Results
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Luke Surface has been a star for the last two years. He ran 4:49 and 10:13 as a 6th grader on the track, then making a massive jump to 4:23 and 9:16 as a 7th grader.
Now in 8th grade, Surface has shown no fear to high school competition. Surface attends North Raleigh Christian Academy within the NCISAA that allows middle schoolers who can compete at the high school level to do so.
Surface kicked off the season with an impressive 15:57 win at the Ballantyne Ridge Invitational in August. He'd then win the Middle School race at Friday Night Lights running 10:01.30 for the 2 Mile. He'd face his toughest competition yet in the Championship race at the adidas XC Challenge against some of the top competition in the Southeast Region.
He'd show no fear getting out towards the front of the field with the lead group at the 2K split. Sawyer Lisk (Leesville Road) lead them through at 5:57 which is 4:48 Mile pace with 21 guys within 5 seconds of the lead.
The 2K mark is just about halfway up the ascend of the first time up the hill at WakeMed and the lead group would start to stretch out some. Lisk would lead Ethan Rich (Western Harnett), Jackson Tuck (Greer Middle College, SC), Surface, Henry Baker (Ravenscroft), Sean Cunningham (Providence School, FL) and Jameson Pifer (Collins Hill, GA) with six others within 5 seconds of the lead.
The remaining portion of the course is rolling hills throughout the back part of WakeMed followed by another climb up the massive 600m hill.
Rich, last years NCHSAA 3A XC State Champion, and Surface would pull away at the front to battle for the individual win. Rich would take the win ahead of Surface in 15:10 to 15:12. The mark will rank Rich 15th and Surface 20th in all-time North Carolina boys performance at adidas XC Challenge.
Jackson Farmer (Reagan) would move up over the final mile to place 3rd in 15:17 ahead of Baker in 15:18.
Surface's 15:12 as an 8th grader is an incredible performance that is almost hard to comprehend. The time alone is impressive, but other than Rich he beat guys who have broke 4:10 for the Mile and 9:05 for the 3200m on the track. His 9:16 was insanely impressive last spring, but he continues to keep raising the bar higher and higher.
There is really nothing even to compare this time to across historical 8th graders because so few even run the 5000m in cross country. The mark would be the fastest ever mark for a North Carolina freshman.
