Girls Distance
1600m Run
The top three finishers from last year's state meet have all
graduated, opening up the path for a loaded group of younger runners. This race
will be fast and deep, with eight runners having seed times faster than last
year's third place finisher. Leah Helms and Madeline Hill are the top two
seeds, joined by Cuthbertson teammate Gabriella Castro whos 5:14 seed time is
less than six seconds behind the top girls. Jonna Strange (North Iredell) is the
third 5:08 girl this season, with Frances Whitworth of Tabor coming in with a
5:09. Sarah Bechtel has some range, and the sub-3 1K runner has a 5:11.01 seed
time, just over a half second faster than Hayley Whoolery of West Johnson.
Amelia Maughan of Chapel Hill is the one freshman in the race and her 5:12
means she can't be counted out to compete for the title either.
1000m Run
Sarah
Bechtel (Weddington) has clocked a 2:58 this season, but will have to hold off
Megan Marvin (Chapel Hill) who is focusing on the 1000 this year after winning
a 500 title last indoor season. Four other girls are clustered around 3:05
including Leah Helms and Gabriella Castro of Cuthbertson, Katie Verrill of
Piedmont and Elizabeth Starkie of Weddingtion. Cuthbertson has another
top-eight seed in Kaitlyn St. Hilaire, and talented distant runner Jenna Reiter
from West Carteret will also try her hand at scoring points in the mid distance
event. 3200m Run
Jonna
Strange will be the favorite in this race despite her No. 2 seed time of
10:47.84. Hayley Whoolery has the top time of 10:47.48, but hasn't cracked 11
minutes since running that at the Reagan Polar Bear. Then again, with a stellar
qualifying time that early she may not have had to dip into her reserves since.
Behind those two is Frances Whitworth at 11:06. Jenna Reiter has clocked an
11:10, just ahead of the star sophomore from Cuthbertson, Madeline Hill. Sophia
Ritter (Watauga) and Emma Fredericks (Northern Guilford) round out the sub
11:20 squad who will be searching for points in this distance event.
