Carolina Liberty 3K Kickoff Recap: Dingman Sets NC Record

Results

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Cross country is officially underway in NC! In the week that would normally host South View's The Jungle Run Invitational, now-retired South View Coach and Carolina Liberty founder and coach Jesse Autry hosted his own 3000m kickoff event! Stay tuned for some awesome Jungle Run flashbacks this week!

A wide start line was key to the three races of the morning giving all top runners much-needed elbow room that we normally would not see at the start. The Boys 11/12 race was the big event. Jack Dingman (Northern Guilford) was the winner in a new 3000m XC State Record time of 8:48! There was only one other athlete in NC history, Jeremy Brown (Broughton, 2017), who has dipped under 9:00 on the course. The 3000m is not a popular event in NC but we have seen its popularity rise over the last few seasons as an early-season event. The record is the perfect start to Dingman's senior campaign. With NCHSAA XC not starting until November, it will be interesting to see if Dingman runs a hard 5000m before then and what kind of shape he will be in. 

All-Time North Carolina Boys 3000m XC Rankings

Dingman wasn't front running alone. He was joined up front by Luke Ward (Hoggard), Aaron Rovnak (Franklin Academy), Emil Arangala (Chapel Hill), James Blizzard (Leesville Road), and William Mitchell (Millbrook).

Ward finished 2nd in 8:59 in what was an absolute breakout performance by the junior. He came into the season with a 16:12 personal best in the 5000m and only dipped under 16:40 that one time in his career. He came into the season as Hoggard's #4 returner but this performance shows he is ready to compete with the best of the best in NCHSAA. Rovnak, the 2x defending NCHSAA 1A State Champion barely missed a sub 9:00 mark finishing in exactly 9:00. Arangala was 4th, Blizzard was 5th, and Mitchell was 6th. Mitchell had to battle Brock Vanek (Cary Christian) and Josh Navarro (MIllbrook) to the line as they both finished within .60 seconds of each other.

The Boys 9/10 race was a head-to-head battle of Broughton teammates with Dylan Core topping Cooper Widmayer. The duo ran 9:28 and 9:28 en route to a dominating 30 second win. Logan Dingman, Jack's younger brother, was 3rd in 10:01.

In the Girls Race is was senior Sierra Collins (Harnett County) against the youth movement of NC headlined by Ryann Aycock (Cary Christian, 10), Tori Stonebraker (Cary Christian, 9), Cora Alitzer (Triangle XC, 8), Nora Daley (Chapel Hill, 10), and Mandi Pollard (Triangle XC, 8). Collins powered over the competition cruising to a 10:19 victory. The Cary Christian duo finished 2-3 in the race which is a great sign for the NCISAA school.