Highlander Invite Recap The team traveled to Columbia, SC to compete in the Highlander Invitational on Wednesday. This was a big twist from the norm, as its a Saturday meet held on a Wednesday. The meet served somewhat like a preview for the South Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association, as their state meet is held on the course. There were 35 schools in attendance and PD was the only school from NC. There was also one school from GA. Varsity Girls Going into this race, the Chargers knew some folks would need to step up in order to bring home a trophy, top-2 teams. Three of the typical top-6 girls were not running for various reasons, so others were going to be relied on heavily. Niki Plaus led the way for the 2nd straight race finishing in 5th place overall. She proved once again that she is a very consistent runner, as she wasnt feeling 100% before the race. Freshman, Regan Cronk, was the Chargers 2nd scorer and joined Niki in the top-15, as she was 11th overall. After those two, there was a bit of a shake-up in the scoring 5 for PD, with Sam Huffman, Blaire Barton, & Hailey Valeriano scoring for the Chargers. These three raced well and fought hard just as instructed against a few specific teams during the race. Sam led this trio across the line and during the race, finishing in 24th place. Blaire was right behind Sam throughout and crossed in 25th. Hailey ran in the group much of the race as well, giving them a nice PD pack to work with, and she ended up 28th. Katie Brown ran most of the race just behind Regan, but suffered some difficulties late in final mile. She finished in 36th place despite wondering if she would finish, so props to her on crossing the line. So, despite not scoring four of the normal top-6 (Emma, Clare, Katie, & Molly). The girls depth once again showed through and allowed the Chargers to claim the #2 spot as a team by 1-point. This says a lot about these girls, as they stepped up when called upon and were able to bring home hardware. Varsity Boys Like the girls, a couple of the typical top-5 were not running due to another meet this weekend. It just so happened that those two runners were PDs top-2 runners in Nick Linder & Jack Paddison. *Note: They will be running the Great American XC Festival in Cary on Saturday. A meet featuring teams and runners from all over the US. The Chargers that did race knew it could be a special day if they could finish top-2 as a team without the best 1-2 punch in all of North Carolina. It also opened the door for the other boys to race for the win and that they did. From the beginning of the race, it was evident the others guys meant business. About 1/2 a mile into the race, the Chargers had 5 of the top 7 spots. Throughout the race, Noah Dolhare & Elias Eskind (Fr. & Jr.) not only led the team but led the race. Noah was able to pull away from the field during the final mile and win his first race as a Charger, and as a 9th grader! Elias held onto the #2 spot for PD, but lost a few spots in the final sprint, finishing 5th overall but running a new personal best of 16:49. Matthew McClelland was 6th and joined Elias in the 16s for the first time ever, running 16:57. Right behind them was William Glenn who placed 7th in 17:02. This group of 4 ran unbelievably well at the front of the race and gave PD an insane top-4, scoring only 19 points through 4 runners. With Elias & Matthews breaking the 17-minute barrier, that gives PD 6 runners who have done so this season, which is more than any other team in PD history. The 5th spot on the team and final scoring place went to Brandon Torres, as he crossed the line in 35th. Seeing Chad struggling to catch his breath late in the race, Brandon stepped up and passed a number of guys late in the race to assure PD of a top team finish. The PD boys did win the meet by 11-points over Lexington HS, the only large public school that was in attendance. The next closest team was 100-points behind. Like the girls, this solidified a great team built on talent, depth, & the will the succeed. To win an Invitational with 35 schools without your top-2 guys is not a common thing in XC, so these boys should be extremely proud of their accomplishment. JV Race The boys & girls ran together in the final race of the evening, which had anyone not in the top-7 from all the school running at once. The start isnt very wide, so some of the PD runners had to walk after the gun sounded before there was enough room to actually run. This race wasnt scored as a team, but it was obvious that PD would have won both the boys and girls JV races. In the boys race, Reed Baker took over about 1/2 a mile in and never relinquished his lead, winning in 18:22. His time would have actually been 5th for the Chargers and placed him top-30 in the Varsity Race. Right behind him, running a new PR, was Vance Ayscue who ran on Reeds heels and finished in 18:34. Making it a 1,2,3 finish in the JV race for the Chargers was Alex Smith who turned in another solid performance, running 18:40. The next two Chargers across the line were Will Reid (19:09) & Dylan Riddell (19:11) both of whom ran personal bests and I believe finished in 5th & 6th overall. There were many great performances, as Matthew Howard & Kevin Conner broke 20, giving PD 23 boys under 20:00 on the season. Also, Michael Graci and Tate Rosenblatt both continued to improve, setting lifetime PRs. The girls race was tougher to figure out during the 1st loop because they were all mixed in with the boys. However, by the end of the 1st loop it was evident PD was running strong and had many of the top-10 and top-15 spots. Heather Graci won the JV race, taking over with about a mile to go and finished with a time of 21:46 which tied for the 4th fastest time of the day for PD. Jennifer Cahill moved up, as usual, during the race and finished 4th overall in a new personal best of 22:41. Right behind her was a late charging CJ Miles who placed 5th in the race. Grace Clements and Dayna Asher were the next 2 Chargers across the line and both finished in the top-9. For Dayna, it was her first time under 23:00, running 22:56. There were many other girls that had great runs and new personal bests, including: Caroline Ortiz, Isabel Rodgers, Grace Halligan, & Rachel Cohen.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 12:14:12 +0000
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