This past weekend Midlothian junior Caroline Bowe (pronounced BOH) solo'd an impressive US #1 2:57 1K at the VA Commonwealth Games. What this race showed us though was not only that she is a force to be reckoned with but that she is ready to fight for that first state title.
Caroline, who runs in Class 5, will be facing some tough competition come the state meet. That doesn't scare her though as she is used to the competition.
Midlothian, and her team, just faced Blacksburg and Loudoun Valley for the past four years so needless to say, they are battle hardened.
Bowe has finished 4th, 3rd, 5th, and 10th in state track meets in the 1K and 800m runs. This 2:57 though leads us to believe she is definitely one of the girls to beat this time around. What else is impressive is her XC place at states. This year she was an all-state 15th place while last year she finished 23rd. She is stronger and faster and that is going to make her very tough to beat in the 1K this season.
Her Coach, Stan Morgan, has been big on her since she was a freshman. He has mentioned to us at least a dozen times how good she is going to be. He was also quick to bring her name and Paige Johnston's name up together. She of course ranks 8th all-time and ran 2:51 at Midlothian back in 2008.
Coach Morgan also made a point to say she is a true team player and cares more about her teammates than herself.
Bowe told us "it just isn't fun if you don't have a team". Good thing for her though is she has a tough team that is also very young.
This past weekend was not the start of Bowe's rise or Midlothian's either but it is definitely the start of a long line of great times ahead for this rising star. She is already fast and now she is ready to go for that state title and school record.