The talent of Cuthbertson is on full display this weekend in Virginia Beach for the VA Showcase. Saturday morning the quartet of Justine Preisano, Stella Kermes, Charlotte Bell, and Alyssa Preisano took the track to try and best their previous state record of 8:59.85 from NSAF Indoor Nationals in 2022.
The younger Preisano sister, Justine, led things off with a huge time, clocking a 2:15 opening split. And she was already long ahead of the field. Like these ladies are used to, it was them against the clock. Preisano passed off to NCHSAA 4A cross country champion Stella Kermes, who only continued the charge.
She clocked 2:16, and passed off to Bell, lengthening the lead. She did her job, now she turned to her trusted teammates to finish the job.
Bell continued to roll, as she started lapping the field on her final 400m. She split 2:13 and handed off to the senior Wake Forest signee to finish things off for the Cavaliers. She looked as strong as ever, clocking an anchor split of 2:12.
These ladies broke their own state record and remain atop the North Carolina leaderboard. Their official time of 8:57.98 is an overall state record, and US No. 7 all-time indoors.
They will continue to race this weekend at VA Showcase, as they line up for the 3,200m in a couple of hours. Friday night, Kermes, Alyssa and Bell ran the Invitational mile and finished in the top 14. Kermes finished fifth with a 4:59.48, Alyssa was seventh with a 5:01.31 and Bell finished 14th overall with a 5:08.73 performance.