Saturday, October 7, 2023 

Cary, NC- The Belen Jesuit (Miami, FL) boys overwhelmed the field and Tatnall (Wilmington, DE) girls “upset”  Cardinal Gibbons(Raleigh, NC) and Cuthbertson(Waxhaw, NC) to win the team titles in the Boys and Girls Race of Championships Saturday morning at WakeMed Soccer Park course. Individually, senior Noah Valyo (Athens Drive, Raleigh, NC) and junior Abby Faith Cheeseman (The Webb School, Bell Buckle, TN) claimed the individual titles on an overcast day with mild temperatures.

Belen caught the late flight Thursday evening and touched down at Raleigh-Durham Airport Friday morning at 2:00am Friday morning. After a run on the course mid afternoon, they rested and visited some area colleges Friday afternoon before enjoying a pre-race dinner at Carrabas. 

Saturday, they arrived at the course an hour before their race, a routine ritual they do for each race, for their pre race warm-up ready to face #2 DyeStat SE Region’s McCallie(Chattanooga, TN) and #4 DyeStat SE Region Calvert Hall College(Towson, MD) and a host of other teams looking to compete on the super fast course.

The race’s downhill start propelled the leaders to a quick 2:07 for the first 800m and by 2k split, Marist (Atlanta, GA) junior Tommy Latham led the tightly bunched pack of 17 runners in 5:52.4 for  the first loop at the base of the longest hill on the course. On the second loop, Belen’s sensational freshman, Marcelo Mantecon and senior teammate and University of Florida commit, Joshua Ruiz injected some pace through the two downhills on the backside of the course to no avail. It was a valiant attempt, but Noah Valyo(Athen’s Drive, Raleigh, NC), an NC State commit, Jake Leibert(Wando, Mount Pleasant, SC), a University of Tennessee commit who owns a 8:47.47 personal best in the 2 mile, and Luke Liming(Cary, NC), a UNC commit with a 8:59.20 two mile personal best and Latham were not fazed as they gathered for the final run up to the finish. 

Valyo got the upper hand and was able to gap the others with a strong surge at the base of the hill. Latham closed, but with a final surge from Valyo, a 1:53.69 800m runner, Valyo sealed the victory as he celebrated hands raised over the final few meters to finish in 14:42.6, a cross country personal best and the sixth fastest time in course history. Latham followed with a cross country personal best of 14:44.7. Mantecon finished third in a personal best of 14:48.0 to edge Liebert who finished in 14:48.8. In all, the top 11 were all under 15:00. Last year at the Nike Cross SE Regional on the same course, no runners broke the 15 minute barrier. 

For Valyo, the win capped an eventful week. He committed to NC State and lowered his course and personal 5k cross country best by 5.4 seconds. 

“ Last race[adidas Challenge], I fell off the hill and today I wanted to be more confident and stay with the pack this race because I know I can outkick just about anybody because I’m confident in my kick,” said Valyo who was sporting a ‘locked in‘ beaded bracelet on his left wrist. “ So coming up that hill, I just turned on the jets and got the win.”

Last year, Valyo ran 15:28 best on the WakeMed Soccer Park course at the adidas challenge. A gradual increase of mileage and a steady diet of 60 miles per week over the summer has transformed him into a bonafide contender for the Nike Cross SE Region title on Sunday, November 19.

“Over the summer, I got my mileage up slowly and it’s made all the difference,” he said afterwards. “ I feel I’m more comfortable on this course. NXR being here is a big advantage to me because I don’t live that far from here. I’ve always wanted to go to NXN so that’s a big goal for me.” 

For Latham, the race went as expected and he tried to cover every move in the race.  In the end, the final move by Valyo was too much as he hung on to finish second with 11th fastest time in course history.

“ We came along the flat section and came up the hill and there was a big movement,” said Latham. “ Noah made a big move at the bottom of the hill andI tried to stay with it and fought my best. I was gaining some on him up the final hill, but then he went again and I couldn’t catch him and ended up second so I’m very happy with it. ”

For Mantecon, his historic freshman season continued. The lanky frosh who has grown a few inches since last year pressed the pace on the hills on the second loop and outlasted all but Valyo and Latham as he crossed in 14:48.0, an US all time 5k cross country freshman best. It lowered his season best by 4.6 seconds. In the past ten years, only two other freshman have recorded times under 15 minutes for 5k cross country; Keegan Smith, Knoxville Catholic(TN), 14:53.79 (The Southern Showcase, Sept 17, 2021), and Graydon Morris, Aledo(TX), 14:58.68 (McNeill Invitational, Oct. 1, 2016). Mantecon has done it twice. 

“ It kind of defeated the others mentally,” said Mantecon of the move he and his teammate Joshua Ruiz made on the hills around the second mile. “ I did what I could do. Coming up that final hill I was already super dead and tried to do what I could. It was all heart up that final hill.” 

Belen Jesuit’s strategy was to allow the race to develop and attack on the back end according to head coach Frankie Ruiz, in his 22nd year. At 2k, the Wolverines led Xavier(CT) and eventual second placer Ridgefield by 98 and 105 points(92-190-197) with # 2 ranked McCallie in tenth with 348 points. By the finish, Joshua Ruiz, his twin brother, Joseph, younger brother, Justin Ruiz and fifth man Evan Torres all moved up to score 65 points. Ridgefield(CT) finished second with 160 with Marvin Ridge(Waxhaw, NC) claiming third with 232 points.

“We wanted this to be a dry run for NXR so that’s why we came up here,” said Ruiz. “ In general, all season long we’ve given instructions to get in a good race and not throw everything out and risk one or two guys. We’re deep, but we still want our front five to be our front five. Our six and seven need to close in a little bit for us to feel like we could all go out and be aggressive like we would typically do.”

The Wolverines have yet to lose this season including a 51 point win over Jesuit(New Orleans, LA) at the Southern Showcase, and an 86 point win over Brother Martin(New Orleans, LA) at the FSU PreState Invitational. Saturday morning, they ran a lifetime team average best by 1 second with 15:14 per man average. All roads point to a return trip to NXN in December. Last year they finished 14th and this year they are 15 seconds per man faster and have their eyes set on finishing much higher.

“ The main thing for us in the next month and a half is to keep it fun. We’ve had a lot of fun, believe it or not, as intense as some of the training has been,” said Ruiz. “I hear a lot of coaches get to the next level and get there and say, ‘ we didn’t have fun getting there.’ I want to make sure we are doing that and staying humble and enjoying it at the same time.”

In the Girls Race of Champions, Cheeseman, stormed out to a 5:18 mile and 10:54 two mile as she pulled away winning in 16:44.3, tying the sixth fastest time in course history. Hannah Rae Shaffer (Cardinal Gibbons, Raleigh, NC) pulled way from the pack to take second in 17:24.2 with Zoie Lamanna (Jefferson Forest, Forest, VA) third in 17:26.3. 

“ I knew it was a really fast start, but I was trying not to take the lead too early,” said Cheeseman. “ The second mile I was really trying to push it, but this second mile is pretty tough. I maybe could have pushed a little harder that second mile, but wanted to finish off pretty well.”  

Tatnall came in with the fastest top five this season and bettered that as their top five came in between 17:44.9 and 18:12.6(28 second spread and 17:56 per runner avg) to finish with 68 points. Cardinal Gibbons(Raleigh, NC) finished second with 96 points, #4 DyeStat SE Region Assumption(Louisville, KY), third with 147, #1 DyeStat SE Region Cuthbertson (Waxhaw, NC) fourth with 148, and unranked Mount Tabor (Winston Salem, NC), fifth with 189. # 5 DyeStat SE Region, Marietta(GA) finished eighth with 295 points.

Cardinal Gibbons made it close early on as their top five were just 10 points back at the 2k split of Tatnall 79-89.Tatnall’s Abby Downin, Ruby Schwelm, Carlita Kaliher and Katrina Endress all made up spots over the next 3k to lower their point total to 68. 

A record number of 3,806 athletes participated in the 21st edition of the Great American XC Festival. That was 420 athletes better than the last all time high of 3,386 set in the 2019 edition. This year’s race included the  middle school race for the first time. Eighth grader Joshua Palmer (Parkwood, Monroe, NC) and eighth grader Anneka Hill (Without Limits Triangle, Cary NC) took top honors in the 3,200m race in 10:29.1 and 12:07.0. Without Limits Triangle took both team titles with 16 points in the girls division and 33 points in the boys division. 

In the Cedric Walker HBCU college races, Norfolk State swept the men’s and womens’ team and individual races. Their women’s team won with 38 points as junior Mercyline Kimaiyo sped to an 18:51.6 for the win on the 5k course. The men won with 51 points with Gidion Sigei taking top honors with a 24:15.9 for the 8k course.