News: Adidas Invitational
2021
Eight days after their last race, the Falcons hit the course again for the Adidas/Wolfpack Invitational. This time it was an early morning race at Wake Med Soccer Park. Many of the best programs in North Carolina and the southeastern U.S. descend on this top-flight course in Cary each September to join this race. As the weather is just starting to cool off and the competition is excellent this combination often leads to very fast times.
The first race of the day was the JV Red Boys Race. Green Hope had the maximum of 30 runners in the race and the boys were ready to get things started. It would be a very tough team battle as top teams such as Weddington, Mount Tabor, Broughton, Marist (GA), and many others were entered in the race. Sophomore Dax Mahone went out with the lead pack (made up mostly of Mount Tabor runners) and teammate sophomore Sebastian Percival-Shim was not far behind. The lead group came through the mile in 5:18,which was fast, but not exceptionally fast for this race. As the runners hit the top of the hill the first time Dax opened up a 30 meter lead on the field and Sebastian was in a good position. Other runners were not far back, but it was clear Mt. Tabor would take the team title. Dax ran a new personal best of 17:08 to take home his 2nd large JV invitational title and Sebastian ran a great race as well finishing in 3rd with a new career best of 17:29. Junior Cyrus Jahromi (PR of 18:19), junior Luke Bourke (18:23) and junior Saahil Patel (PR of 18:30) rounded out the scoring. Sophomore Tommy Dunn also broke 19min with a PR of 18:44. The boys finished just behind Marist, Georgia to take 3rd place. Dax and Sebastian were also the only non-seniors in the top 5 finishers in the race.
The second race of the day was the JV girls race. The girls were a bit nervous as it would be a very deep field of runners, but it would be a great opportunity for them to go after their best 5K marks. Many of the girls would ultimately set their career PRs and the group was led for the 2nd week in a row by sophomore Lily Slaughter. Lily just missed her PR with a time of 22:55 and freshman Paige Luecke was right on her heels with a big PR of 23:04. Junior Kayla Gordon (23:45), freshman Sarah Smith (PR of 23:50), and junior Claire de Larminat (24:15) made up the rest of the scorers as the girl’s team finished 7th.
The third race was the championship boys race. Green Hope joined most of the other top teams in the state in a crowded field that included Weddington, Mount Tabor, Cardinal Gibbons, Broughton, Lake Norman, Marist HS from Georgia, and many other highly-ranked teams. The race went out very fast and it was announced that at the 2K mark 6 seconds separated 3rd place from 30th place so it was a large and close pack at the front. At that point in the race the Falcons were in 3rd place and running pretty well, but the second half of the race did not go so well and the Falcons dropped to 5th in the final team standings. Leading the boys again was Jacob Kurak who set a new PR of 16:11.2 and rounding out the top 5 scorers was Gavin Hansen (16:19), Ben Cale (16:23), Zach Taylor (16:57), andLiam Young (17:00). Notable on the day was senior Quinn Morgan had another huge PR run of 17:39 (previous best was 18:19).
The final race of the day with Green Hope runners was the championship girls race at 9:24. This was a chance for the girls to see where they stacked up against the best teams in the state. By the time the gun went off for the girls race the sun had come up over the trees and started to beatdown on the runners which together with the humidity started to take its toll. Like the boys, the girls looked good at the halfway point, but slipped just a bit in the race’s second half. Once again Kaela Brandon was the first GH finisher across the line as she finished in 20:23. Not too far behind Kaela was senior Katie Foppiano (20:38), freshman Alicia Craia (20:39), and junior Grace Boughton (20:49). The Falcons ended up in a very respectable 12th place and behind only Cardinal Gibbons for local schools.
Great job Falcons! The next invitational will take place on October 2nd at Hagan Stone Park.