Will we see a full-strength Green Hope team battle against their chief competition in the Mideast 4A?
A lot of things have to come together for a meet to succeed in its first year. Does the meet have a solid "draw" that will attract teams and create a solid field of athletes for the races? Is the meet run by a director and a team of people that inspire confidence in their ability to pull off a big event? Is the meet located in a place that makes travel to and from it reasonable?
Given all that, maybe it's not terribly surprising that Friday Night Lights has assembled such a strong group of teams and individuals in its first year of operation. The "under the lights" atmosphere has been a proven draw for the Jungle Run, but this meet adds the twist of having it on Friday night, leaving the rest of the weekend free. Mount Tabor's staff and parent base have long been known to be able to accomplish major tasks, and it's clear from the organization and marketing of the event that they are well-prepared. Ivey Redmon is highly accessible from I-40, and located relatively close to the center of the state's major populations. Heck, even the weather appears set to cooperate, with cloud cover coming in during the late afternoon and temperatures that should be in the 70's, plus only a slight chance of thunderstorms.
Of course, the extra attraction for running on the state meet course this year is that the layout has changed. The course still consists of the same loops, but run in a different order, and this is the first major meet to test the new configuration.
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Girls Preview
Although it's still way too early in the season to judge the true strength of teams, several schools with their eyes on coming back to Ivey Redmon in November will get a strong early test tonight. 6-time defending 4A champion Green Hope should be racing harder, though in truth no team is letting off their training in order to get maximum race results this early in the fall. Leesville Road could be the Falcons' chief competition in both the 4A Mideast and the state meet, and this could be their first full-strength match-up of the new school year. After those two squads, there might be a gap in the scoring back to what should be an intense group of at least 5 teams battling for 3rd place. Pinecrest and Providence Day had solid opening meets, demonstrating that both teams are better than expected right now. Apex hasn't raced in a big 5K invitational yet, so it will be interesting to see what kind of fitness the Cougars have right now. Throw in the ongoing rivalry between Winston-Salem schools Mount Tabor and Reagan, and you have a nice combination of teams getting set to battle it out under the lights!
This could be one of the most exciting individual races of the early season, as well, if everyone is healthy and at a point in training where they feel good enough to race hard. The only two girls that have broken 18 this season will go head to head, along with the girl that has the fastest PR among all three. Sara Platek (Ragsdale) has been a beast this season, running 17:49 at Hagan Stone and then 17:39 in the Jungle Run. Nevada Mareno (Leesville Road) also broke 18 at a night race, on her home course two weeks ago. In Green Hope's first race of the season, Elly Henes held back to pace her teammates through the first two miles, then shot through the field to finish 3rd in 18:32, indicating that she has the potential to go sub-18 right now, too. As is the case with the team scores, we may see a significant gap after the first Morgan Adams (Green Hope), Hannah Mercer (North Davidson), and Meredith Roberts (Mount Tabor) all ran 18:50 or just under already this season, so expect to see them in the chase pack. It wouldn't be surprising to see Bridgette Sullivan (Panther Creek), Emily Pettis (Leesville Road), or Lilly Price (East Chapel Hill) there, either - not to mention a number of other Green Hope girls capable of putting up sub-19 times under the right conditions. How many girls will break 19 Friday night? I don't know, but I'm gonna have fun finding out the answer!
Boys Preview
East Chapel Hill and Mount Tabor both return strong squads from the 2014 season, and they very well could end up squaring off for the 4A Midwest title at the end of October. We don't really know yet how likely that will be, because we haven't seen the Spartans at full strength, and we've barely seen the Wildcats at all (they've only run in two small, weekday meets). Hopefully we will leave Friday night with a better fix on both teams. In the meantime, if either of those teams is not up to full speed it would open the door even wider for Green Hope, a Mideast 4A team perfectly capable of competing with the Midwest powers. A much-improved Jesse Carson team is within striking range of getting into the top 3, as well, if things fall just right for them. This will also be our first "real" look at an Apex team that has a lot of potential this season.
Zachary Marchinko (Jesse Carson) had one of the most impressive season debuts of anyone in North Carolina this season, clocking 15:31 at McAlpine two weekends ago. He barely stayed ahead of the Mount Tabor duo of Nelson Russ and Ian Foley in that race, and at some point we'll get to see Kenny Kneisel run with those two, as well - and that's a potent trio up front. Green Hope's Henry Pehr and Jack Mastandrea (Lake Norman) also have broken 16 this season, so they should be in contact with the lead pack. Speaking of potent trios, we will get to see East Chapel Hill's Ethan Ready, Connor McDonald, and James Gildard in their first big meet of the season. Keep an eye on Tucker Cera (Millbrook) and Hunter Gilbert (Western Alamance).
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Will we see a full-strength Green Hope team battle against their chief competition in the Mideast 4A?