Northern Durham senior Blake Williams of Northern High School is the 2010-11 Gatorade North Carolina Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Phil Hathaway joins Mitch Mallory at Wakefield.

High school preseason stories begin on Sunday and continue through Thursday.

Cary was a busy place for runners on Saturday.  Despite the Cary Road Race being held a few miles down the road, a
record field of more than 350 runners and walkers turned out for the
Kay Brewer Memorial 5K at WakeMed Soccer Park.

James Lavin, 24, of Raleigh, an member of The Athlete’s Foot team,
covered the 5K cross-county route in 18:42.

Raleigh's Meghan Hegarty, 26, another The Athlete's Foot runner, won
the women’s title and was fifth overall in 20:23.

Wesley Frazier posts a 17:04 at the Seahawk Invitational

Many of the best high school cross country runners in the state will race Saturday morning at the Wake  Med Soccer Park as part of the Kickoff Classic.

There will be four races, two for boys and two for girls. The first races are scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

WILMINGTON — The West Johnston girls and boys cross country teams both qualified for state.

Caps shine in Kickoff Classic.

The fall high school preview, which was in Sunday's N&O, is the most difficult one to do each year because school hasn't started and it is hard to get in touch with the coaches.

Preseason questionaires are sent out — often by mail and by fax — but some coaches don't receive them until the first day teachers report to school.

Athletes often are overlooked. One that I have received telephone calls and emails about is North Raleigh cross country runner Maegan Whiting. Her coach returned the questionaire, but if I received it, I can't find it.

NRCA coach Mary Beth Lloyd writes, "She is not only the hardest working and talented athlete I have had the privilege to coach, but she is an A student and remarkable
person. I predict that she will be highly recruited and have an outstanding college running career."

Whiting won the season-opening cross country meet hosted by Cary Academy. Last season Maegan was all-conference and placed sixth in the NCISAA 3-A State Meet. Her cross country PR is 19:23.

The preview of fall high school sports will be in The News & Observer this Sunday, Aug. 17.

 The preview will include all fall sports except for football. The football preview will be in Tuesday's High School Huddle.

The fall sports preview has teams and players to watch for the upcoming season, plus some additional information on area boys soccer teams.