8th Grader Ryann Aycock Clocks 5:07, 11:13 For State Titles

May 23, 2019

Ryann Aycock after a 3rd place finish at the Jungle Run

8th grader Ryann Aycock of Cary Christian School won the first of what looks to be many NCISAA State Championships over her career.

The middle schooler had run 2:30, 5:14 and 11:06 so far this season across the three distance events. A year ago she was 12th, 10th and 7th across the 800m, 1600m and 3200m as a 7th grader.

Aycock had success in cross country this fall where she ran 18:48 at the Jungle Run and took 4th at the NCISAA 3A State Championships.

Aycock's state championship would begin on Friday night where she would run a leg on Cary Christian's 4x800m Relay which took 3rd in 10:20.16.

She'd have to square off against two-time defending 3200m state champion Olivia Sutter (Carolina Day). Sutter ran 11:14 for a PR a year ago to claim the 1A/2A title.

Aycock broke the race open winning by 27 seconds and she was just off her season best of 11:06 clocking 11:13.45. Sutter would take second ahead of Aycock's teammate Zoe Vestal running 11:40 and 11:55 respectively.

Aycock would recover over night in the middle of the two day meet for a competitive 1600m and 800m the following day.

She'd first battle it out with Grace Christian School's freshman Sarah Mitchell who had a seasons best of 5:23. The two would dominate the field en route to major PRs of 5:07.96 to 5:08.02 as Aycock would edge Mitchell at the line by .06 seconds.

Wow! That was an amazing finish to one of the best races I've ever watched. 8th grader, Ryann Aycock (Cary Christian) holding off a gutsy 200m surge by freshman Sarah Mitchell (Grace Christian) to win the Girls NCISAA 3A 1600m with a time of 5:07.96!! @NCRunners @ncisaa_carter pic.twitter.com/MhbMvZYe0r
-- coach estep (@CCS_Track) May 19, 2019

Aycock would then go on to take 2nd to Carolina Day freshman Erin Hovendon (Carolina Day) who ran 2:25.29 to Aycock's 2:27.71.

Overall a super impressive two days from the Cary Christian middle schooler. 5:07.96 is the fastest middle school mark we can find for the 1600m ahead of Charlotte Bell's (Cuthbertson MS) 5:12.64 from the NCRunners Middle School Elite Invitational earlier this year. Her 11:06 3200m PR is also the fastest we can find in middle school history.

A new star is certainly upon us on the North Carolina distance side!