During the 2018 indoor season Sophie Faircloth (Reagan) dominated the NCHSAA 4A State Championships winning the 1600m in 5:02.92, 1000m in 3:03.80, placing 7th in the 3200m. She also ran on Reagan's 4x800m that also won a state championship.
Faircloth also had a very solid 2017 cross country season running 18:09 to place 3rd overall. But since her stellar indoor season Faircloth might have looked to "disappear" from North Carolina distance running.
Off the track Faircloth is a star soccer player. She's already committed to play collegiately for Wake Forest. With soccer pretty much conflicting with every track season except for indoor it'll caused her to miss both outdoors and cross country.
After 9 months away from running and playing soccer, Faircloth had her first major meet back last weekend. She ran a leg of Reagan's winning 4x800m and also ran individually in the 1000m. Cora Cooke (Myers Park) ran a very fast 3:04.79 in the section prior to Faircloth. She knew she'd have to take out the pace hard if she were to match that.
Faircloth and Victoria Swepson (Research Triangle) were nearly inseparable the entire race with Faircloth leading the majority of it. Swepson tried to make a move on the final straightaway, but Faircloth was able to hang on in an impressive 3:00.99 to Swepson's 3:01.54. The times are good for NC#1 and NC#2 as well as US#5 and US#7 respectively.
| GIRLS 1000 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | H# | ||||
| 1 | Sophie Faircloth | 11 | Reagan | 3:00.99 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Victoria Swepson | 10 | Research Triangle | 3:01.54 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Cora Cooke | 10 | Myers Park | 3:04.79 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Kelsey Troutman | 12 | Covenant Day School | 3:08.62 | 1 | |||
| 5 | Gwen Parks | 10 | Reagan | 3:10.11 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Jenna Reiter | 11 | West Carteret | 3:11.27 | 1 | |||
| 7 | Hayley Whoolery | 11 | West Johnston | 3:14.64 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Michaela Gammon | 12 | Unattached AAU | 3:15.41 | 1 | |||
Faircloth talks about her surprise at how fast she was, and how she and Reagan Coach Eric Fritz focus on lower mileage to balance both soccer and track. Despite having 9 months off of running track, Faircloth shows that playing soccer throughout the entire year certainly keeps her in good shape for distance running.