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The Davie cross country team travelled to Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary on Saturday for the Great American XC Festival. Living up to its name, close to 200 schools from at least 17 states participated in the premier high school meet in the eastern US. The meet was divided into three varsity races in addition to JV and middle school races. The Davie boys were assigned to the Race of Champions, which featured runners from 82 schools. The Lady War Eagles participated in the “Blue” race, which was the second most competitive of the three varsity races.

The Davie boys acquitted themselves quite well with a 32nd   place finish which saw six of the of their seven runners accomplish new personal record times on the 5k course. The Davie girls were shorthanded with the last minute scratch of one of their runners and did not register a team score. Still, two of the Davie ladies had new personal record times.

For the boys, national power Belen Jesuit (Miami, Fl.) ran away with the team title behind sophomore phenom Marcelo Mantecon, who blistered the course in a remarkable time of 14:40. Mantecon came through the mile in 4:23 and pulled away for a 10-second victory over Soheib Dissa (Newtown, Connecticut). Another second back was Tommy Latham (14:51) from Atlanta’s Marist High. Belen Jesuit scored 152 points to secure the win over defending state champion Marvin Ridge (200), Jesuit of New Orleans (216), Trinity of Louisville (245) and Tatnall of Delaware (248). Davie finished with 745 points.

Individually, Thomas Essic again led the War Eagle effort in 35th place in an elite field of nearly 400 finishers. His time of 15:33 landed him in 35th place and was a five-second PR. Ethan Lakey was next across the line in 79th. His time of 16:03 was a 17-second PR. Brayden Kistner placed 251st with a 15-second PR of 17:17. Jacob Steelman’s 14-second PR of 17:34 was good for 285th. Logan Zuleger rounded out the scoring with a time of 17:47, which was just three seconds shy of his all-time best. Chris Devicente recorded a one-second PR of 18:23, while Ty Greene made his varsity debut with a two-second PR (19:55). The average team time of 16:50 is likely a school-record performance for a certified 5k course.   

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For the girls, Lexi Marion continued her excellent season with a 10-second PR of 20:49 as she finished 68th in a field of close to 400 runners. Freshman Rachel Starkey had a huge 43-second improvement and placed 177th in a time of 22:34. Clara Phelps turned in a season’s best time of 24:27. She was followed by Kinsley Shinsky, who crossed the line in 26:04.

In the girls’ Race of Champions, Cardinal Gibbons (83) took the team title over James Robinson of Fairfax, Virginia (134) and The Webb School of Knoxville (235). Kate Loesher of Colonial Forge in Stafford, Virginia was the individual champion in 17:24.

“It was a good day for us,” said coach Rob Raisbeck. “We were on the road  at 5:30 Saturday morning, got parked at 8 and the girls were racing at 9. Lexi and Rachel, in particular, had really nice races. Only Emerson Frantz has run faster for us than Lexi over the last 10 years. Rachel had an exceptional race with a big PR. It’s an uphill finish over the last 400 meters and it was carnage out there, but both of our lead runners finished strong.

“The guys’ race in general was amazing to watch. If we had run the other race, we would have finished second and Thomas would have won. But I wanted to give our guys an opportunity to run against some of the best runners in the country, and every one of our seven left it all out there. I couldn’t be more pleased with the effort. It’s a downhill start, which is practically a sprint to get position before the course narrows, and we went out hard. Thomas came through the mile in 4:41 and was not in the top 50, so that gives an indication how crazy good the competition was. The uphill finish was wild as well with one runner collapsing in front of me and a bunch going down at the finish. When it was all said and done, we were right there with some really good programs and also managed to beat two of the teams from Maryland that were rivals of my high school back in the day.    

“That finishes the invitational part of our season, so now it’s time for the championship meets. The CPC meet is Oct. 16 and then we have regionals Oct. 26. Conference will be a dogfight. I project our girls to be fifth with Tabor, Reagan and West battling for the title.  Lexi is an all-conference candidate. For the boys, Reagan is really strong at one and two and is the only team that can match us up front. Mt. Tabor is the deepest team and Reynolds and West are rapidly improving. For our boys to win, we have to be strong at 3-5. We are making progress but are not quite where we need to be just yet. Individually, Reagan’s Tate Shore and Reynolds’ Cedar Nichols-Barnhart will be the favorites, but don’t count out Thomas. He is right there. One thing is for sure, the CPC is again proving to be one of the most competitive conferences in the state and the conference meet will come down to the final sprint. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.”