Each Thursday we'll feature Future Stars who are sophomore year or younger including middle school. We'll look at recent performances and give some insight to their running careers thus far dating back to middle school if we have that information.
Dominic Lorelle & Charlie Mangum (Cardinal Gibbons)
In their first meet of the year at Knights Crossing in Salem, VA the Cardinal Gibbons boys placed 2nd with a 16:25 team average with a 0:14 spread from their 1st through 5th runners. Finishing side by side as Gibbons' 3rd and 4th runners were Dominic Lorelle and Charlie Mangum finishing 39th and 40th overall each at 16:28. Both boys came to Cardinal Gibbons after strong middle school track careers finishing as All-State with Mangum taking 11th and Lorelle 13th at the NCRunners Middle School XC Festival in 2023. Mangum held track person bests of 2:13, 4:51 and 10:35 for 800m, 1600m, and 3200m running for North Durham Distance Run Club and Lorelle running 4:51 for 1600m and 10:42 for 2 Miles running for Without Limits Triangle. Gibbons currently rank 5th as a team in North Carolina and these freshman are a big part of their early season success!
Lily O'Brien (Chapel Hill)
Lily O'Brien came into high school with great track credentials running 2:33 for 800m and 5:31 for 1600m at McDougle Middle School. Though those are good marks they were still NC#38 and NC#27 amongst all Middle School girls in the 2024 outdoor season. In her first High School race two weeks ago at Friday Night Lights O'Brien was the second fastest freshman in the field and placed 15th overall in the Girls Championship race, showing she's made great improvements over her first high school summer training. Her time was 18:47 and ranks 5th overall for North Carolina freshman girls and 31st in the state overall!