Carmel of Indiana sweeps at Trinity Valkyrie Invite

By Doug Binder, Dyestat editor

Carmel (Indiana) demostrated its overwhelming depth to capture boys and girls titles on Saturday at the Trinity Valyrie Invitational in Louisville, Ky. 

Amazingly, Carmel overcame a 1-2-3 sweep by the Brentwood (Tenn.) boys to win it on a tiebreaker after both teams scored 88 points. Carmel's sixth man, Thomas Revard, was 43rd in the team scoring. Brentwood's sixth was 118th. Alec Thomas of Brentwood ran 15:05.2 for the win, followed by teammates Taylor Caldwell (15:06.7) and Aaron Thomas (15:06.8). 

St. Xavier of Cincinnati scored 89 points -- just one point back.

The Carmel girls put five in the first nine and scored 24 points to crush a solid field of teams. Individually, it was Bailee Dean of Cane Ridge (Tenn.) breaking the tape in 17:48, just ahead of Carmel senior Kelcy Welch in 17:49.

--- NORTH CAROLINA ---

Caroline Alcorta of West Springfield (Virignia) dominated the girls championship race at the adidas XC Challenge at Cary, N.C. on Saturday, running 17:18.7 for a 35-second victory. 

Alcorta beat a strong field that included second-place finisher Eliza Dekker of Durham Academy (N.C.), who ran 17:53.7 and Mary Grace Doggett of Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.), third in 17:54.8. 

And in the women's open 5K race, there was a surprise appearance by Iowa sophomore Stephanie Jenks, who placed third in 17:31.0 running unattached. Wesley Frazier's little sister, Ryen, also ran unattached and finished fifth in 17:50.6.

Blacksburg (Va.) won the girls team title with 69 points.

Meanwhile, preseason US#18 Needham Broughton (N.C.) scored 81 points for a big win on the boys side. 

Phillip Hall, a junior from Terry Stanford (N.C.) edged Wyatt Maxey of Providence 15:08.5 to 15:08.7 in an exciting finish to the boys race.

--- NEW YORK ---

At the Queensbury Invitational, the Saratoga Springs girls scored 115 points to win a competitive team competition that saw preseason No. 10 Holy Names come in at eighth with 240 points.

Senior Kennedy Jensen of Canadaigua ran off with a victory in 17:45.15 and beat freshman Jessica Lawson of Corning (17:57.25) by 12 seconds.

In the varsity boys race, Liverpool won a tiebreaker (33-85) over Saratoga Springs after the teams deadlocked with 71 points.

Senior Brian Cook of Pearl River scored a narrow win over T.J. Hornberger of Lake Shore, 15:17.95 to 15:19.30. 

--- PENNSYLVANIA ---

UPDATE: In Hershey, at the PIAA Foundation Invitational, the preseason No. 4 Pennsbury scored 78 points for the win. Challenger Mount Lebanon wasn't far behind with 90.

Individually, Abington Heights senior Tessa Barrett blasted to a new course record with 17:48 and beat sophomore Kelsey Potts of Mount Lebanon (18:37) and Pennridge's Marissa Sheva (18:51). It was a big performance for Barrett in a race where only five runners broke 19:40.

North Allegheny's boys put up 31 points to dominate the team competition, with five runners in the top nine scorers. Chris Cummings of West Chester East ran 16:13 and was first to the line, followed by Jeff Groh of Lower Dauphin in 16:17.

--- MICHIGAN ---

At the Jackson Invitational in Jackson, there was a great girls team duel betwen preseason No. 13 Saline and No. 45 Northville. Even though Northville tandm Rachel Coleman (18:24.3) and Lexa Barrott (18:29.2) went 1-2, Saline pulled out the team win 37-42. 

Junior Grant Fisher of Grand Blanc was the class of the boys field, winning in 15:35.9.

--- ILLINOIS ---

Patrick Perrier won again and the York boys took care of business at Detweiler Park. See DyestatIL for more.

--- COLORADO ---

There were a couple of notable events on Friday in Colorado. 

At the Arvada West Invitational, Denver East senior Cerake Geberkidane continued his breakout month with a sensational time of 14:46.5. That was 63 seconds faster than he ran the same event last year.

Also, at the John Martin Invitational in Fort Collins, the boys from Laramie (Wyoming) got a big victory against some of Colorado's best. Brothers Jonah and Chris Henry went 1-5 to lead the way.

And the Fort Collins girls edged Cherry Creek in a battle of Colorado powers. Jordyn Colter won the girls varsity race in 17:56.0 but had her hands full against Fort Collins freshman Lauren Gregory, second in 17:56.9. Emma Gee of Legacy was third in 18:23.0.

--- OREGON ---

In Eugene at the Northwest Classic, Grant sophomore Ella Donaghu pulled away to win the varsity girls race at Lane Community College in 17:43. Summit's Hannah Gindlesperger was second in 18:00. South Eugene's Sara Tsai did not run. After a full recovery from the mono that kept her out of track season, Tsai made a steady return to form over the summer. Then, five weeks ago, she experienced some pain after a run and was diagnosed with a small stress fracture in her sacrum. South Eugene coach Jeff Hess said her recovery from that injury is going well and that she may be able to begin running again soon. There remians hope that she will return to cross country this season before the district meet.

Geremia Lizier-Zmudzinksi of Forest Grove ran 15:41 and beat South Eugene's Reilly Bloomer, who was second in 15:49.

--- WEATHER NEWS ---

In the Deep South, a couple of big meets were affected by heavy rain.

The LSU Invitational was canceled.

And the Tennessee Classic was delayed.