Doyle		19:51.00
	Average Time: 19:00.37 Total Time: 1:35:01.86 1-5 Split: 1:33.03
	6) Hayden Callahan		20:14.80
	7) Anna Renko		20:16.30

4. Leesville Road

Let's just get one thing out of the way here: Leesville Road is likely to rewrite the all-time North Carolina record book during indoor and outdoor track. After all, the Pride had the best returning team 1600 rankings in the state during outdoor season...without the defending indoor national champion (Nevada Mareno sat out the spring to complete what we all hope will be her final soccer season). Before all of that potential magnificence can come to pass, though, this team wants to make some waves on the cross country course. Can this squad contend with the top 4A programs and make it onto the podium in November? No question the talent is there, but there are two questions. First, after taking such a huge leap forward during the winter season, how much did indoor mile national champ Mareno lose during soccer season? Second, can Leesville cultivate a little more depth to help out in case of injury (or just individual bad races) along the way? Having Emily Pettis on hand certainly helps; she slots in as the returning #2 using her 2014 times, and could push Mareno for #1 if she can get back to her 2013 marks. The rise of G'Jasmyne Butler this spring should also help the team up front. The Pride essentially has its top 8 runners returning from the squad that finished 4th in 4A last year, but with 4 seniors in the lineup for 2015 this is the year to make some noise.

Returning Ranking: 6th
3-Year Improvement Rating: 13th
5-Year Improvement Rating: 10th
Returning 1600 Team Ranking: 1st

	1) Nevada Mareno		18:07.20
	2) G'Jasmyne Butler		19:18.47
	3) Taylor Hemming		19:27.70
	4) Noor Hasan		19:33.80
	5) Audrey Hemming		19:52.53
	Average Time: 19:15.94 Total Time: 1:36:19.70 1-5 Split: 1:45.33
	6) Sydney Winchel		20:04.63
	7) Hannah Willard		20:47.70

5. Providence

This program has been a model of consistency recently: the Panthers have averaged a top-10 finish in the All-Classes Final Rankings for the last 5 years, and top-5 for the last 3. Graduation took 2 seniors from the team that finished 3rd in the 4A state meet, although one of the seniors was Grace Sullivan (which makes two stars lost over the last 2 years). Still, Kayla Glova looks like a top-tier individual heading into this season, and the team had outstanding track results: Providence had 3 returning girls under 12 minutes and 4 under 5:30, ranking in the top 5 for team results in both events. The Tigers don't appear to have a weakness in their lineup, and they usually get 1 or 2 new 9th-graders that can push the top 7 (they had 2 in the top 7 at the 2014 state meet). With Lindsay Lanier and Claire Strickler both posting times in the spring and/or summer that make them look like sub-19 runners, expect a return to the top 3 (and maybe to the podium) for Providence this fall.

Returning Ranking: 5th
3-Year Improvement Rating: 2nd
5-Year Improvement Rating: 7th
Returning 3200 Team Ranking: 3rd
Returning 1600 Team Ranking: 5th

	1) Kayla Glova		18:38.00
	2) Lindsey Lanier		19:09.00
	3) Sarah Parrish		19:19.00
	4) Claire Strickler		19:33.00
	5) Catherine Halley		19:45.00
	Average Time: 19:16.80 Total Time: 1:36:24.00 1-5 Split: 1:07.00
	6) Amelia Lennard		19:56.00
	7) Jan Hu		19:56.00