Week 1 In Review

The cross country season kicked off with a number of great team and individual performances from around the state.

 

What did we learn this weekend?

  • The Cardinal Gibbons girls look as good as advertised, running without Rachel Bartolomeo to boot.
  • Megan Sullivan, Darby Middlebrook, and Bakri Abushouk are in great shape coming off summer training.
  • Broughton boys look very deep: 6 guys separated by only 20 seconds in the 3000.
  • Cary's boys also look very good, just like a top 5 team in 4A should look at this point of the season.
  • Lincoln Charter has a very good 1A girls' team, and Sophia Bhalla is a contender for a top 5 finish.
  • Don't put much stock in the times the Watauga senior boys ran; they actually did three 3000m repeats, and the race was the middle one.  Michael Holland might make the difference for them.
  • Mount Tabor's boys are right where they should be to be in the top 10 in 4A, and perhaps sneak into the top 5.
  • Suprise team of the week: RJ Reynolds' boys, who edged out Reagan; both squads look like state meet teams.
  • Not sure how much you can take away from a 5x2500m relay, but Pinecrest's boys looked strong, and Green Hope's girls ran the top two relay times.
  • Mount Tabor's girls did not look like a top-10 team in 4A, and the Forsyth County area did not look strong for girls, but it's early.  The return of Vanessa Bateson for Mount Tabor could be critical.