Western Carolina High School Invitational
The team title in the boy's race was a real battle. Knoxville Christian, out of Tennessee, Hayesville HS, and Asheville Christian were only separated by a mere 4 points once the race was said and done. Asheville Christian, one of the top NCISAA 1A/2A programs in the state, ended up on top, with a score of 55 points. Knoxville Christian wound up 2nd with 58 and Hayesville placed 3rd.
The race was won by Hayesville's Tyler Breedlove, one of the favorites to win the NCHSAA 1A state title later in the season. Tyler won by 16 seconds over Lawson McDonald of Asheville Christian, 17:21 to 17:37. In 3rd place was Jason Capps of AC Reynolds, the only other runner to crack the 18:00 barrier on the day, running 17:45.
In the girl's race, Knoxville Christian was led by a stellar 1,2 punch. Sophomore sensation, Megan Ferowich, ran a blazing 18:13 to win by over a minute over her own teammate, Joanna Thompson. The top NC athlete was the 3rd place finisher, Whitney Thornburg of Asheville Chrisitan. The Asheville Christian girls team is looking very strong so far this season and looks to be the favorite right now for the NCISAA 1A/2A state title. They placed 2nd overall, 13 points ahead of West Henderson.
Cannon School Invitational
Results: Boys | Girls | JV Boys | JV Girls | MS Boys | MS Girls
Gray Stone Day, led by Dalton Wally's 2nd place finish, took the top honors in the boy's race. Gray Stone marked themselves as one of the top teams in the 1A classification with this big win. They will most likely receive a number of first place votes in this week's coaches poll with a victory of some pretty solid teams. Weddington's boys took 2nd overall, followed by Hickory Ridge and Charlotte Country Day.
The individual winner was Nick Summers of Salisbury. NCRunners picked Nick to be the 5th place finisher at the 2A championships in early November. This run definitely showed he's ready to live up to those expectations. Nick was able to outdo Dalton Wally by less that a second, 17:26.57 to 17:26.99. In third was Tim Gruber of Cannon School who just recently tied the course record on the course, but today was a bit off that pace. Tim was one of the top 9th graders among the NCISAA runners last year.
Haylee Dawe of Charlotte Latin continued her stellar season, winning by a huge margin. Haylee is running quite impressively this season and clocked a 19:40 solo effort on the very difficult Cannon course. The 2nd place finisher was Teal McLean of Hickory Ridge, more than a minute behind, in 20:49. Chelsea Martin of Weddington was able to nab 3rd place by 2 seconds in 21:06.
The team title went to the Weddington girls as they placed 6 girls in the top 19 overall. The Weddington team won by a margin of 13 points over the 2 time defending NCISAA 3A state champions, Charlotte Latin. The team scores were 53 to 66. In 3rd was Hickory Ridge, with a tough 1A school, Gray Stone Day right on their heels.
Durham Academy Invitational
Frances Dougherty of North Carolina Science & Math won the girl's race with a time of 20:15. The DA course is thought to be a pretty tough course, so anything close to 20:00 is a very solid time. In 2nd place was Chapel Hill's Tristan Van Ord in 20:27. Next came NCSSM's #2 runner, Callie Turlington, in 20:45.
Chapel Hill's girls won the team title with ease as they placed 7 girls in the top 12. They totaled 31 points, while 2nd place Science & Math had 62. Both of these teams are near the top or at the top of their respected classification. Chapel Hill is now a 3A school and NCSSM is a 1A school.
In the boy's race, Blake Williams of Northern Durham won in a time of 16:16. This is over a minute slower than he ran last Saturday night at the Jungle Run, so that should give you a good idea of the difference among the 2 courses. Blake is one of the top runners in the 4A classification, but he had to work to hold off Carl and Fred Ward of Durham Academy. The 3 runners were only separated by 5 seconds, with Fred running 16:20 and Carl 16:21.
Durham Academy put 3 runners in before Chapel Hill's #2, but Chapel Hill's depth was just way too much for DA. Chapel Hill, ranked #1 in 3A, put 7 runners in the top 11 to win easily with 34 points. Durham Academy's next 2 runners didn't come until 15th and 29th, but they still only totaled 54 points, good for 2nd place. The NCSSM team looked pretty solid on this slower course, as they had 6 runners in from 17:30-18:25. This will be a tough team in the 1A classification.
Seahawk Invitational
Results: Champ Girls | Champ Boys | Varsity Boys | Varsity Girls |
Developmental Boys | Developmental Girls | JV Boys | JV Girls
Ravenscroft 9th grader, Wesley Frazier throws down 17:05.09! This is the fastest time ever run by a female runner in North Carolina. In 2nd place was Carolyn Baskir of East Chapel Hill in a time that would typically be the talk of town. Carolyn dropped a 17:58 which is just off her personal best from last year's Foot Locker race by 6 seconds (I think, off the top of my head). In 3rd place was Apex's Kersie Jhabvala in a fine time of 18:34. This is a huge personal best for Kersie, bettering her previous time of 19:19! Lauren Strapp of Leesville Rd. also proved NCRunners correct so far, as she stepped up with a personal best of 18:39, good for 4th place.
The team competition in the Championship girls race was won by Green Hope with a total of 102 points. They were followed by East Chapel Hill who totaled 158 points. West Johnston proved they are for real, despite losing Maraya Slatter, as they finished 3rd with 163 points.
In the boys Championship race, Mohammed Abushouk of Cary won with a quick time of 15:23. Following him, closely, was Bryan Spreitzer of Green Hope who is off to a great start this season. Bryan was only a few steps behind Mohammed as he went 15:27. Finally, keeping this 3-way battle alive for yet another meet was Reidy Jones of Broughton in 15:34. This is going to be a great battle all season and most likely these 3 will see one another on multiple occasions. Also dipping under the 16:00 barrier was Matt Schick of Sanderson, Rolland Geiger of Middle Creek, & Pierre Mahlerbe of Broughton.
After Broughton's solid race at the Providence Invitational, they looked like the team to beat. However, Sanderson came to Wilmington with something to prove and they did. Sanderson took the team title, placing 5 runners under 17:00 with 1 under 16:00. They outdistanced the previously #1 ranked 4A team, Broughton, 122 to 159. Placing 3rd was Green Hope with 164, and 2 more 4A teams came in close behind. West Johnston with 177 and Leesville Rd. with 180. It looks like it is going to be a tight battle in the Mideast 4A region once again.
Brenden Johann of West Carteret had a personal best of 16:30 coming into the season and in his first race almost bettered that time. Brenden won the Varsity Boys race in a time of 16:34.51, winning by 10 seconds over Robert Maughan of Fayetteville Academy. Finishing in 3rd place was Josh Crawford of Fayetteville Christian. Josh and Robert are two of the top runners in the NCISAA 1A/2A classification.
The Fayetteville Academy team looked very strong as they placed 4 runners among the top 9, but then had to wait way too long for their number 5. The gap from number 4 to number 5 was almost 5 minutes. This gap took them from an obvious first place to a 5th place team finish.
The winning ended up being Sherando of Virginia who 6 in the top 23 and 5 in the top 18. West Carteret placed 2nd scoring 106 points, about 40 behind Sherando. The 3rd place team was Forsyth Country Day, who is currently ranked among the top 10 NCISAA schools.
In the girls race, Butler's Kimberly Halberg took the individual title with a time of 20:41. It was a tight race, but she was able to hold off Forsyth Country Day's Sarah Keiser by 5 seconds. However, this was the closest race of the day as the top 8 girls were within 14 seconds of one another. Terri Bluebird came out of the rest of the girls were the 3rd place spot, running 20:49.
Not only were Butler and Forsyth Country Day battling for the individual title, but both teams were in a tight race for the team title. End the end, Forsyth Country Day claimed the top spot by a very slight margin, 2 points. Butler scored 102 points for 2nd with FCDS scoring 100. Third place was Croatan with 167 points. Lets take a closer look at how Butler and Forsyth were only separated by 2 points.
FCDS vs. Butler
2 vs. 1
4 vs. 6
28 vs. 10
29 vs. 21
37 vs 65
5 Stage 8 Mile Relay
The Pinecrest boys and girls traveled to Greensboro and swept the 8 mile relays. This is a great event if you have never attended, with 5 athletes competing to cover the 8 mile distance. Pinecrest's girls won with a time of 51:19, but not too far behind them was Page HS in 51:44. However, possibly the most impressive performance of the day was the 3rd place team of Cary Christian. A small private school, the Cary Christian girls aren't ranked in the NCISAA top 10 right now, but this performance of 52:34 may change that.
The Pinecrest boys were able to capture the title with a time of 42:44, winning by 40 seconds. Coming in 2nd place was a consistently improving Union Pines team. Look for this team to continue climbing the rankings in the 3A classification.