Durham Academy girls went 1-2-3 last year led by 7th grader Allison Hall to win the NCISAA 4A team title with 36 points. This year that entire team is back and stronger than ever.
Last week at the TISAC Championships they scored a perfect 15 points with four girls under 19 minutes! They averaged 18:58 as a team which is thought to be the fastest by an NCISAA school. It's the fastest we can find in any results from the "MileSplit Era" of a NCISAA school.
While the Cavaliers aren't expected to sweep the NCISAA 4A race tomorrow, they very well could place their entire top 5 in the top 11 (All-State).
Up front for the individual team battle Hall will look to earn her second NCISAA XC Individual title, but she'll enter with the second fastest mark on the season behind Sophie Spada (Charlotte Country Day). The senior recently committed to Alabama and has run 18:30 this year.
Spada took 7th a year ago, but after having a massive year on the track where she ran a 5:01.7 full mile and she is the favorite heading into this years race. As a freshman Spada took 5th place, but went on to tear her meniscus playing soccer as a freshman with a long recovery process to full strength.
With the star 8th grader Hall, her Durham Academy teammates Claire Middleton, Quinn Shanahan and Anna Catherine Wilson will also be in the mix for a top finish. Each of these girls have broken 19 on the season and will each fight for a top 5 finish. Hannah George (Cary Academy) and Eva Lindner (Covenant Day) have also broken 19 minutes this season.
Mary Schleusner (Charlotte Latin) took home a 2nd place finish at the CISAA conference meet behind Spada and will look to join the sub-19 club this weekend capping off a strong sophomore season.
Durham Academy is a near lock for the girls team title, but as we saw last year anything can happen at the state meet. We said the same about Providence Day boys a year ago, but they only edged Durham Academy by a point.
Their TISAC rivals Cary Academy come in ranked 2nd in the meet, but it should be a close battle between them and the CISAA schools Charlotte Latin, Charlotte Country Day, Providence Day and Covenant Day. Cary Academy ran without Hannah George at their conference meet which would certainly make all the teams very close.
Weather looked like it'd be a rainy day at McAlpine earlier in the week. That's cleared up to a forecast in Charlotte of a low of 57 and high of 73 tomorrow on the Larry McAfee Course at McAlpine Creek Park.
