Friday, October 6, 2023

Cary, NC-  The Great American XC Festival presented by Garmin gets under way Friday, October 6 at 5pm at WakeMed Soccer Park Course. The meet is the largest in meet history with 3,790 participants- up over 400 athletes from the previous best set in the 2019 edition. Races begin Friday at 5pm with the inaugural middle school division followed by the Cedric Walker HBCU Challenge College races. Saturday, races begin at 8:45 am with the high school JV divisions followed by the Girls Race of Champions beginning at 10:35am. The Boys Race of Champions follows at 11:05am. Live results will be posted here. More information on the event can be found here.

Headlining the races featuring participants from 16 states and the District of Columbia will be several top ranked teams in the DyeStat Southeast Regional Rankings. It will serve as a preview to the Nike Cross Southeast Regional set to be held on Sunday, November 19 on the same course.

In the Girls Race of Champions, Cardinal Gibbons (Raleigh, NC), currently ranked #4 in DyeStat’s SE Regional Rankings, comes in with 5 runners with bests of 18:26 or better- tops of all teams. Tatnall (Wilmington DE) comes in with their top 5 runners at 18:34 or better and a #5 Dyestat SE Regional Ranking. They’ll have to contend with Cuthbertson (Waxhaw, NC) who is ranked #1 in the DyeStat SE Regional Ranking. Other teams with hopes of knocking off these top rated teams are Mount Tabor (Winston-Salem, NC), Charlotte Country Day (Charlotte, NC), and Marietta (GA). 

Individually, The Webb School’s (Bell Buckle, TN)  Abby Faith Cheeseman is the top seed having run 16:27.6 for 5k cross country this season. The junior won the New Balance Nationals Outdoor two mile in 10:02.08 last track season and has a shot at Katelyn Tuohy’s (North Rocklands, Thiells, NY) course and meet record of 16:22.8 set in 2019. Her challengers will be Hannah Rae Shaffer (Cardinal Gibbons, Raleigh, NC), who has run 16:37.73 for the 5,000m on the track, Claire Stegall (Nolensville, TN) who won the Tennessee State 1600m championship in 4:41.40, Zoie Lamanna (Jefferson Forest, Forest, VA) who has a personal best of 10:26.56 for 3200m, Cuthbertson’s (Waxhaw, NC) duo Stella Kernes, a University of Virginia commit who has run 4:42.90 for the mile, and Georgetown commit and 4:41.33 miler, Charlotte Bell.

In the Boys Race of Champions, Belen Jesuit (Miami, FL) travels 841 miles north with hopes of solidifying their standing as the #1 ranking in the Dyestat SE Regional Rankings and their #4 Dyestat National Ranking. Their team season average best is 15:15 and their top five runners have season bests of 15:45 or better. They go head to head with #2 DyeStat SE Regional McCallie (Chattanooga, TN), and #4 DyeStat SE Regional ranked Calvert Hall College (Towson, MD). Leesville Road (Raleigh, NC), Christopher Columbus (Miami, FL), Broughton (Raleigh, NC) and Winfield (WV) come in their top five runners having season best of 16:23 or faster.

Individually, Joshua Ruiz (Belen Jesuit, Miami, FL) has only one loss the season- that was to the 6th fastest high school junior of all time in the 5k, Patrick Koon (Leon, Tallahassee, FL) last weekend at the FSU PreState Invitational. His other wins have included a 14:38.79 at The Southern Showcase where he defeated Tommy Latham (Marist, Atlanta, GA) and Jake Liebert (Wando, Mount Pleasant, SC) who finished fourth, 14:41.05, and fifth, 14:43.67. Those two are both entered in this race. The field includes five NCAA Division 1 commitment athletes; Ruiz (Florida), Liebert (Tennessee), Noah Valyo (Athens Drive, Raleigh, NC/NC State), Tiger Bartlett (Rylee, Union, KY/University of Cincinnati), and Brayden Marshall (Winfield, WV/NC State), and Luke Liming (Cary, NC/UNC). The course and meet record for the boys is held by Brodey Hasty (Brentwood, Brentwood, TN) who ran 14:32.2 in 2016.

Friday night’s action begins with the inaugural middle school races. 227 boys and girls from four states will compete in the 3,200m distance. 

Following the middle school races, the Cedric Walker HBCU Challenge College Races will be held for the 14th time a record number of 16 teams from six states are set to compete in the only regular season cross country event specifically for HBCUs. Walker was a well respected advocate for the sport of track and field and cross country who came up with the idea. He passed away 10 years ago and the race has continued in his honor. 

As presenting sponsor, Garmin has provided 16 watches that will be awarded to the top finishers and coaches as follows:

• Top 3 boys/girls individuals in the ROC 
• Top 3 boys team coaches/girls team coaches in the ROC 
• Winner HBCU men’s race
• Winner HBCU women’s race
• Coach of men’s team winner HBCU
• Coach of women’s team winner HBCU

The Great American XC Festival is one the largest interstate cross country competitions in the United States. 21 editions have been held with two canceled because of hurricanes. In those 21 years, 38,112 athletes from 43 states have competed. 13 of those years, Cary, NC has served as host. 

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About the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, Inc.

The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF) is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1990, with the mission to inspire and empower student athletes on and off the track.  The NSAF supports high school and junior-aged track and field athletes through national high school competitions, including Nike Indoor and Nike Outdoor Nationals; The Great American XC Festival and HBCU Challenge and the Nike XC Town Twilight. The NSAF provides approximately $250,000 in grants annually.  For more information about the NSAF, please visit NationalScholastic.org.