Results
The lights went down and the states best teams and individuals were set to square off at the NCHSAA State Championship course in a loaded Friday Night Lights girls field.
Kasey Dingman (Lake Norman) was the defending champion after winning in 17:46 ahead of Sofi Alexander (Asheville), who was also in yesterdays field. But there was really 10 different girls at the least who would have walked away with this individual title and set the tone for the 2025 XC season.
Dingman would push out to the front from the gun to set the early pace and would have a small step over the field as the opening stages of the race played out and the top entrants worked their way to the front from the crowded field.
At the fist Mile the field would settle in with Caitlin Kasten (Marvin Ridge) lead a lead pack of Dingman, Alexander, Cali Townsend (Watauga), Madeline Dorsch (Pinecrest), Amelia Medlin (Hoggard), Colby McCollum (Cuthbertson) and Audrey Crowder (Durham Academy). They'd go through in 5:26-5:28. A few steps back of the field was Alessia Potts (Pinecrest) who would go through in 5:32.
The pack could stay together over the second Mile, but when they got to the road Dorsch would make her move and put a 5 second gap on the field. She'd go down the road and around the back part of the course through the two mile in 11:05. This would stretch out the front pack slightly with Alexander and Townsend in a rematch from Eye Opener, but also Alessia Potts had closed the gap to the lead pack and moved to the front of it crossing in 11:10. Kasten would be just behind in 11:13 with Emma Balaban (Weddington) moving up to 6th and much of the lead group through the mile trickling in just behind.
Both Pinecrest girls in Dorsch and Potts really used the slight downhill stretch by the entrance road at Ivey Redmon to their advantage to gain position on the field.
Potts was looking strong and relaxing just needing to reel in her teammate who had won the Ballantyne Ridge Invitational two weekends at at McAlpine in a blazing 17:30. Potts was 6th in the race in 17:57. Dorsch would continue to push the pace to pull away from the rest of the field, but Potts continued to close the gap as they got near the final stretch of the 5000m race.
Potts was able to catch her and pull away to secure a massive win at Friday Night Lights breaking a 10 year old Meet Record previously held by Nevada Mareno (Leesville Road) from 2015 running 17:20.2. Dorsch would finish just behind in 17:25.1 also setting a new PR and being under the previous meet record.
Carmen Alder (Pinecrest, 2021) was pretty dominant over her four years of high school cross country and held a school record of 17:11 from Ivey Redmon in 2020. With Potts being a junior and Dorsch a sophomore it's incredible to think her school records are going to be in jeopardy just five years after her senior season. Both Potts and Dorsch were strong over the 2024-2025 XC and track season, but they have made the jump together to come into the 2025 season on another level.
Kasten would just finish ahead of Townsend each running 17:39 to finish 3rd and 4th with McCollum running past Alexander in 17:42 to finish 5th and 6th respectively. Balaban and Medlin would battle to both finish under 18 minutes in 7th and 8th running 17:52 and 17:54 as Crowder would take 9th in 18:01 and Dingman 10th in 18:19.
Watch Alessia Potts and Madeline Dorsch break the Friday Night Lights girls Meet Record in 17:20 and 17:25!
