Mary Bonner Dalton after her fourth-place finish at Foot Locker XC Nationals in San Diego
Myers Park HS star Mary Bonner Dalton has added two prestigious honors to her resume in the last few weeks in being named Gatorade North Carolina Girls Cross Country Player of the Year while also finishing fourth at the USATF U20 XC National Championships to make the Team USA U20 Team.
The Notre Dame commit had one of the greatest individual cross country seasons in North Carolina history becoming the fastest girls in the state ever at both McAlpine Creek Park and Ivey Redmon Sports Complex running 16:53 at McAlpine and 16:54 at Ivey Redmon. She'd finish 6th at Foot Locker South Regional advancing to Nationals where she'd improve to finish 4th overall against the 40 best high school girls in the country.
The U20 Championships was against the best high school and college freshmen who will turn 20 this calendar year or younger. Against a strong field, she'd go on to finish 4th overall running 20:46 for 6K at Pole Green Park in Richmond, VA. The top 6 in that field earn a spot on Team USA to compete in Belgrade, Serbia for the U20 World Athletics Cross Country Championships on March 30th, 2024. The top 4 finishers from each team will score for their country on the team side of things at Worlds.
Gatorade Player of the Year Press Release
Dalton has run 4:50.27 and 10:13 for 1600m and 3200m respectively this indoor season ranked 3rd in North Carolina in the 1600m and 1st in the 3200m across all classifications ahead of next week's NCHSAA State Championships.
