A lot of the top talent in eastern North Carolina made the trip to Wilmington to run the Wilmington Beach Blast. A star was born in the form of 7th grader Kaitlyn Estep (Without Limits Triangle).
The class of 2028 product has been a star on the middle school and AAU scene for years already. She was the 2022 AAU Indoor 13 year old 3,000m champion. During outdoor season she won the NCRunners Middle School Elite 3,200m and was 3rd in the middle school 2-mile at adidas Outdoor Nationals.
This Friday night, she truly broke into superstardom. She took home the win in the high school field and ran the fastest time ever ran by a North Carolina middle school athlete, 17:46.17.
It is also the fastest time by a middle schooler in the country so far this season.
She got the win over NCRunners No. 9 Kaitlyn Obremski, who had a great race herself. She ran a season best of 17:52.94, and got herself back under 18:00.
Top 7th Grade Times 2022
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17:46.17 | 2028 | ||
| 2 | 19:30.50 | 2028 | ||
| 3 | 19:50.68 | 2028 | Battle of Camden2nd F | |
| 4 | 19:57.40 | 2028 | Eye Opener25th F | |
| 5 | 19:59.50 | 2028 |