All eyes will be on Phillip Hall and Sara Platek as they attempt to continue their dominating seasons - this time with tough out-of-state competition.
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Championship Girls | Championship Boys
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Championship Girls
Sara Platek (Ragsdale) will be making her fourth meet appearance of the 2014 cross country season still undefeated and with times dropping quickly. The Championship Girls race will be a different dynamic for Platek as Libby Davidson (EC Glass, VA) enters the picture with a season best of 17:36, a mere 3 seconds faster than Platek’s recent PR at Jungle Run. These two runaways are the most likely candidates to place first and second, and it will be a true race as these sophomores (and Hoka One One Future Stars) push each other to potentially break 17:30. There are several other North Carolina athletes who could very well break the 18 barrier this week, including Kayla Holder (Wake Forest) and Lily Anderson (TC Roberson), who have both gone under 18:00 before this season and are very solid contenders to place in the top 5 this weekend. We will also be watching Marissa Bishop (Cardinal Gibbons), the freshman star on her home course, Alexa King (Marvin Ridge), Sophie Ebihara (Cardinal Gibbons), and Blair Ramsey (Grimsley).
Team scores are predicting Blacksburg, defending champs, to run away with the Championship race, with Cardinal Gibbons following in second place. Watch Cardinal Gibbons' top 3, as they have all broken 19 this season but never all in the same race; the Crusaders could easily make this race closer than the projected scores forecast on their home course. Leesville Road and Chapel Hill are in the mix for an enthusiastic competition for third place, as neither team has an established front runner, and will need to close the gaps in their 1-5 pack.
Invitational Girls:
The Invitational Girls race features Maddy Ringenbach (Ravenscroft), the easily projected winner and defending champion of this race. She has run 18:37 before and from the looks of her season is ready to be getting back down to her peak times. This race is chock full of out of state runners, but Ravenscroft is projected to fit their top 5 within the top 15, to take the win just like last year on their hometown course. Northern Guilford is also looking to place in the top 5 team scores, with their #1, Amber Gale, having a PR almost 2 minutes faster than her season best time. Be looking out for her on the podium in addition to a lot of returning out of state athletes from schools like West Chester Henderson, Morgantown, and Sherwood.
Championship Boys:
Phillip Hall (South View) will be back at the adidas Cross Country challenge, this year with a new team, and the question remains; will he break 15:00 minutes this weekend? Last year, he ran a 15:08 placing first with a pack of sub 15:30 boys on his feet. This year looks a little different, with the second group of season bests trailing over 20 seconds behind him. This chase for second place includes Jeremy Brown (Broughton), Dean Abushouk (Cary), and Kyle Christ (West Johnson) with times within four seconds of each other. After this pack comes the Cardinal Gibbons top 3 with nearly identical times, trying to get as many of their top 5 on the podium as possible.
The Championship Boys race looks like a Providence Invitational rematch with Cardinal Gibbons, Broughton, and South View as contenders for the top 3 teams. Connor Lane, David Edwards, and J.T. Klimek from Cardinal Gibbons will try to move up with Broughton’s #1, Jeremy Brown, to solidify a win in the Boys Championship Race, but Broughton and South View have seen some improvement since these teams last met in August. Home course advantage and different varsity strategies will make for a great team race between Cardinal Gibbons and Broughton, especially with Broughton wanting to defend their title from last year’s dominating victory.
Invitational Boys:
The Invitational Boys race looks to be the closest of the day, with no clearly dominant individuals. The front of this race looks pretty evenly distributed, and heavily loaded with North Carolina athletes. Coming in with the fastest season best of 16:15 is Matthew Rogers (Walkertown), representing NC 1A and stepping on the line with a stellar early season behind him already. Brett Haensel (Ravenscroft) had a breakout race at Seahawk Invitational and will be out there to see how far he can push his 16:25 PR. Tanner Sutter (Providence), David Melville (Northern Guilford), and Paul Arredondo (Cape Fear) will also be in the mix and eager to get in some fast times for their teams. Mix these sub 16:40 boys with some equally talented Virginia athletes - like Cliff Conley of Galax - and I think the Invitational Boys race will be an exciting one!
The team score projections, like the indivicual projections, are very close and difficult to call. With their experience in the Championship racefrom previous years at this meet, Providence has the slight advantage over Northern Guilford, the two teams to watch. Their top 5 runners are interwoven so it is almost guaranteed to be a very close score. Fighting for third place will be between Northern Nash and Walkerton, both with solid squads and some things to prove. The team that gets their #4 and #5 tighter in with their top 3 will recieve the bronze this weekend. Looking forward to an awesome turn out from some of these programs!