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.
Gavin Clewley (Leesville Road)
It's not common to have Middle School runners break 10 minutes for the 3200m, but Clewley was one of three North Carolina boys to break the barrier last year running 9:56 at NCRunners Middle School All-State. He also had run 4:40.97 earlier in the event for his 1600m PR. Clewley debuted at Friday Night Lights in 16:40, but improved to a Freshman State Lead last weekend at WakeMed running 16:18 at adidas XC Challenge finishing at the Pride's second runner in the Championship race. Clewley leads the way thus far for a really strong freshman boys class that already has 16 boys under 17:00 for 5000m!
Cali Townsend (Watauga)
Watauga Freshman Cali Townsend has emerged as the Pioneers top runner so far ranking #29 in North Carolina as a team. Townsend came into high school with strong credentials from her Middle School career with PRs of 5:25 and 12:01 dating back to her 7th grade year in 2023. In both her 7th and 8th grade cross country season, Townsend was 4th at the NCRunners Middle School XC Festival twice with her best 2 Mile XC mark being 11:45 from last year. She unfortunately missed her 8th grade outdoor season due to injury, but has come back even stronger after running 18:52 a few weeks ago at Friday Night Lights and then 18:42 at adidas XC Challenge last weekend. She took 16th overall in the Championship race. She currently ranks fifth amongst all North Carolina freshman girls over 5000m!