Heading into the NCISAA 3A Championships, the Charlotte Latin girls and the Durham Acadamey boys were the favorites. Leaving Hagan Stone Park, that didn't change.
The Hawks of Charlotte Latin just keep producing young studs. This team was led by Haylee Dawe, a
junior, all season and in yesterday's race she was able to finish 2nd overall. Haylee has had an excellent season and it was capped off with her 18:49, and runner up spot yesterday. She was followed by a newcomer to the team, 9th grader Hannah Smith. Hannah finished in the 6th spot overall with a time of 19:58. Charlotte Latin showed their dominance over the rest of the field by placing 2 more athletes in the top-11, earning All-State honors. Ally Finical and Kamoren Spence, both juniors, looked to have run most of the race side by side and finished in 20:04 and 20:05, good for 9th and 10th in the race. Rounding out the top 5 for Charlotte Latin was senior, Farrell Murphy. Farrell stepped up a lot, scoring for the Hawks, as she hadn't run that fast all season. Look for Latin's girls to be in the same spot, as they return 5 girls next year who all have personal bests under 20:15!
Providence Day's girls finished 2nd to the Hawks for the 2nd straight year. They were led by 4th place finisher, senior, Katie Lonergan. Katie struggled last year at the state meet but came through in her senior year for an All-State finish. Joining her in the top 11 was fellow senior, Maggie Gigler, who snagged the final All-State spot, placing 11th. The Chargers also received a big bonus, as 9th grader Amanda McFeeley ran a 22-second personal best, placing 12th overall, in 20:18. Finishing the scoring for PD was Kyerra Hines in 20:54 and 1st year XC runner, Hannah Wilson in 20:56.
The state champion was no surprise to anyone, as Wesley Frazier ran another fast time, and set another course record. This makes the 3rd time this year that Wesley broke the course record on the Hagan Stone course. She ran away from the field early, in the first 400m, and raced to a time of 17:36. This broke her previous record by 6 seconds.
Here's a look at the top 11 finishers. Each of these girls were named to the NCISAA All-State team.
1 Wesley Frazier Ravenscroft School 17:36 5:41/M (freshman)
2 Haylee Dawe Charlotte Latin 18:49 6:04/M (junior)
3 Lexy Bader Ravenscroft School 19:17 6:13/M (sophomore)
4 Katie Lonergan Providence Day School 19:37 6:20/M (senior)
5 Eliza Dekker Durham Academy 19:40 6:21/M (7th)
6 Hannah Smith Charlotte Latin 19:58 6:26/M (freshman)
7 Kaitlyn Lingard Greensboro Day School 20:01 6:27/M (7th)
8 Ally Finical Charlotte Latin 20:04 6:28/M (junior)
9 Kameron Spence Charlotte Latin 20:05 6:29/M (junior)
10 Gabi Wilberding North Raleigh Christian Academy 20:11 6:31/M (sophomore)
11 Maggie Gigler Providence Day School 20:16 6:32/M(senior)
Only two seniors in the top 11 and two 7th graders, too.