The 'Speed Week Invitational' featured the state's top teams in Cuthbertson, Weddington, Mount Tabor, and West Forsyth who tackled the two-loop course at McAlpine on Thursday night. They ran a single race with boys and girls combined and rain started to fall just ahead of the gun going off. The rain would subside during the race.
Alyssa Preisano of Cuthbertson led the charge throughout the race on the girl's side going through the mile in 5:42. Mount Tabor's Joiner Evans sat just behind followed by Lillian Nasta (Cuthbertson) and a group of Weddington runners.
Preisano lead the charge throughout the race mixed in with the boys, but Evans remained within striking distance as Nasta, Emma Jones (Weddington) and Stella Kermes (Cuthbertson) started to slowly close the gap to the front of the girl's field. Grace Hanson and Elizabeth Ritter of Weddington also were closing in towards the front of the field.
Preisano was able to charge down the homestretch through the finish line leading what ended up being a close race in 17:57. The first sub-18 of her high school career and the third-fastest mark in NC this XC season. Not far behind was Evans who ran a big personal best dropping her time from 18:27 to 18:01 as Nasta and Jones finished just behind both at 18:02.
Kermes was able to hold off Ritter and Hanson finishing with a personal best of 18:09 ahead of 18:12 and 18:13 respectively for Ritter and Hanson.
On the boys side, Chauncey Chen went out hard looking for a fast time on the flat McAlpine course, but on the second loop he was overtaken by teammate Isaac Clark as he, Ben Timberlake and Sam Bland would lead a 1-2-3 finish for the Warriors.
Weddington would finish with a 16:02 team average on the day, but would jump their season best team average to a 15:54 as Clark, Timberlake and Bland were the teams 3-4-5 runners on time prior to yesterday. They'll rank 21st in the country now based on 5K team average.
The 'Speed Week Invitational' featured the state's top teams in Cuthbertson, Weddington, Mount Tabor, and West Forsyth who tackled the two-loop course at McAlpine on Thursday night. They ran a single race with boys and girls combined and rain started to fall just ahead of the gun going off. The rain would subside during the race.
Alyssa Preisano of Cuthbertson led the charge throughout the race on the girl's side going through the mile in 5:42. Mount Tabor's Joiner Evans sat just behind followed by Lillian Nasta (Cuthbertson) and a group of Weddington runners.