Boys Championship Race
The field was stacked up front with tons of NCISAA superstars with some South Carolina studs as well. Halfway through the first loop all the contenders were there with Coleman Mitchell (Cary Academy) and Noah Dolhare (Providence Day) sharing the lead up the hill, but plenty of guys including Wynn Johnson (Dorman, SC), Ben Mitchell (FCDS), Chase Coley (Cary Academy) and Andrew Kiss (Cuthbertson).
As they finished the first loop the main group of 8 only extended their lead, but C. Mitchell was ready to make a move and defend his title from last season. The field began to string out a bit with C. Mitchell, Coley and Dolhare in the top 3, but slightly separated. B. Mitchell and Johnson trailed slightly. As the boys emerged to head towards this finish line it was the Cary Academy teammates sitting 1-2 as Coleman Mitchell lead Chase Coley to the finish as they ran 16:02 and 16:08 respectively!
B. Mitchell and Wynn Johnson were able to reel in Dolhare as Johnson was able to take 3rd in 16:16 and B. Mitchell taking 4th in 16:18. Dolhare suffered from pushing early on and fell to 5th in 16:26. Dwayne Lillie (A.C. Reynolds) and Nathan Richards (Franklin) battled to the line for 6th place in and took 6th and 7th respectively in 16:39 and 16:40.
Powered by a 1-2 finish Cary Academy boys dominated the field as they had 5 boys in the top 26 and scored 64 team points. They've certainly established themselves as the favorites for the NCISAA 3A crown once again. Dorman boys had 4 boys in before Cary Academy, but were lacking a 5th man still scoring a solid 89 team points. Providence Day had an off day for what our expectations for this young squad are and took 3rd with 132 points narrowly ahead of Cuthbertson with 138 points and a partial A.C. Reynolds team in 5th at 147.
Girls Championship Race
The girls race was off, and it was a question for me if anyone was going to be able to push Sarah LaTour (Cuthbertson). Immediately into the race Elise Wright (T.C. Roberson) was up for the challenge taking the lead early on. The lead group that was led by Wright also had LaTour, Madeline Hill (Cuthbertson) and Lindsey Ickes (Forsyth Country Day). Eventually through the first loop Wright had a slight gap on LaTour who had a gap on the rest of the top girls of Hill, Ickes and Katerina Hendrix (Dorman, SC).
Though it looked like Wright was putting a lead on LaTour, a little after the 2 Mile mark LaTour began to push for the lead passing Wright. Hill had emerged from the second group along with Katerina Hendrix and were in chase of Wright. Ickes was struggling slightly in 5th with Ava Lathan (Cary Academy) making up ground.
In classic Sarah LaTour fashion she was able to hammer home that last mile putting 25 seconds on 2nd place and running 18:47! LaTour's PR coming into the season was 18:42, and to be just 5 seconds off in the first race of the season at Jackson Park shows how good of shape she is in. I expect that she goes under 18 minutes at some point this fall. Elise Wright was able to hold off Hill and Hendrix for 2nd place clocking 19:12 showing to me that she's got a big year ahead of her. Wright's PR was 18:50 from the end of last season and she was over 1 minute faster than last season where she debuted in 20:14.
Hill ended a monster first big 5K of the season running 19:14 taking 3rd overall. Hill is going to be a star these next few years and I think this is only the beginning. Hendrix was just off of Hill taking 4th in 19:16, way faster than he 20:58 20th place finish from last year. Lindsey Ickes held off Ava Nathan for 5th clocking 19:36 to Lathan's 19:44.
Cuthbertson girls put on a show placing 4 girls in the top 10 having 3 freshman in their top 5 in Hill, Kaitlyn St. Hilaire and Tori Bridgfoth. The Cav's had their top 7 in before any other squad scored 5 posting a dominating 31 points. Though Hill was great, the real big freshman performance was from St. Hilaire who was the Cav's #3 at 7th overall in 20:05. Once the Cav's add Leah Helms to the mix, look out. Dorman (SC) girls were great with a convincing 2nd place finish scoring 95 points. Cary Academy were 3rd in 169 points and Carolina Day 6th with 179. Both squads were shorthanded with CA missing Athina Zodl and Lia Lathan while Carolina Day was missing Ella Dockendorf. I still expect both squads to be legit this fall. Brevard girls were also shorthanded taking 5th place without Alydia Monahan and Julia Smith. They'll look to make it 3 straight NCHSAA 2A Team Titles on the girls side.