On Saturday, Virginia athletes charged into North Carolina descending on the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary. With the motivating sounds of djembe drums in the background, Virginians convincingly captured both individual and the girls’ team titles in the premier Race of Champions.
Loudon Valley junior phenom Andrew Hunter exploded from the gun positioning himself in the lead. In his first appearance at the Town of Cary Wake Med course, he set a blistering pace that no one could match.
Following his 14:46 effort he said, “I felt good during the first mile and looked back at 3200 m and saw no one. I kept pushing it since I felt really good.”
Hunter grinned as he compared the course to the Foot Locker South course and declared Great American to be a new favorite race. Although meet management credited him with a high school boys’ course record he was just shy of Sean McGorty’s 2012 effort.
Libby Davidson,...