(Finish line and awards photos used in this article are courtesy of Jeff Sides)
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Championship Girls
Julie Macedo (Charter School of Wilmington, DE) and Haley Pierce (Tatnall, DE) separated from the field early.
Rebecca Salter (Tatnall) established herself alone in third place, trailed by teammate Reagan Anderson.
The first real group was led by [name here] and Erica Amatori (Green Hope, NC).
Tatnall's Kieran Hanrahan was in fifth place, but she was under pressure from some individuals moving up.
Carolyn Bethel (Hidden Valley, VA, in white) was already in position to advance individually.
Sydney Foreman (Ardrey Kell, NC) stayed right on her back, followed by the main pack.
A few seconds behind that five-girl chase group, the front three from Assumption (KY) were looking strong.
Tucked behind them was Kara Dickerson (Midlothian, VA, in green), all the way back in fifteenth at the 3K mark.
Macedo eventually pulled away for a ten-second win with an impressive time of 17:01.40.
Pierce maintained her position to the finish, but Salter faded a bit and Anderson moved up to third.
That left Bethel in fourth, while Dickerson moved up 10 places in the last 2K to claim fifth.
Katherine Receveur and Bailey Davis (Assumption) also finished strong to make the top 7.
Hanrahan and Salter finished 8th and 9th, securing the clear win for Tatnall.
Amatori and Foreman claimed the final two individual qualifying spots for nationals.
They were joined in the top 14 by Emily Mulhern (MD), Lucy Srour (MD), and Nicole Carter (VA).
Girls All-Southeast Regional Third Team (places 15-21)
The Assumption girls became the first girls' team, and second of either gender, from Kentucky to advance to NXN.
They were just a bit excited about this development.
Tatnall showed why they are so well-regarded nationally, and didn't look one bit jaded by their success.
Championship Boys
Elliot Clemente (Belen Jesuit, FL) went through the mile in 4:32 and stayed in front the rest of the race.
The 4-man chase pack was led by Sam Parsons (Tatnall, DE, in orange).
Mike Crozier (Gonzaga College, DC, in blue) and Sam Roberson (Broughton, NC, in white) were right behind him.
Tucked at the back of the group was Adam Visokay (Albemarle, VA).
Behind them came the front edge of the massive main group,
and it quickly became very hard to identify individual runners in the crowd.
Although there were no less than four teams in the race wearing orange as a primary color,
the bright uniforms of Belen Jesuit did stand out as they were clearly in control of the team race.
By the finish, things had settled out a bit among the top 10 athletes.
Clemente was unchallenged all the way to the second-fastest time ever run on the WakeMed course.
Visokay was able to pull away from the chase pack late, while Roberson and Crozier battled to third and fourth.
Matthew Schwartzer (VA), in 10th at the 3K mark, climbed up to pick off Parsons for fifth.
Daniel Peters (TN) rounded out the top 7 runners, all of whom were under 15:30.
The next seven runners, Second Team All-Southeast Region, were separated by 10 seconds.
That's Linganore representing the state of Maryland with their epic shorts.
This is where the team results began to take shape, as Belen Jesuit's second runner, Avery Lopez,
is in this group with Morgan Malanoski (Brookwood, GA) and Nathan Thomas (Brentwood, TN).
The next seven runners, the All-Southeast Region Third Team, were only eight seconds apart.
In fact, only 10 seconds separated 15th from 27th, and there were only 20 seconds between 15th and 40th.
In the end, though, it was the teams with the best 3-4-5 combinations that would advance to Oregon.
Brentwood averaged 15:54 and had their top 5 in the top 50 overall, and that earned them second place.
Belen Jesuit was the best team coming in, they looked the best during the race, and they won commandingly.
Averaging just a hair under 15:38, this team looks like it can make some noise next weekend at the nationals.
